[Gay] Gay News from Around the Gay World That is Gay

[Martinus]

This is truly horrible:

August 17, 2009
Report: Gay Iraqis Being Slaughtered
By Neal Broverman

The group Human Rights Watch has confirmed what has been whispered about for months: Gay men in Iraq are being routinely tortured and killed.

HRW released a report on Monday that documented the terror that gay Iraqis have endured since the end of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, including roving militiamen who have hunted and murdered gay men seeking their first taste of freedom.

Based on reports by a United Nations official in Baghdad, hospital officials, and gay Iraqi men, the report states that hundreds of gay men have been killed in Shiite areas of the Muslim nation. Iraqi officials allegedly knew about the murders but have done little to stop future killings. In Monday's Washington Post, Iraq's human rights minister said that the closeted nature of Iraq's gays makes it hard to protect them from the killers.

The kidnappings, torture, and murder of gay men coincided with the downturn of violence in Iraq that occurred in 2008. That quiet signaled a weakening of power by militia and insurgent leaders, and the subsequent Westernization of Iraq: women ditching the long robes that once covered their entire bodies, the appearance of liquor stores, and gay men gathering together in public. Possibly in response to this, Shiite religious leaders issued decrees that condemned "unnatural" behavior.

The charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy wrote U.S. congressman Jared Polis, a gay politician, in April and spelled out the extreme level of violence occurring, including torture methods like injecting super glue into men's rectums. Polis visited Iraq that spring and addressed the issue with U.S. and Iraqi officials.

HRW states that in recent weeks the violence has subsided a bit -- partly because many gay men have retreated back underground. Another reason for the ebb in attacks, according to Scott Long, director of the gay rights program at HRW, is that "the militias have run out of people to kill."

Looks like the "brutal Saddam regime" that we toppled was preferable to the current situation, after all. Fucking muslims.

[Martinus]

More from the BBC:

Anti-gay attacks on rise in Iraq
Gay Iraqi men are being murdered in what appears to be a co-ordinated campaign involving militia forces, the group Human Rights Watch says.

It says hundreds of gay men have been targeted and killed in Iraq since 2004.

So-called honour killings also account for deaths where families punish their own kin in order to avoid public shame.

The report says members of the Mehdi Army militia group are spearheading the campaign, but police are also accused - even though homosexuality is legal.

Witnesses say vigilante groups break into homes and pick people up in the street, interrogating them to extract the names of other potential victims, before murdering them.

"Murder and torture are no way to enforce morality," said HRW researcher Rasha Moumneh, quoted in the report.

"These killings point to the continuing and lethal failure of Iraq's post-occupation authorities to establish the rule of law and protect their citizens."

In some cases, Human Rights Watch says it was told, Iraqi security forces had actually "colluded and joined in the killing".

Witch-hunt

Recently, posters appeared in Sadr City - a conservative, Shia area of Baghdad - calling on people to watch out for gay men and listing not only their names but also their addresses.

One gay man in Baghdad described the killing campaign as a witch-hunt.

" These killings will continue, because it has simply become normal in Iraq to kill gay men "
Unnamed gay Iraqi man
Nearly 90 gay men have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of January and many more are missing, local gay rights campaigners say.

The report, called They want us exterminated: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq, says horrifically mutilated bodies of gay men have been left on rubbish tips.

Sometimes their bodies are daubed with offensive terms such as "pervert", or "puppy" which is a hate word for gay men in Iraq.

The report contains detailed testimonies of a range of brutal treatment of gay Iraqi men.

"We've heard stories confirmed by doctors of men having their anuses glued and then being force-fed laxatives which leads to a very painful death," says Ms Moumneh told the BBC.

'Feminised men'

When questioned in the past, officials in Iraq have condemned the killings, but the BBC's Natalia Antelava in Baghdad reports that gay men there say nothing has been done to protect them.

"These killings will continue, because it has simply become normal in Iraq to kill gay men," said a gay Iraqi man who did not want to be named.

Mehdi army spokesmen and clerics have condemned what they call the "feminisation" of Iraqi men and have urged the military to take action against them.

The report said many gay men have fled to other countries in the region, despite consensual homosexual activity being illegal there, because the risk of victimisation is reduced.

HRW says the threats and abuses have spread from Baghdad to Kirkuk, Najaf and Basra, although persecution remains concentrated in the capital.

Officials say part of the problem in dealing with the attacks is that victims' relatives seldom if ever provide information to the police.

"They consider talking about the subject worse than the crime itself. This is the nature of our society," ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.

[Faeelin]

How has this been whispered?

[Caliga]

Looks like the "brutal Saddam regime" that we toppled was preferable to the current situation, after all. Fucking muslims.

Well duh, I've been saying that for a while, though IMO it had nothing to do with gays.  Arabs are living in the 13th century and, as such, are unable to cope with democracy.

[swallow]

This is horrific.

I don't understand how things can have changed so much.  I was doing some holiday work in Southern France c. 26 years ago and I remember thinking how normal the muslim men working there were about being gay - I think they  translated it as 'sensitives'

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Sadly, I think the Islam of 26 years ago was much less fundie dominated than the current Islamic world... also I'd imagine that French Muslims would be much more cosmopolitan than Iraqi ones living in a war zone. Going through a war or several wars doesn't make one more relaxed about people who are "different".

edit: Not that that excuses any harsh treatment of any minority, mind you. The current crop of morons in Iraq are looking for boogeymen, and gays are always a convenient target.

[swallow]

That's something that I've realised since coming on Languish - how different the same religion can be in different parts of the world.  The disparity makes it very difficult to solve the problems when people are saying and doing very different things under the same banner

[Valmy]

Sadly, I think the Islam of 26 years ago was much less fundie dominated than the current Islamic world...

Way to go Saudis!

[BuddhaRhubarb]

That's something that I've realised since coming on Languish - how different the same religion can be in different parts of the world.  The disparity makes it very difficult to solve the problems when people are saying and doing very different things under the same banner

That's the problem that the gazillions of actually reasonable Muslims who live in big cities, and play pro sports, are doctors, or whatever have. They are drowned out by their shrill poor cousins, who make the news much more frequently.

[Valmy]

That's the problem that the gazillions of actually reasonable Muslims who live in big cities, and play pro sports, are doctors, or whatever have. They are drowned out by their shrill poor cousins, who make the news much more frequently.

The problem is not their shrill cousins making the news, the problem is their shrill cousins forming militias and siezing political power while the reasonable Muslims seem to be impotent to stop them (without becoming nutty themselves and starting up military dictatorships and the like).

If all it was was some nutters making the news well they would be no different than any other nutty branch of a religion.

[garbon]

That's the problem that the gazillions of actually reasonable Muslims who live in big cities, and play pro sports, are doctors, or whatever have. They are drowned out by their shrill poor cousins, who make the news much more frequently.

Where morons then lap it up and build up righteous anger against all muslims.

[Valmy]

Where morons then lap it up and build up righteous anger against all muslims.

To be fair these same morons also have righteous anger towards all Christians...at least on this board.

Well except for that crazy Flemish guy.

But still there are reasons to disagree with Islam besides being a moron.

[The Brain]

This is horrific.

I don't understand how things can have changed so much.  I was doing some holiday work in Southern France c. 26 years ago and I remember thinking how normal the muslim men working there were about being gay - I think they  translated it as 'sensitives'

I'm confused. What does Southern France have to do with Iraq?

[garbon]

To be fair these same morons also have righteous anger towards all Christians...at least on this board.

Well except for that crazy Flemish guy.

But still there are reasons to disagree with Islam besides being a moron.

I don't see how more irrational hatred makes it better...consistency?

Disliking or disagreeing with Islam isn't necessarily the same as calling for the death of muslims (even specific ones).  I certainly don't agree with Islam or Christianity but I'm not calling for anyone's head.

[Valmy]

I don't see how more irrational hatred makes it better...consistency?

It doesn't.  I am not even sure why I am defending them except I do not really take them seriously.