LGBT Rights in Iraq (Or Lack Thereof...)

by Michael Jones · 2009-02-27 15:57:00 UTC
Topics:

Iraq

How dangerous is it to be LGBT in Iraq these days?

According to Peter Tatchell, from the LGBT rights group OutRage!, it's pretty bleak. Tatchell has an article in today's Guardian that spells out just how dangerous life can be in Iraq for LGBT people, especially since the U.S. invasion six years ago. Tatchell calls what's happening in Iraq a "sexual cleansing" by death squads in Iraq. More from his article:

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, homophobia and the terrorisation of LGBT people has got much worse. The western invasion of Iraq in 2003 ended the tyrannical Baathist dictatorship. But it also destroyed a secular state, created chaos and lawlessness and allowed the flourishing of religious fundamentalism. The result has been an Islamist-inspired homophobic terror campaign against LGBT Iraqis...

This campaign of terror is sanctioned by Iraq's leading Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. In 2005, he issued a fatwa urging the killing of LGBT people in the "worst, most severe way" possible.

Talk about an unintended consequence of a poorly-planned war. In the article, Tatchell also describes the creation of what's become an LGBT Underground Railroad in Iraq, helping LGBT Iraqis flee the country via a secret network of "safe houses" and allies. The network is run by Iraqi LGBT, a blog out of the United Kingdom. One of the posts on their site is a brief documentary that talks about the culture of fear for LGBT people in Iraq. We'll include the YouTube clip below at the bottom of the post.  They also have their own Facebook group, which you can join here.

What's clear from Tatchell's op-ed and the video below is that LGBT people in Iraq face some of the gravest threats imaginable.  Iraqi LGBT calls it a homophobic killing spree.  It's hard not to agree with those sentiments.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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