A recent report indicates that the reduction in sectarian violence comes at a heavy price for the gay community in Iraq. Apparently Iraq has witnessed a spike in the numbers of homophobic murders and attacks in recent months, with December seeing as many as seventy murders of gays in the troubled nation.
Despite being disturbing in and of itself, there is an even more shocking development emerging from the streets of Baghdad and smaller cities. As Doug Ireland explains:
"As the murder campaign targeting Iraqi gays intensifies, a leading Arabic television network last week revealed the use of a horrifying new form of lethal torture against Iraqi gay men -- anti-gay Shiite death squads are sealing their anuses with a powerful glue, then inducing diarrhea, which leads to a painful and agonizing death. The use of this stomach-turning new torture was first reported by the Al Arabiya network, which is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates and was alerted to the story by a leading Iraqi feminist and human rights activist."
And the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission points to 'wanted lists' of gays being circulated around Iraqi towns and cities calling for any known homosexuals to be 'given up' to the vigilante (usually Shiite) militias cleansing the streets of what they style 'perverts'.
Hopefully the media will approach this topic in a nuanced and sensitive manner. It must be shown that while the welfare of lgbt persons are threatened all across the Middle East, there are groups working within an Islamic framework aiming to preserve their rights. Al-Fatiha for example campaigns for just this by emphasising the "progressive Islamic notions of peace, equality and justice."
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