The Worst Place for Homosexuals on Earth

So far this year alone, more than 130 gay people have been executed in this place, which is being dubbed by one activist as "the worst place for homosexuals on Earth." Where is it?

Iraq, and the sad part is that the massive violence against LGBT people only started with the U.S. invasion. Over the course of the past six-and-a-half years, upwards of 700 LGBT people have been assaulted, tortured and killed in Iraq, in ways that would shock the conscience of most ordinary folks.

Now, the Guardian is reporting that anti-gay forces in Iraq are finding their victims using a tool that's pretty darn common to all of us: the Internet. Chatrooms, to be specific, and the results are that innocent gay people are being lured to their brutal deaths. As the Guardian portrays one activist:

Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new friends, but for victims.

"It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up," he said. When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes killed.

Yup, just another tragic consequence of the U.S.-led War in Iraq. Although this carnage feels particularly disturbing. One mother tells the Guardian that her gay son went missing. Three days later she received a bloody note on her door, telling her that her son had been murdered and giving her directions on where to find the body.

"We found his body with signs of torture, his anus filled with glue and without his genitals," she said. "I will carry this image with me until my dying day."

Perhaps we all ought to carry this image with us, as a sign that the work for LGBT rights exists beyond our own borders. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, has pledged U.S. support for investigating acts of violence committed toward LGBT people in Iraq.

"We are committed to combating violence targeting all minority and at risk groups in Iraq, including LGBT individuals," said Ambassador Hill in a July letter. "To this end, we are working with our Government of Iraq interlocutors, Council of Representatives members, local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as the United Nations Assistance Mission for lraq and our diplomatic partners."

That's a great statement.

But how many more LGBT deaths have to happen in Iraq -- we're currently hovering around 700 -- before this work truly intensifies? And how can U.S. authorities help in monitoring Internet chatrooms where violent tactics toward LGBT people get their start?

(Photo courtesy of Gay Liberation Network.)