Iraq, Middle East

Homosexuality was legal in Iraq under Saddam Hussein until late 2001, when under pressure from religious conservatives he criminalised the act of sodomy. A law passed in 2001 made sodomy punishable by imprisonment, and repeated convictions punishable by death. It should be noted however that despite the change in law there were no known cases in which the death penalty was applied for the offence by Iraqi Courts. Hussein had previously refused to criminalise homosexuality, as it went against the Secular Socialist beliefs of the Ba'ath Party. The legal status of homosexuality remains something in dispute in a post-Saddam Iraq. Homosexuality is not technically illegal in Iraq, but it is taboo. As of 2011, Iraq is in a de facto state of civil war and some militias have been known to seek out and kill homosexuals and transgender Iraqis. Also see: Islam and Homosexuality

 

News & Reports:

 

Iraq passes bill criminalizing same-sex relations with prison time

Baghdad — Iraq’s parliament passed a bill on Saturday criminalizing same-sex relations, making them punishable by up to 15 years in prison, a move rights groups condemned as an “attack on human rights.” Transgender people would be sentenced to three years in jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which were adopted during… Read more »

‘I had to sit on a Pepsi bottle’: Gay men in Iraq reveal shocking torture stories

This is exactly what it’s like to be LGBTI under ISIS Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, fell to ISIS in June 2014. Everyone was affected, but so-called Islamic State targeted gay people in particular. It took nine months of intense military operations from Iraqi forces and their allies to recapture Mosul in July 2017. But… Read more »

Two LGBTI Iraqis were brutally killed this week

Hamoudi Al Mutairi’s last words were ‘I want to see my mother’, according to reports. Two LGBTI individuals in Iraq were murdered in the space of two days this week, according to a local human rights organization. Both murders appeared to be homophobic attacks on the LGBTI community, IraQueer said in a press release. Hamoudi… Read more »

2 gay Iraqi soldiers found love amid war. Then the death threats started

SeattleEach night, when the guns fell silent in Iraq, Btoo Allami would invite his friend Nayyef Hrebid over for dinner. The two first locked eyes on a dusty battlefield in Ramadi. After days of exchanging hasty glances amid gunfire, they snuck away one night to listen to Michael Jackson on shared earbuds. The music stopped,… Read more »

As a gay man born in Iraq, I know that western intervention is to blame for the murder of LGBT Iraqis

Disdain for the West is potent on Iraqi soil – what did we expect after destroying a civilisation for no actual reason? Yesterday in Baghdad, Iraqi actor Karar Nushi was murdered due to rumours of his homosexuality. He had been receiving death threats because of his “transgressive appearance” – particularly his long hair – and… Read more »

ISIS execute four men for being gay – including two of their own members

ISIS has executed four men on suspicion of being gay – including two of their own members. On Saturday (August 20) local sources said the terrorist group had murdered four men on charges of homosexuality and sodomy in the city centre of Mosul. The four men were thrown from the top of a former insurance… Read more »

What Does The Koran Say About Being Gay?

In the wake of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that took the lives of 49 people, there has been much speculation around gunman Omar Mateen’s motives for the attack. The rationale for the crime, first considered to be a straight man’s act of homophobic violence, became self-loathing when it came to… Read more »

This New Movie Tells the Tortured Love Story of Two Gay Iraqi Soldiers

An upcoming documentary, Out of Iraq, tells their tale The last few decades have seen a transformation in Americans’ attitudes toward gay people. Today nearly two-thirds of Americans say homosexuality should be accepted, up from just over 30% in the early 2000s. Yet in some African and Middle Eastern countries, nearly 100% of people say… Read more »

‘Being Gay Isn’t As Sexy As ISIS’: One Young Man’s Fight For Rights For Iraq’s Queer Community

“Being gay isn’t as sexy as ISIS. So no-one pays us any attention.” These are the words of Amir Ashour, a 25-year-old Iraqi and the founder of the country’s only organisation for its queer community. Amir left behind his home and family a year ago and is currently living in Sweden. There, he hopes to… Read more »

Online activists spur change in Middle East, China, world

Online LGBT activism and community-building are the focus of this week’s video in the “Quorum” series of 11 discussions of international LGBTI issues. Moderator for the latest discussion is Andre Banks, executive director of AllOut.org, the U.S.-based advocacy organization that has enlisted 2 million people worldwide to take action online for LGBTI rights. Panelists /… Read more »

LGBT Iraqis face ‘imminent risk of death’ under Islamic State

A new report concludes LGBT Iraqis who live under the control of the Islamic State group are likely “at imminent risk of death.” The 18-page document the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and MADRE, a global women’s advocacy organization, released on Wednesday notes the Sunni militant group has imposed a strict interpretation of… Read more »

Watch: ISIS fighter warns that ‘gays and paedophiles’ teach in ‘infidel’ schools

A video featuring a fighter allegedly with ISIS, the Islamic State, who warns against gays, drug dealers and paedophiles teaching in “infidel countries,” and says gays are “the worst of creatures” and “like animals”. The video, which was posted online at the beginning of April, recently went viral. The eight-minute clip features an armed man… Read more »

Iran A ‘Paradox’ For LGBT’

Arsham Parsi had just been accepted into an Iranian university to study to become a veterinarian when three of his friends who were either gay or transgender committed suicide. He had previously worked with a doctor in his hometown of Shiraz in southern Iran who had been conducting research for a study on rates of… Read more »

Iraqi police behind anti-gay killings, says TV documentary

A BBC World Service programme has revealed that law enforcement agencies in Iraq are involved in the sustained systematic persecution of the country’s LGBT community. Campaigners say hundreds of gay men, and some women, have died in targeted killings in Iraq in recent years – with an upsurge in homophobic violence since the 2003 removal… Read more »

Witch-hunt in Iraq

Iraqi law enforcement agencies are involved in the systematic and deadly persecution of gay men and women there, a BBC investigation has revealed. Dozens, if not hundreds, of gay people have been killed in recent years, activists say, while the Western-backed government turns a blind eye – or worse. The UN tells the BBC that… Read more »

‘Emo’ killings raise alarms in Iraq

Baghdad (AP) — Young people who identify themselves as so-called Emos are being brutally killed at an alarming rate in Iraq, where militias have distributed hit lists of victims and security forces say they are unable to stop crimes against the subculture that is widely perceived in Iraq as being gay. Officials and human rights… Read more »

Reports of emo youth and LGBT people ‘being massacred in Iraq’

Since 6 February there have been continuous reports of militia targeting youths which focus on attacks, kidnapping, torture and murder of ‘emo’ youth and individuals perceived as gay, lesbian or trans. It appears that attacks have been taking place in Baghdad as well as in several in southern provinces. Emo, short for emotional or emocore… Read more »

Report: 40 People Kidnapped, Tortured, Murdered in Surge of Anti-Gay Violence in Iraq

Via press release from the IGLHRC: The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has today received reports from Iraq of a wave of targeted killings of individuals who are perceived to be gay or lesbian. According to Iraqi human rights activists, in early February 2012, an unidentified group posted death threats against “the adulterous… Read more »

Op-ed: The Legacy of the Bush War on Iraqi Gays

Even with the end of the war in Iraq, there is no relief for gay Iraqis who live in a desperate reality being documented by a publication called Gay Middle East. With the lowering of the American flag, finally off Iraqi soil as it returns home to the United States, and the ecstatic familial greetings… Read more »

Norway refuses gay Iraqi asylum

Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect new information that another Iraqi Kurdish asylum seeker, whose story had strong similarities and had also been reported in the Norwegian media, was in fact a different person. That Iraqi has been granted asylum. His name and picture have been removed from this story at his request.… Read more »

Gay Iraq News & Reports 2010-11

Also see: Iraqi LGBT website/blog New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (chapter 10 written by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See book review: Gay City News Also see: Gay Middle East Web Site More information about Islam & Homosexuality Other articles of interest Queer Muslim magazine Iranian queer online… Read more »

Gay Iraq News & Reports 2009

Also see: Iraqi LGBT website/blog New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (chapter 10 written by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See book review: Gay City News Also see: More information about Islam & Homosexuality can be found at: www.al-fatiha.org Other articles of interest can be found at: groups.yahoo.com/group/al-fatiha-news Muslim… Read more »

Gay Iraq News & Reports 2007-08

Also see:Iraqi LGBT website/blog Islam and Homosexuality Also see: New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (chapter 10 written by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See book review: Gay City News Also see: More information about Islam & Homosexuality can be found at: www.al-fatiha.org Other articles of interest can be… Read more »

Gay Iraq News & Reports 2003-06

Also see: Iraqi LGBT website/blog Islam and Homosexuality Also see: New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (chapter 10 written by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon) See books review: Gay City News Also see: More information about Islam & Homosexuality can be found at: www.al-fatiha.org Other articles of interest can… Read more »