Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Do Kill

[dutch508]

Now, before you rush to judgement, read the whole OP.

meegbear  (1000+ posts)       Wed Aug-27-08 03:00 PM
Original message
Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Do Kill
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x81729


When militiamen from the Mahdi Army came by the compact, two-story stone home in the Doura neighborhood of Baghdad, they weren't looking for Sunnis to harass. They were hunting gays. "Bring us your son's cell phone," one ordered the middle-aged man who came to the gate. They wanted to check if his son, Nadir, had been calling foreigners--and in fact he had only hours earlier called this reporter to set up a meeting, and he had repeatedly called a gay nongovernmental organization (NGO) in London. Fortunately, Nadir was ready for them and produced a "clean" phone he keeps for just such a threat. This time they left, but vowed to come back if they found any evidence he was gay--or was talking to undesirable foreigners. Now that Iraq's sectarian war has cooled off, it's open season on homosexuals and others who infuriate religious hardliners.

Sometimes the act of reporting a story is revealing in itself--especially when it proves particularly difficult. This was the case when NEWSWEEK began looking into the problems of Iraq's homosexuals after hearing reports of secret safe houses around Baghdad where many of them were taking refuge from the militias' self-appointed morality police. After weeks of inquiries, NEWSWEEK managed to find Nadir and persuade him to arrange a visit to one of the safe houses he helps run. Instead, the Mahdi militia rousted him the night before. Established in 2004, the militia is the armed wing of the organization led by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has been an implacable foe of the Maliki government. Terrified, Nadir contacted people at the London-based gay NGO that finances the safe house, and they instructed him to break off the visit.

That was only one of many problems reporting on gays in Iraq. Iraqi authorities scoffed at the subject--when not scolding a reporter for even asking about it. Some of NEWSWEEK's own local staff were wary of the story. Virtually no government officials would sit for an interview. And the United Nations human-rights office, which has a big presence in Iraq, dodged the subject like a mine field. As with a number of Muslim societies where homosexuality is officially nonexistent but widely practiced, the policy in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule was "don't ask, don't tell." But that has changed. Iraqi LGBT, the London NGO that Nadir works for, says more than 430 gay men have been murdered in Iraq since 2003. For the country's beleaguered gays, it's a friendless landscape.

Many officials say they feel that in a country at war, there are more pressing concerns than gay rights. A Ministry of Justice judge rebuked a reporter for wasting time on such an issue, noting that "crimes of sodomy" are "very rare" in society and even rarer in the courts. "Most acts of homosexual people are being done in dark corners and, with corruption and paying bribes, they will be kept there for a long time, for it is not on the top of our priorities list, which is occupied by issues of terror, kidnapping and killing," said the judge, who would not allow his name to be used discussing gays. An adviser to the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that of all the meetings he has attended, none ever touched on the rights--or even the existence--of homosexual Iraqis.

<snip>

http://www.newsweek.com/id/155656

 
So, radical Islamic militia, who've been fighting against the US, are now targeting gheys in Baghdad. Any bets on who the DUmp blames?

DCKit  (1000+ posts)       Wed Aug-27-08 05:22 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Fundamentalists, and the perversion of religion to suit their agenda. 
 Our American Taliban would be no different if given the opportunity.

TechBear_Seattle  (1000+ posts)       Wed Aug-27-08 08:04 PM
Response to Original message
3. "It's open season on homosexuals and others who infuriate religious hardliners"
 Wow, we are turning Iraq into the United States.

94114_San_Francisco  (1000+ posts)       Thu Aug-28-08 04:16 AM
Response to Original message
4. Relief agency "IRAQI LGBT" link here (mentioned in article but no link provided):
 Edited on Thu Aug-28-08 04:33 AM by 94114_San_Francisco
They were hunting gays.

It's hard to know how to respond to these stories from Iraq. It's chilling. Absolutely chilling. Evil of this sort just cleaves me from humanity. I can barely articulate how it makes me feel.

And there's this other disturbing element for me, like some sort of transcultural trauma that all LGBT people would recognize or somehow relate to.

It's not like gay people aren't hunted here in America. From anti-gay marriage amendments to mockery on internet message boards; we're hunted, too. How else would you describe the LGBT people who fear for their security (or lives) right here in the good ol' U.S. of A.? I'm in no way trying to trivialize the horrors faced by gays in Iraq -- far from it. I suppose I'm trying to point out the indifference people like us face in America on a daily basis. Not to mention the contempt. Our culture is perfectly comfortable persecuting and disenfranchising LGBT people. If they weren't -- it wouldn't be happening.

The least I could do was look up the donations link to the Iraqi LGBT group mentioned in the article -- the one that provides financial support to the safe houses set up to protect these "hunted" men in Iraq. Here it is:

http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com /

I ask you, am I wrong to believe it's immoral to be complicit in any permutation of homophobia? I have such a low tolerance for it myself, especially in these "progressive" little corners of the internet like DU.

 
Yeah...The Baptist Church is breaking into your homes and executing you in front of your families.


****ing idiots.

[USA4ME]

94114_San_Francisco

It's not like gay people aren't hunted here in America.  From anti-gay marriage amendments to mockery on internet message boards; we're hunted, too.

.

[GOBUCKS]

Many officials say they feel that in a country at war, there are more pressing concerns than gay rights.

 

Oh, man, I'm losing my breath here!! Please, please, they meant that to be funny, right???

[JohnnyReb]

Many officials say they feel that in a country at war, there are more pressing concerns than gay rights.

 

Oh, man, I'm losing my breath here!! Please, please, they meant that to be funny, right???

I think that was power speaking truth to DUmmies......sometimes called "commonsense".

[Bondai]

....and exactly what is wrong with how gays are treated in Iraq? 

[Chris_]

I have YET to get a clear answer from the gays:

Why two people?  It isn't about procreation, therefore it isn't about sex.

Why can't a father/daughter marry?  It isn't about sex so genetic anomalies aren't at issue.  Same for Mother/son, father/son, mother/daughter, et. seq.

So, now, any number of any sex, irrespective if sex nor blood relationship should be allowed to marry.

What public policy does this advance?  The nuclear family as a stable cornerstone of every modern culture is an argument against. 

What are the arguments for?  C'mon lurkers -- sign on and answer.  I will personally stand between you and WE and Reb (who are pretty cool, anyway).

We await your response.

[GOBUCKS]

any number of any sex, irrespective if sex nor blood relationship should be allowed to marry

Finally, you're starting to overcome your bigotry and appreciate the beauty and justice of the democrat philosophy, as will be implemented by our Dear Leader, the Obamessiah, B. Hussein (pbuh).

You think that's hyperbole, but give him a handful of appointments to the Supreme Court, and it is reality.

[Splashdown]

any number of any sex, irrespective if sex nor blood relationship should be allowed to marry

Finally, you're starting to overcome your bigotry and appreciate the beauty and justice of the democrat philosophy, as will be implemented by our Dear Leader, the Obamessiah, B. Hussein (pbuh).

You think that's hyperbole, but give him a handful of appointments to the Supreme Court, and it is reality.

Aren't there DUmmies who call themselves "pan-sexuals"? kinda covers all of that.

[TheSarge]

So, radical Islamic militia, who've been fighting against the US, are now targeting gheys in Baghdad. Any bets on who the DUmp blames?

The same militia I might add...that the DUmp lustily cheer FOR against the U.S. Army.

94114_San_Francisco

It's not like gay people aren't hunted here in America.  From anti-gay marriage amendments to mockery on internet message boards; we're hunted, too.

Bull-****ing-shit!  Looks DUmmie what you do in your bedroom is your own damn business.  Personally I believe it's a sin but as long as you keep it in your bedroom I'm cool.  I certainly wouldn't want to offend your gheyness by forcing you to accept the heterosexual tendencies.


But where you and the rest of the Ghey community piss off 99.9% of the people in America is when you try to force feed us your lifestyle choice and tell us that it's "normal" and "natural" and then try to indoctrinate our kids in school with your "Bobby has two mommies" story time CRAP!

You aren't hunted....you aren't singled out.


You MAKE yourself a target and YOU put yourself out there in the spotlight.

Don't come back bitching when the attention you get is NOT the kind you were hoping for.

[terry]

94114_San_Francisco  (1000+ posts)       Thu Aug-28-08 04:16 AM
Response to Original message
4. Relief agency "IRAQI LGBT" link here (mentioned in article but no link provided):
 Edited on Thu Aug-28-08 04:33 AM by 94114_San_Francisco
They were hunting gays.

It's hard to know how to respond to these stories from Iraq. It's chilling. Absolutely chilling. Evil of this sort just cleaves me from humanity. I can barely articulate how it makes me feel.

And there's this other disturbing element for me, like some sort of transcultural trauma that all LGBT people would recognize or somehow relate to.

It's not like gay people aren't hunted here in America. From anti-gay marriage amendments to mockery on internet message boards; we're hunted, too. How else would you describe the LGBT people who fear for their security (or lives) right here in the good ol' U.S. of A.? I'm in no way trying to trivialize the horrors faced by gays in Iraq -- far from it. I suppose I'm trying to point out the indifference people like us face in America on a daily basis. Not to mention the contempt. Our culture is perfectly comfortable persecuting and disenfranchising LGBT people. If they weren't -- it wouldn't be happening.

You read the OP and then you bring up anti-gay marriage amendments, and mockery on a message board.   Yea that's exactly the same.   I bet guy in the op is so glad he gets to live in the middle east and only has to deal with crazy militias.   He would really be miserable if he had to live here where people might mock him on the internet.  

You are absolutely trivializing.

[comradebillyboy]

94114_San_Francisco

It's not like gay people aren't hunted here in America.  From anti-gay marriage amendments to mockery on internet message boards; we're hunted, too.

.

oh look, you are mocking the poor chap!