The BBC ran an article this weekend which featured disturbing video of a young Iraqi being forced to strip by Iraqi police because he was wearing girl's underwear. Another video shows the harassment of a hermaphrodite highlighting a pattern of police harassment and overall violence directed at the LGBT community in Iraq.
The terrified young man explains that his family forces him to wear the clothes to make money, which I'm guessing means prostitution. The fact that police don't care, and Muslim clerics in the country continually call for assassination of gays makes for a tough situation for LGBT Iraqi's.
To top it off, they now have a new threat to deal with–a group called the Platoon of Righteousness has plastered the walls of Baghdad with threatening fliers. The fliers read "If you don't cease your perverted acts, you will get your fair punishment" and listed names of known homosexuals in the neighborhood.
It's a tragic situation in Iraq, and if you want to help Iraqi LGBT should be your first stop. What are your thoughts on what's happening to gay Iraqi's?
– Andy
Couple of comments. On one hand, yes, it is good that the BBC is bringing up the issue of brutal gay treatment in Iraq. On the other hand, it is dangerous to label all cross dressers gay. In fact most cross dressers are not gay. Second, a hermaphrodite is not necessarily gay. Too bad the BBC used these examples of gay harrassment. In a sense they are contributing to the stereotype of gay people.
I don’t think it helps to use the term “gays”. We’re gay men and women; i.e. we’re people.
People have been drawing a lot of attention to the parallels of racial oppression of the 1950s, so here’s one more :
Just like we can no longer say “the blacks”, we shouldn’t be saying “the gays”.
I concur with both of the above comment. My thoughts exactly.
omg you guys are half wits, here’s an article about the brutalization of gay people in Iraq and you’re bitching about semantics? pffft
I think (as horrible as it may sound) there is a something good to come from all this.
(Don’t think for one second that I agree with killing ANYONE for no good reason, so save all your emails and put them in the bank!)
These kinds of “actions” from the police may for the people of Iraq to take a stand and embrace their own kind of democrazy, (yeah I know how to spell democracy), and bring about a degree of “peace” not only for the US, but also with the rest of the world.
I just wish we all could get along and just have group sex as a world!!
Okay YABIRD. Some of us may be half wits for making thoughtful comments about a horrendous situation but I guess you are a nitwit OR maybe a (ya)birdbrain for doing nothing but attacking us instead of this terrible situation.