Reasonably Logical

Since the invasion of Iraq six years ago, the treatment of Iraqi gays has steadily diminished. Under Hussein, gay men were largely ignored. While they didn’t have many rights, they also weren’t hunted down and killed as is happening today. With the religious extremism that has been brought forth by the civil war in Iraq, Iraqi gay men are being hunted by all sides. Now that the actual fighting has died down, more and more Iraqi gay men are facing violence, rape, and death.

Disturbingly, this trend is getting very little attention internationally. Over the last couple of years, I’ve seen three articles - two of them within the last month - on gays in Iraq. (See links below) There has been no action taken by international forces, and the United States barely seems to have noticed. Our government and troops do nothing, and our gay political groups are so caught up in domestic concerns that they haven’t even raised the issue.

Thankfully, there is some evidence that this might be changing somewhat. There is a group in London (Iraqi LGBT) - primarily of Iraqi ex-pats - which is organizing an underground railroad to get some Iraqi gay men out of the country. The issue is finally getting mainstream press coverage with both a CNN and Newsweek article in the last month.

Despite this, there is still a lot more than needs to be done. I strongly suggest you read the articles linked below and think about the issue. Talk about it with your friends. Better yet, talk about it with your congresspeople. And possibly most importantly, if you’re involved with a gay political group (HRC, NGLTF, NCLR, Lambda Legal, GLAAD, etc..) bring it up with them. We have no excuse as a country, as the LGBT community, or as individuals to this issue any longer.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Do Kill
Nobody wants to talk about gays in Iraq, much less who is killing them.
By Lennox Samuels
Newsweek Web Exclusive

Gays in Iraq terrorized by threats, rape, murder
By Frederik Pleitgen, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Wayne Drash
CNN

Iraq struggles to stop persecution of gays
Monday, April 16, 2007
Deb Price, Detroit News
(This article has apparently been taken down. The link is dead and I can’t find reference to the article on their site.)

I think I posted something about this case last year. I’m glad to see this one come to a “happy” ending at least. Here’s one gay kid that Iran won’t be hanging.

According to the article, Iran has executed more than 4,000 gays and lesbians since 1979. Its sure as hell one country I’m never going to visit.

Gay Iranian granted asylum in UK
A gay Iranian teenager who said he could be executed if he was sent home has been given asylum in Britain.
BBC News

Sometimes I think we really should bomb these f*ckers back into the stone age. No wait, they never left!

As you can no doubt tell, I’m slightly pissed off about this.

Iran Executes 21 Year Old Accused Of Gay Sex When He Was 13
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: December 5, 2007 - 3:00 pm ET

State Murder for Sex at 13 in Iran
The Courageous Iranian Journalist Who Covered the Trial Speaks to Gay City News.
By: DOUG IRELAND, Gay City News
12/06/2007

Not exactly new, but worth remembering none the less.

Gays should be hanged, says Iranian minister
Dominic Kennedy, The (UK) Times
November 13, 2007

After reading the article below, I’m having trouble deciding if this is a good thing or not. I understand why Brazil did it, but what impact will this have on the willingness of pharmaceutical companies to develop medications? We’ll have to wait and see.

Brazil breaks patent on HIV drug -
Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/po/20070505/co_po/brazilbreakspatentonhivdrug

Is it just me or is China’s effort to restrict internet access both ridiculous and doomed to failure? If they have internet access at all, people are going to get around any restrictions they might place. As for trying to prevent minors from accessing the internet, why?! Secondly, how the hell are you going to manage it? (See article below.)

Despite a Ban, Chinese Youth Navigate to Internet Cafes
By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 9, 2007; A01

A little over a week ago, China launched the first ever anti-satellite missile. The test destroyed an old weather satellite. It is likely that other countries (including the United States) have similar technology, but no other country has demonstrated the ability yet. While it is no surprise that a satellite can be easily destroyed, no one has ever done so before.

To understand the effect this might have, image what would happen if someone took out the GPS or telecomm satellites for example. Or as one of the articles below mentions, what if China were to take out Taiwan’s single satellite monitoring Chinese missile launches?

References:
Aviation Week
Gadget Lab Blog
WXXA-DT/TV Albany, NY