Iraq struggles to stop persecution of gays
Kelly
The Detroit News
Detroit MI
Monday, April 16, 2007
Iraq struggles to stop persecution of gays
By Deb Price
Militias warn Iraqi families they will be murdered if they don't hand over
or kill their gay relatives.
An Iraqi family pays ransom for the return of a gay man, only to learn later
that his mutilated body has been found.
An Iraqi father is released without being tried for hanging his gay son to
defend the family's "honor."
Secretive religious "courts" try, sentence and execute gays.
In Baghdad, a store owner and four barbers are kidnapped or vanish because
of their sexual orientation.
Each of these charges of gay Iraqis having their human rights horribly --
often fatally -- violated is in a U.S. State Department report issued last
month or in assessments by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq.
"Attacks on homosexuals and intolerance of homosexual practices have long
existed yet they have escalated in the past year," the U.N. report noted in
January. "The current environment of impunity and lawlessness invites a
heightened level of insecurity for homosexuals in Iraq. Armed Islamic groups
and militias have been known to be particularly hostile toward homosexuals,
frequently and openly engaging in violent campaigns against them."
These accounts of anti-gay brutality echo news reports and charges made by
Iraqi gays living in exile and international gay and lesbian human rights
groups.
Yet, the Iraqi government's initial response to the U.N.'s report in January
was to criticize it, rather than anti-gay violence, according to the
Associated Press:
"There was information in the report that we cannot accept here in Iraq. The
report, for example, spoke about the phenomenon of homosexuality and giving
them their rights," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said. "Such
statements are not suitable to the Iraqi society. This is rejected. They
should respect the values and traditions here in Iraq."
But at the White House morning press briefing on April 13, I asked the
visiting al-Dabbagh, "Does the Iraqi government condemn the killings of
Iraqis targeted specifically because they're homosexual?" He replied, "Iraqi
government condemn each and every killing -- whoever are being killed.
Definitely we condemn it. Due to any reasons."
That's at least an encouraging response.
Clearly, the Iraqi government is too weak to end the nonstop slaughter of
all sorts of civilians. But denouncing anti-gay killings is an important
step toward recognizing the human rights of Iraqis who are gay or
transgender.
Last May, in response to alarms sounded by the International Gay and Lesbian
Human Rights Commission, the State Department's acting director of the
Office of Iraq Affairs told the group that his department was "very
troubled" by reports of Iraqi gays being targeted.
"We continue to work with Iraqi government, religious and civil society
leaders to underscore the importance of human rights and basic freedoms and
we believe that the Iraqi constitution lays a strong foundation for the
protection of these rights," he said.
U.S. officials need to do more -- publicly denounce any targeting of sexual
minorities in the fledgling democracy.
In Iraq, all of the violence against innocent civilians is horrifying. But
if a stable, relatively peaceful Iraq is ever to emerge and join the ranks
of civilized nations, it will have to be a place where government tries to
safeguard the rights of all, including its most vulnerable citizens.
Reach Deb Price at (202) 662-8736 or dpr...@detnews.com
Paul L.
people.Persecution? Sounds more like extermination.
A Hermaphrodite
