I'm posting about this topic because I believe it has received little attention in both the mainstream media and in the gay media. Few realise that people just like you, who love and live in the same way as you do are being harmed and persecuted the world over in ways that would seem unimaginable. In particular in Iraq everyday many gay and lesbian people are kidnapped, brutally murdered often with the tacit support of the Iraqi government.

Lesbians are forced into arranged marriages with strangers they barely know and the consequences if caught in such a relationship is horrendous. An example of this is being that of 28-year old Nyaz, a dentist living in Baghdad. She is terrified that her lesbian relationship will be discovered, and that both she and her partner will be killed. They have stopped seeing each other. It is too dangerous. To make matters worse, Nyaz is being forced by fundamentalist Mahdi militia to marry an older, senior Mullah with close ties the Mahdi leader, Muqtada al-Sadr. If she does not agree to the marriage, or tries to run away, Nyaz and her family will be targeted for ‘honour killing’ by Sadr’s men. Heterosexual allies and families who try to protect their gay sons and daughters are also killed. At the same time Iraqi lgbt asylum seekers are being turned away in some parts of the world due to excess capacity.

Iraqi lgbt ( http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com/) is a site with latest updates on the situation there for gay Iraqis if any of you are interested. Here is some information about the situation direct from the site about the situation pre and post the Iraq war. What’s surprising is that these killings began after the U.S. and British-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, not under the Saddam regime. According to Ali Hili, founder of the London-based human rights organization Iraq LGBT, whom the Gay & Lesbian Times interviewed at length, homosexuality during Saddam’s rule didn’t garner the sort of violence being witnessed today. “At that time, there were the sanctions and the economic crisis in Iraq. There was so much more to worry about [than] homosexuals,” he said.

Ibrahim Ebeid, co-editor of the blog al-maharer.net, who lived in Iraq for four years during the 1970s, said, “I never heard of any gay arrested or of any who was killed. The killing started after the invasion of Iraq. It’s really very sad now. If you hate someone, you just have to say, ‘He is gay,’ [whether] he is or not. They go in front of his family and they shoot them there right on the spot.”

The U.S. government is ignoring these atrocities. Perhaps they are drowned out by the volume of killings that occur almost every day in war-torn Iraq. Openly gay Congressmember Barney Frank, D-Mass., said he was unaware of the sexual cleansing taking place before Sherman contacted him. Of all those Sherman contacted for the story, however, Frank was the only congressmember to take action, committing to write a letter to the secretaries of state and defense requesting government pressure be put on Iraq regarding the situation. He also said he would contact others in Congress to sign the letter. How many other elected officials, with a majority voting in favour of this war, are unaware of its many consequences, we wonder?

The two lawmakers cited a United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq's (UNAMI) Human Rights Report issued for the period of November 1 to December 31, 2006, which stated that an environment of “impunity and lawlessness” currently permeating Iraq has invited open and violent campaigns against LGBT Iraqis.

“In 2005, the Iraqi people adopted a Constitution guaranteeing that ‘every individual has the right to enjoy life, security and liberty’. “Unfortunately, such promises have been particularly eroded for LGBT Iraqis, who must live in constant fear of being targeted for execution. “We therefore urge you to raise this serious issue with the Iraqi leadership and press them to take immediate action to halt the killings of Iraqi homosexuals,” Baldwin and Frank wrote.

Representatives Baldwin and Frank asked Secretary Rice to raise the issue and express her concerns to Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani, while urging the Iraqi government to step up its protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Iraqis and stop these senseless attacks by the militias. The full text of the letter sent to Condoleezza Rice by Representatives Baldwin and Frank can be read here. http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com/

OutRage is a gay group based in the Uk and helps assist in these projects organised by Iraqi LGBT. The immediate urgent priority of Iraqi LGBT is to support LGBT activists in Iraq in order to assist their efforts to help other Lesbians, Gay, Bisexuals and Trans gender Iraqi's facing death, persecution and systematic Targeting by the Iraqi Police and Badr and Sadr Militia and to raise awareness about the wave of homophobic murders in Iraq to the outside world. Funds raised will help provide LGBTs under threat of killing with refuge in the safer parts of Iraq (including safe houses, food, electricity, medical help) and assist efforts help them seek refuge in neighbouring countries. Iraqi LGBT is autonomous and independent. It is run by Iraqi refugees in the UK and Iraqi LGBTs based inside Iraq.  

What is more disappointing than the current situation is the minimal coverage this issue has received. It is hardly mentioned anywhere online whenever the Iraq war is reported and it seems few people, gay or otherwise, seem to care. I'd be grateful if those of you belonging to any gay groups internationally could spread the message about the dire situation for gay Iraqis.

 I'd be interested to know what your thoughts are, especially if you're a US citizen. Did you realise the extent of the situation in Iraq for gays and lesbians? Have you heard about it in any of your media? Do you think there is any hope that the current administration will act to improve the current situation? Do you think the elections next year will affect the direction of the Iraq war?  

Love and Peace,