Think Pink Radio

While doing my normal perusal of the weekly queer news, I came across a particularly interesting tidbit over at 365gay.com. Their reporters have broken a story about a disturbing case in Iraq where the government is considering releasing several thousand prisoners, with the notable exception of “terrorists” and “homosexuals.”

The new Iraqi government doesn’t have a particularly great track record for it’s treatment of LGBTQ people, and members of our community within the country have lives filled with constant fear over their own basic safety. In Iraq, queer people are viewed by the government to be less than human. This became evident in the government’s displeasure at a United Nations report on human rights, which attempted to total the number of civilian deaths in the country for 2006. The Iraqi government took issue with the number (34,452) and calling it “superficial” because it took queer people into account.

This is just the most recent news about the fate of LGBTQ people within Iraq since the American invasion. 365gay.com and others have reported roaming death squads within the “liberated” Iraq who target gay citizens. The UK based Pink News posted that gay men in Iraq have been tricked into setting up meetings with secret police in gay chat rooms, after which the men were executed. Meanwhile LGBTQ folks within Iraq routinely disappear without a trace, leaving their communities and loved ones no other option but to assume that they have been murdered.

Members of our community in Iraq know fear that few of us in the states can even comprehend. This is an issue that we need to be paying attention to, and seeking out news about even if it fails to be covered by the media giants. These are our dying people and if we don’t care, who will?

–Sassafras Lowrey