Tag Archives: Iraq

The U.S. State Department has issued a statement condemning the torture and murders of gay men in Iraq and has begun discussions on the issue with the Iraqi government in Baghdad. “In general, we absolutely condemn acts of violence and human rights violations committed against individuals in Iraq because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” State Department spokesman Ian …

ABC News is reporting that six more gay men have been found murdered by Iraqi militias as the genocide of homosexuals there continues. Two gay men were killed in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum, and police confirmed they found the bodies of four more men, all killed during a 10-day period after an unknown Shiite militia group urged a crackdown on …

The U.S. Embassy in Baghad will be hosting a gay pride celebration which include a drag show. Meanwhile local gays continue to be rounded up and murdered. Insensitive? Change has certainly come to Baghdad. And it appears that includes the U.S. Embassy, where they are holding what the invitation says is the first-ever U.S. Embassy Gay Pride Theme Party next …

The Human Rights Campaign is lobbying the State Department on behalf of the gay men being murdered and tortured in Iraq. Via HRC Backstory: Recently, openly-gay Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) travelled to Iraq and witnessed the dire situation of Iraqi’s LGBT community firsthand. He returned to raise his strong concerns with the State Department. The Council for Global Equality, of …

Openly gay U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) will appear on Michelangelo Signorile’s show on SiriusOutQ at 3:330pm today to discuss the campaign of terror being waged against gay men in Iraq. Polis recently visited Iraq to investigate the situation. You can listen to the show live online with a free 3-day registration.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has uncovered a brutal and horrific torture method being used against gay men by Iraqi militias. Roving squads are capturing men accused of being homosexual and using superglue to seal their anuses – then forcing them to consume a diarrhea-causing drink. The men then die in horrible agony. IGLHRC writes: The …

“The United States should not tolerate human rights violations of any kind, especially by a government that Americans spend billions of taxpayer dollars each year supporting. Hopefully my trip and letters to US and Iraqi officials will help bring international attention and investigation to this terrible situation and bring an end to any such offenses. “We will now wait and …

Led by activist Brendan Fay, today a small group of LGBT activists protested in front of NYC’s Iraq Mission over the recent spate of gay men murdered in Iraq. What would have been a relatively low-key demonstration turned somewhat ugly due to the NYPD, who at first refused to allow activists to stand on the public sidewalk in front of …

There will be a protest of the murders of gay men in Iraq at NYC’s Iraq Mission at noon on Friday. Iraq Mission, 14 E. 79th Street in ManhattanFriday, April 10, 2009 at 12 Noon. Organizers of Friday’s protest point to the staggering number of gay men killed: over 400 since 2003, and over 85 since 2005. Men have been …

Quite the reception.

Iraq’s interior ministry reports that six gay men have been killed in the last ten days by members of their own tribes in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City after being disowned by family members as “perverts.” A local cafe popular with gays was also set on fire. The AFP reports on the latest of the killings: The bullet-riddled bodies …

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OMG, shoes. Thousands of Iraqis have gathered in Baghdad to protest the arrest of the local journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush during a press conference there. Crowds gathered in Baghdad’s Sadr City district, calling for “hero” Muntadar al-Zaidi to be freed from custody. There were similar scenes in Najaf. Officials at the Iraqi-owned TV station, al-Baghdadiya, also …

In a sort of tit-for-tat on the Bill Ayers story, now comes word that the man John McCain chose to lead his presidential transition team (FSM forbid) once lobbied on behalf of Saddam Hussein. William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam …

The Baghdad coordinator of Iraqi LGBT, the group that organizes underground safe houses for gays in Iraq, was machine-gunned to death yesterday in a Baghdad barber shop. The announcement was made by UK-based activist Peter Tatchell. This morning, I received news from Iraq that the coordinator of Iraqi LGBT in Baghdad, Bashar, aged 27, a university student, has been assassinated …

Under Saddam Hussein, gay life in Iraq existed relatively peacefully in a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” sort of vein. Since the US invasion and the rise of sharia law, gays have been routinely rounded up, raped and murdered. Most gay men in Iraq now live hidden and terrified. Iraqi officials generally refuse to even discuss the situation and those that …

Barack Obama is defending his Thursday announcement that he may slow his promised withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, saying that he has said all along that he would work with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to effect a withdrawal timetable that would not destabilize Iraq further. After his first comments on slowing the withdrawal caused a firestorm in the …

Our ignoble leader has been making the ultimate sacrifice in honor of servicemen killed in Iraq. He has stopped playing golf. Bush said in an interview out Tuesday that he quit playing golf in 2003 out of respect for the families of US soldiers killed in the conflict in Iraq, now in its sixth year. “I think playing golf during …