BBC: Iraqi gay men face 'lives of hell'

[Bluebear]

Grainy footage taken on a mobile phone and widely distributed around Baghdad shows a terrified young Iraqi boy cowering and whimpering as men with a stick force him to strip, revealing women's underwear beneath his dishdasha (Arab robe).

"Why are you dressed as a girl?" roars one of the men, brandishing his stick as the youth removes his brassiere.

The sobbing boy, who appears to be about 12, tries to explain that his family made him do it to earn money, as they have no other source of income.

The scene, apparently filmed in a police post, reinforced reports of a campaign against gay men in Iraq which activists say has claimed the lives of more than 60 since December...

Amnesty International, which believes at least 25 alleged gay men have been killed in Baghdad in the last few weeks, wrote to the Iraqi government last week seeking "urgent and concerted action" to bring the culprits to justice and protect the gay community.

The appeal has so far brought no response, and the government has yet to comment on the killings or take any visible action to combat them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8005420.stm

[Skittles]

1. it's rooted in misogyny

yes indeed

[get the red out]

2. Exactly!

As are most religions of the world.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Its rooted in islam and the sharia, which decrees that homosexuals should be stoned to death

[Skittles]

8. which is rooted in hatred of women

all homophobia is

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Thats arguable, and realistically irrelevant. First order effects are that islam and the sharia are

severely anti gay and there are a lot of people willing to pick up stones

[Skittles]

11. done

[JonLP24]

10. Saddam Hussein got rid of the Sharia and brought a western style legal system

He was unpopular because of that with neighboring arab countries. It was during or after the Gulf War in which he brought back parts of the Sharia(Not sure which ones) to increase his popularity in the region after he gained a surge of popularity for his conflicts with the US.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

13. Err sort of

It was no model of jurisprudence and the sharia still held sway out of the built up areas

[LeftHander]

4. W's Freedom is on the march...coming to a Red State near you! nt

[Rebubula]

5. Pfffft...

We can blame a lot of criminal shit on Bush and his cabal...but this sort of sick shit was going on in that part of the world long before the US was in existence.

It is not like gays were living the life of luxury before the cabal started their illegal war

[Bluebear]

6. citation?

[Creideiki]

7. According to the BBC,

Women and homosexuals were protected by the Baath Party.

[marmar]

12. "part of the world long before the US was in existence. "

You were there? :wtf:

[elshiva]

14. Horrible!

Why the fuck do they care if he's wearing women's underwear? Homophobic assholes worry about the most stupid things. :mad: :grr: