Out of Iraq: The Dangero Story of Two Gay Soldiers | Time

Contents:

• 2 GAY IRAQI SOLDIERS FOUND LOVE AMID WAR. THEN THE ATH THREATS STARTED
• WHAT IS LIKE TO BE A GAY MAN LIVG IRAQ?
• THIS NEW MOVIE TELLS THE TORTURED LOVE STORY OF TWO GAY IRAQI SOLDIERS
• DYG TO COME OUT: THE WAR ON GAYS IRAQ
• HOW ISLAMIST GANGS E TER TO TRACK, TORTURE AND KILL IRAQI GAYS
• GROUP RCU GAY MEN TARGETED IN IRAQ
• IRAQI GAYS TARGETED, BTALLY KILLED: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
• TORTURED AND KILLED IRAQ FOR BEG GAY

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

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.

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?

WHAT IS LIKE TO BE A GAY MAN LIVG IRAQ?

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.

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

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

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.

“ 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.

DYG TO COME OUT: THE WAR ON GAYS IRAQ

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.

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

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. 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.

GROUP RCU GAY MEN TARGETED IN IRAQ

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.

IRAQI GAYS TARGETED, BTALLY KILLED: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

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. A short documentary that tells the stori of Mashrou’ Leila, a Lebane rock band wh an outspoken gay sger, and Sarah Hegazy, an Egyptian activist.

Between realy and animatn, the story of Nidhal is told, a young homosexual Tunisian who fend dividual eedoms Tunisia through his work rad. It's unknown how many homosexuals have been killed by ias the lawls streets of Iraq's ci, but some Web s post pictur of Iraqis they say were killed for beg gay.

TORTURED AND KILLED IRAQ FOR BEG GAY

One photo on the Iraqi Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr se shows a group of men standg around three male bodi sprawled on a street, blood pourg om their heads. "Armed Islamic groups and ias have been known to be particularly hostile toward homosexuals, equently and openly engagg vlent mpaigns agast them, " the report said, addg that homosexuals have been murred. "Milias are reportedly threateng fai of men believed to be homosexual, statg that they will beg killg fay members unls the men are hand over or killed by the fay, " said.

"Gay men and lbians Iraq face a lot of risks right now, bee homosexualy is sometim terpreted by people Iraq as beg a Wtern import, " said Stt Portman wh the Heartland Alliance, a group that promot human rights worldwi. "So they n sometim be targeted by surgent groups or ias, part, bee of animosy toward the Wt and, part, bee homosexualy is not well-accepted Iraqi society. "So often women will lie and protect the perpetrators, pecially if they are known to them, as they are sred to trigger a crimal vtigatn which might put them at risk of retributn, " she ptn, Sami's life improved after he moved to BaghdadHuman Rights Watch is also aware of stanc of sexual vlence perpetrated agast gay men and trans women Iraq - though seems that the too are often not reported to the police.

"The crim ntue to be unr-reported bee social norms do not allow for men to talk about the thgs, and the fact that reportg might also reveal that the victims are gay, which uld lead to more vlence and discrimatn. "If I were to pla about beg raped, the police are likely to see me not as a victim but might even put me jail bee I would be seen as a party to the cint, which would be seen as act of homosexualy - which is illegal, " he says. Stg on the floor, wearg tradnal Islamic cloth and holdg an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searchg ter chatrooms lked to gay webs.