2 gay Iraqi soldiers found love amid war -- then fled to the US | CNN

gay iraqi men

Miliamen are torturg and killg gay Iraqi men wh impuny a systematic mpaign that has spread om Baghdad to several other ci, a proment human rights group said a report.

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2 GAY IRAQI SOLDIERS FOUND LOVE AMID WAR. THEN THE ATH THREATS STARTED

Btoo Allami and Nayyef Hrebid ped persecutn om relativ for beg gay. Nearly a and two ntents later, they rned. * gay iraqi men *

ISIS, which held large swaths of Iraqi terrory until recently, has also targeted gay men, tossg many to their aths om tall buildgs. Even durg the days of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, when the US did not officially allow gay people to serve the ary, Hrebid says a base officer allowed them to spend time together at the Amerin base. Followg on om our report March, OutNews Global spoke exclively wh two gay men om Sulaymaniyah about what life is really like for LGBT+ people Iraq.

WHAT IS LIKE TO BE A GAY MAN LIVG IRAQ?

Ali Hili is a gay Iraqi whose ernment forced him to spy on other homosexuals. Now, after a darg pe om his home untry, Hili is dog everythg he n to make up for the past * gay iraqi men *

Forced to flee Kamaran* scrib life for a gay man Iraq as a relentls stggle: “It’s like beg between four walls and hidg who you are om the muny, and even yourself.

“There are still homophobic people that are also refuge om other untri, and once they know you are gay they make fun of you and verbally abe you. In a untry wh such strong relig and culture beliefs that ntue to fuel a fire of homophobia society, mt be challengg to meet other LGBT+ the first place?

THIS NEW MOVIE TELLS THE TORTURED LOVE STORY OF TWO GAY IRAQI SOLDIERS

Iraqi ias filtrate ter gay chatrooms to hunt their quarry – and hundreds are feared to be victims * gay iraqi men *

In the plac, beg gay is still seen as a s or disease to be routed out, which has taken the form of gay men beg hurled om the top of buildgs or stoned to ath. TIME spoke to the uple featured a film that spans a and four untri about what was like to grow up that part of the world, why they ma this film and how feels to watch gay refuge flee persecutn the Middle East now that they’re safe Washgton state.

And if they fd about [ beg gay], of urse we will get killed or be tortured to be exampl for others … It ma me feel like they’re tyg my hands and my legs and I nnot move. Like other sgers of a certa pathos, Dalida enjoyed a huge gay followg throughout the Middle East and pecially Baghdad the 1990s, when Hili worked as a DJ gay-iendly clubs at the Palte Hotel and the luxur al-Rashid Hotel.

DYG TO COME OUT: THE WAR ON GAYS IRAQ

* gay iraqi men *

From a crowd office London, they work to protect gays still si Iraq, where for more than a year, the midst of the wav of chaotic vlence, an pecially btal mpaign has been waged specifilly agast homosexuals. Then he found the unifyg thread: Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the sgle most powerful relig figure Iraq today—a man the Bh admistratn plays up as a partner peace and many have promoted for a Nobel Peace Prize—had posted a fatwa agast gays on his Web se October 2005.

HOW ISLAMIST GANGS E TER TO TRACK, TORTURE AND KILL IRAQI GAYS

Reports of ath squads and torture of gay men Iraq have been on the rise. In an article for New York Magaze, Matthew McAllter scrib the wave of attacks agast gays Iraq, and how a few New Yorkers have built an unrground railroad to rcue them. * gay iraqi men *

The Badr Organizatn is reportedly rponsible for many of the antigay crafted a prs release about the fatwa and received some mor media attentn.

And they tablished sixteen safe ho wh Iraq, where they shelter gays and transsexuals who n’t hi their sexual orientatn and are imment danger. They serted a hot metal object si me, and they damaged , “ he tells me softly, as if scribg a botched ntal, Hili’s lawyer, says his client was jt an ordary gay man and that they ed that fact to turn him to a spy.

Hili secured a short-term visa, but Turkey would be a ad end, a place where gays are no ls reviled and where the telligence agents were likely to fd them.

GROUP RCU GAY MEN TARGETED IN IRAQ

Iraqi Gays Targeted, Btally Killed: Human Rights Watch * gay iraqi men *

“ Eventually, they ved Hili to stay an apartment they owned, along wh a number of other gay men they’d met siar, before droppg him off for the night, they stopped at their bank and whdrew 1, 500 ros for him, a huge sum of money to be givg to a stranger.

But Dama tells me they’d done before and sce; they are llectors of people, pecially young gay men who are passg through their journey to eedom, of which there are no shortage Amsterdam, which has bee a major stopover on the gay unrground railroad. Mart Manalansan IV, thor of Global Divas, a book about the gay diaspora, says an astonishg and unrreported wave of gay migratn is unr way.

“There are massive groups of avowed, que visible, self-intified gays and lbians movg around the globe today, searchg for eedom, “ he says. “From day one, was obvly a se that had to be won, bee was 110 percent clear there was no way they uld live together as a uple Iraq, where no gay relatnship would be tolerated. Faiek, who worked the prostutn dtry as a transsexual madam, was a fixture Baghdad gay circl, always loud and fun and quick wh a lgh.

IRAQI GAYS TARGETED, BTALLY KILLED: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

He ma to Amman more reports kept g : Two teenagers were killed, reportedly for workg as gay prostut; an actor was holed up wh five others an impromptu shelter; another transgenred woman was assassated; a lbian uple om Najaf were sla.

He received omo letters at his new posn, as a program director at the Brish embassy Baghdad: They ced passag om the Koran and promised ath to homosexuals.

The movie tells the story of an Algerian-French heterosexual young man begng a soclogy study of gay islamic homosexuali and disverg gay love wh a young French steward.

TORTURED AND KILLED IRAQ FOR BEG GAY

Out Loud is the first film om Lebanon wh a gay theme that sets a new standard for cema om the Middle East the midst of the Arab Sprg. A documentary by Peter Barbosa and Garrett Lenoir, I Exist giv a voice to gay and lbian Amerins om the Middle East, who often rema silent out of shame and fear.

Filmed 12 untri and 9 languag, this documentary, directed by gay Mlim filmmaker Parvez Sharma, tells the lorful and varied stori of gay and lbian Mlims om all over the world. Enuraged by Sandra, Ama lnch a blog lled “A Gay Girl Damasc, ” reprentg a margalized voice the Middle East on polics, relign, and sexualy. In this portra that is multi-layered both terms of form and ntent, a gay man nonts the ghosts of his past and explor hidn longgs, unrequed love and tormentg feelgs of guilt.

In post-Fran Madrid where he lived an openly gay existence, his life rembled one long Almodóvarian y, full of excs and sexual taboo-breakg. After beg tranged om his fay for his homosexualy, we observe a young Arab man over four seasons and om far away as he navigat his solu – all the while attemptg to rennect wh his mother.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY IRAQI MEN

What is like to be a gay man livg Iraq? – .

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