Gays in Iraq – Baghdad Crackdown on LGBT
I think we often take for granted how good most of us really have it. Imagine living in a country who does not tolerate gay people?
This week, Chris Johnson reported in Southern Voice, Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) is taking U.S. officials to task over alleged human rights abuses against LGBT people in Iraq.
Polis, who is gay, told the Blade that he urged action from the U.S. after looking into “a round of crackdowns on the gay population in Baghdad” during a congressional fact-finding trip to the country last week.
During his investigation, Polis said he learned that Iraqi officials in the Ministry of Interior were allegedly involved in human rights violations against LGBT people. He sent a letter to Patricia Butenis, the acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq, requesting “that the State Department follow-up on these allegations and urge the Iraqi government to respect all human rights.”
He said a café frequented by gay Iraqis was destroyed, leaving six Iraqis dead. Polis said it was unclear who was behind the destruction, but noted that the Iraqi government “failed to protect them.”
Polis also said he heard several gay Iraqis were jailed because of their sexual orientation and that one or more of them might have been executed by the Iraqi government. The lawmaker said he received a letter allegedly written by a jailed man who was beaten into confessing that he was involved with an LGBT rights group in Iraq.
The New York Times said, that in the past two months, the bodies of as many as 25 boys and men suspected of being gay have been discovered in Sadr City.
“Most have been shot, some multiple times,” the article says. “Several have been found with the word ‘pervert’ in Arabic on notes attached to their bodies, the police said.”
Read the full article at Southern Voice.
