Vigil gathers outside the Brighton Pavilion

The relative freedom in a newly democratic Iraq and the recent improvement in security have allowed a gay subculture to flourish, however the response has been swift and deadly from the authorities.

In the past two months, the bodies of as many as 25 boys and men suspected of being gay have turned up in the huge Shiite enclave of Sadr City. Several have been found with the word ‘pervert’ in Arabic on notes attached to their bodies.

Some Iraqis are enjoying freedoms that were unthinkable two years ago. A growing number of women walk the streets unveiled, a few even daring to wear dresses above the knee.

The reality, however, is that Iraq remains religious, conservative — and still violent.

“Homosexuality is against the law, and it’s disgusting” said Lt. Muthana Shaad, at a police station in the Karada district, a neighborhood that has become popular with gay men.

For the past four months, he said, officers have been engaged in a “campaign to clean up the streets and get the beggars and homosexuals off them.”

He also said that gay men can only be arrested if they are seen engaging in sex, and continued:
“These people, we make sure they can’t get together in a coffee shop or walk together in the street — we make them break up.”

Publicly, the Iraqi police have acknowledged only the deaths of six gay men in the neighborhood. But privately, police officials say the figure is far higher.

The chief of a Sadr City police station, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said family members had probably committed most of the Sadr City killings.

He said:
“Our investigation has found that these incidents are being committed by relatives of the gays — not just because of the militias,” he said. “They are killing them because it is a shame on the family”

Abu Muhaned al-Diraji, a Sadrist official in Sadr City, said the clerics were in no way encouraging people to kill gay men.

He continued:
“All we are doing is giving advice to people to take care of their sons.”

One thing is for certain- we will continue to hear of the relationship between homosexuality and Iraq.

For more information about Iraqi LGBT view:
iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com