How Gay Syrians Are Usg Pri to Fight Intolerance (and ISIS) – The Hollywood Reporter

Contents:

• THE DOUBLE THREAT FOR GAY MEN SYRIA
• HOW GAY SYRIANS ARE USG PRI TO FIGHT INTOLERANCE (AND ISIS)
• UNR ISIS: WHERE BEG GAY IS PUNISHED BY DEATH
• THE SECRET, HYPOCRIL GAY WORLD OF ISISKILLERSISIS MURRED A 15-YEAR-OLD ACCED OF BEG GAY BUT SPARED THE LIFE OF HIS ‘RAPIST,’ A SENR JIHADI MANR. WHAT LI BEHD THE BTAL DOUBLE STANDARD?TIM TEEMANSENR EDOR AND WRERUPDATED JUL. 12, 2017 6:13PM EDT / PUBLISHED JAN. 06, 2016 12:01AM EST PHOTO ILLTRATN BY THE DAILY BEASTTHE MURR OF A 15-YEAR-OLD TEENAGER, THROWN TO HIS ATH BY ISIS FOR BEG GAY, NOT ONLY REVEALS—YET AGA—THE TERROR GROUP’S MURRO HOMOPHOBIA, BUT ALSO THE HYPOCRISY THAT EXISTS ALONGSI .A SENR MANR OF THE SO-LLED ISLAMIC STATE, NAMED REPORTS AS ABU ZAID AL-JAZRAWI, WAS HAVG SOME KD OF RELATNSHIP WH THIS AS-YET-NAMELS 15-YEAR-OLD, BUT THE MORE SENR MAN WAS NOT KILLED.INSTEAD, AL-JAZRAWI WAS REPORTEDLY FLOGGED, AND FORCED TO LEAVE SYRIA AND JO THE FIGHTG ONTS NORTHWTERN IRAQ.THE BOY, KILLED DEIR EZ-ZOR, SYRIA’S SEVENTH-LARGT CY, IS NOT THE FIRST TO BE MURRED SUCH A MANNER: THE IMAG OF MEN, ACCED AND SPECTED OF BEG GAY, BEG THROWN TO THEIR ATHS OM TALL BUILDGS HAS BEE BTALLY FAIAR. ON TUDAY, THE U.K.-BASED SYRIAN OBSERVATORY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, TOLD THE INPENNT THAT AT LEAST 25 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED BY ISIS FOR BEG GAY: SIX STONED, THREE SHOT THE HEAD, AND 16 THROWN OM HIGH-RISE BUILDGS.OF THE 15-YEAR-OLD’S KILLG, “THE HORRIFIC EXECUTN TOOK PLACE ONT OF A LARGE CROWD,” A LOL MEDIA ACTIVIST AND AN EYEWNS TOLD SYRIAN NEWS AGENCY ARA NEWS.“THE BOY WAS ACCED OF BEG ENGAGED A HOMOSEXUAL RELATN WH THE PROMENT ISIS OFFICER ABU ZAID AL-JAZRAWI,” MEDIA ACTIVIST SARAI AL-D TOLD THE AGENCY. THE SHARIA COURT DEIR EZ-ZOR REPORTEDLY SAID THAT ABU ZAID SHOULD, LIKE THE BOY, DIE FOR BEG GAY, BUT ISIS MANRS MAND HE BE SENT TO FIGHT IRAQ STEAD.SUBHI NAHAS, A GAY SYRIAN WHO PED THE UNTRY FEARG FOR HIS LIFE, AND WHO A HISTORY-MAKG SPEECH ADDRSED THE UNED NATNS LAST YEAR ABOUT LGBT PERSECUTN SYRIA, TOLD THE DAILY BEAST THAT THERE WERE POSSIBLE CULTURAL REASONS BEHD THE MURR OF ONE YOUNG MAN AND THE REPRIEVE OF HIS OLR SEXUAL PARTNER, SCRIBED AS THE TEEN’S “RAPIST” SOME REPORTS.“A TRADN WHICH ADULT MAL ENGAGED SEXUAL PLEASURE WH PRE-PUBCENT BOYS--GHELMAN--CLUDG HERMAPHRODIC BOYS, HAS EXISTED BEFORE THE CREATN OF ISLAM," NAHAS SAID. "BEE THE ENUNTERS DIDN'T RULT PREGNANCI, THEY BEME MORE MONPLACE AFTER ISLAM HAD TAKEN ROOT."THE SCRIPTNS OF THE 15-YEAR-OLD’S RELATNSHIP WH THE MANR ARE NTRADICTORY: IT HAS BEEN VARLY SCRIBED AS A “SEXUAL RELATN” AND “RAPE.” HOW NSENSUAL OR ERCIVE THE RELATNSHIP WAS IS UNCLEAR, AS IS THE NATURE OF THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN THE OLR AND YOUNGER MAN. “CULTURALLY, POST THE FORMATN OF ISLAM, PEOPLE RELATED HOMOSEXUALY TO PEDOPHILIA,” SAID NAHAS, NOW AN ACTIVIST WH THE ORGANIZATN FOR REFUGE, ASYLUM & MIGRATN (ORAM). “NO DISTCTN IS DRAWN BETWEEN THE TWO. IF SOMEBODY RAPED A BOY THEY LLED HIM A HOMOSEXUAL, NOT A PEDOPHILE. MAYBE THIS MANR HAD A KD OF WAIVER GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS PEERS. THEY THK, ‘HE DO GREAT THGS FOR PEOPLE. WE NNOT KILL HIM, BUT WE NEED A SPEGOAT, THE BOY.’“THEY DON’T LL THIS RELATNSHIP OR [THE] MEN ‘GAY,’” SAID NAHAS. “IF A MAN HAS SEX WH ANOTHER MAN, THE TWO PARTI ARE THE RECEPTIVE ONE AND THE ‘SERTER.’ IF YOU’RE THE RECEPTIVE PARTY, YOU’RE DOOMED. YOU’RE SEEN AS SODOMIZED, SOMEONE HAS DONE THIS TO YOU, YOU’RE THE ABOMATN. IF YOU’RE THE SERTER, YOU ARE NTROL, YOU’RE FUNCTNAL, YOU N REPRODUCE.”NAHAS SAID THE SE WAS ALSO PUZZLG: HE HAD HEARD THAT WHILE ISIS WAS SPARG EFFEMATE GAY MEN “FOR THE PLEASURE OF OLR MEN,” THE “MASCULE” MEN SPECTED OF BEG GAY WERE BEG KILLED.IN THIS SE, APPEARED TO NAHAS THAT THE ISIS MANR’S SENRY POSSIBLY PROTECTED HIM. “THEY NEED A SPEGOAT, THEY NEED A BOY TO KILL. THERE SHOULD BE ANOTHER PART TO THIS STORY, BUT PEOPLE ARE NOT WILLG YET TO GIVE ANY RMATN BEE ’S VERY SENSIVE.”MICHAEL LUONGO, EDOR OF GAY TRAVELS THE MLIM WORLD, TOLD THE DAILY BEAST THAT THE MURR OF THE 15-YEAR-OLD SHOWED ISIS’S HYPOCRISY. “IT GO TO THE IA THAT SOME PARTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND OTHER CULTUR BEG THE PERATOR IS OK ‎BEE THAT IS NOT UNMANLY.”LUONGO ADD, “IF THE SEX WAS WH A 15-YEAR-OLD BOY I WOULD BE CERTA HE WAS THE ONE WHO WAS PERATED, WHO WAS RAPED. THE HYPOCRISY WOULD ALSO BE ADD TO THAT WOULD BE STARTED BY THE SIR OF THE GUY WHO WAS NOT HARSHLY PUNISHED, BY THE MANR.“WE HAVE SEEN THIS TYPE OF HYPOCRISY OTHER SO-LLED RELIG GROUPS SUCH AS THE TALIBAN. THE HORROR IS ADD TO BY THE SENSE THE 15-YEAR-OLD WAS SENTIALLY RAPED AND THEN MURRED FOR HIS HAVG BEEN RAPED.”NAHAS TOLD THE DAILY BEAST THAT GAY MEN JOED ISIS TO PROTECT THEMSELV AND THEIR FAI, SOMETIM REPORTG ON FELLOW GAYS TO NCEAL THEMSELV MORE EFFECTIVELY. “SOME NEW RECS REPORT IENDS THEY ED TO HAVE SEX WH, BEE THEY BELIEVE ’S THE RIGHT THG TO DO.”NAHAS SAID THAT ORAM WAS STILL TRYG TO TABLISH THE VERACY OF A WEBSE THAT APPEARED LAST YEAR THAT PURPORTED TO SHOW MEMBERS OF ISIS ENGAGED GAY SEXUAL ACTS AND POS.THE SE, NAHAS SAID, WAS TABLISHED BY AN ASYLUM SEEKER NOW EUROPE, AND WHILE SOME OF THE PHOTOS HAD BEEN PHOTOSHOPPED, OTHER TAILS—MEN WEARG A CERTA KD OF MOUFLAGE AND WH ISIS FLAGS THE BACKGROUND—SUGGTED SOME OF THE PICTUR WERE REAL, “BUT PEOPLE NNOT NFIRM THIS BEE THEY ARE AAID. WE DO KNOW OF REPORTS THAT GAY PEOPLE ARE ISIS, OR HAVG SEX WH MEMBERS OF THE IA.“IN DOG SO, THEY SECURE PROTECTN FOR THEMSELV, AND A SAFE HAVEN FOR THEIR FAI AND—IF THEY HAVE THEM—THEIR CHILDREN. AT THE SAME TIME THEY N HAVE SEX THE BACKGROUND. THEY KNOW THEY ARE PROTECTED. THEY ARE NOT VTIGATED. NOW THE MSAGE OF THIS LATT CINT IS, ‘IF YOU ARE SENR ENOUGH WH AND HAVG GAY SEX, YOU WILL NOT BE EXECUTED.’”SPEAKG FOR ORAM—FOUND 2008 AS “THE ONLY TERNATNAL ANIZATN VOTED SOLELY TO ADVOTG FOR LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND TERSEX (LGBTI) REFUGE FLEEG BTALIZATN DUE TO SEXUAL ORIENTATN OR GENR INTY”—NAHAS SAID SYRIA REMAED “VERY DANGERO” FOR GAYS.“WE HEAR OM PEOPLE WH SYRIA LOOKG FOR ANY WAY THEY N GET OUT, OR FD A WAY TO GET RETTLED. THEY ARE TOO AAID TO REPORT WHAT IS GOG ON. LOTS ARE BEG KIDNAPPED, LOTS ARE BEG KILLED. THEY ARE EHER SRED FOR THEIR LIFE, OR HAVE NO IA WHAT TO DO TO PE AND HOW TO DO .”NAHAS EMPHASIZED THAT THE DANGER TO LGBT PEOPLE SYRIA DID NOT JT E OM ISIS, BUT OM THE ERNMENT, AND OTHER GROUPS—EXTREME AND NOT.ANOTHER ANT ISLAMIC GROUP, AHRAR ASH-SHAM, ALSO TARGETED GAYS—AND A THIRD GROUP, WHICH NAHAS LLED THE JUDICIAL COURT ALEPPO, EXECUTED SEVEN PEOPLE ACCED OF BEG GAY AND OF BEG DG ERS, BY SHOOTG THEM THEIR HEADS. THE GROUP ALSO KILLED A 17-YEAR-OLD BOY, ACCED OF BEG GAY.“THE TARGETG OF GAY PEOPLE SYRIA IS LATG, EVEN BY GROUPS WHO SAY THEY ARE SECULAR,” SAID NAHAS. “THEY BELIEVE THAT GAY PEOPLE ARE ONE OF THE MA REASONS THERE IS WAR SYRIA, AND THEY NEED TO BE KILLED SO THE WAR N BE WON.”JT AS THE 15-YEAR-OLD THE MOST RECENT KILLG MIGHT HAVE BEEN A SPEGOAT, SO ARE LGBTS BEG TREATED AS SUCH MORE GENERALLY.NAHAS SAID HE KNEW OF BETWEEN 100 AND 125 LGBT SYRIANS TURKEY, AWAG RETTLEMENT ABROAD, AS HE HIMSELF EVENTUALLY SECURED LAST YEAR AFTER A PERILO AND TERRIFYG PE OM SYRIA.OF WATCHG THE UNFOLDG EVENTS FOR LGBT PEOPLE HIS HOME UNTRY, NAHAS, WHO NOW LIV THE U.S., SAID, “IT’S VASTATG. YOU FEEL PARALYZED. YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NNOT DO ANYTHG. AND YOU FEEL LIKE, ‘HOW AND WHY IS THIS HAPPENG AND WHAT LED TO ?’ YOU NNOT DO ANYTHG ABOUT , AND I NEED TO DO SOMETHG AND WANT TO DO SOMETHG, BUT THERE’S NOTHG I N DO.“I ALWAYS PUT MYSELF THEIR SHO AND ALWAYS THK, ‘THAT ULD BE ME, THAT ULD HAVE BEEN ME AT ANY MOMENT.’ THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH ROURC, AND GAYS ARE AAID AND SRED, AND THEY’RE BEG TARGETED AND KILLED.” NAHAS PSED. “IT’S JT TOO MUCH.” TIM TEEMAN
• MR GAY SYRIA
• EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
• AMID BRAZEN, ADLY ATTACKS, GAY SYRIANS TELL OF FEAR OF ISIS PERSECUTN

THE DOUBLE THREAT FOR GAY MEN SYRIA

Homosexualy⚢Vari by RegnGay Marriage⚭✖ UnregnizedCensorship✖ State-enforcedNon-bary genr regnn✖ Not legally regnizedDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsMilary✖ Don't Ask, Don't TellDonatg Blood✖ Banned (fe ferral)Conversn Therapy✖ Not bannedAge of ConsentVari by Regn. Homosexualy may technilly be illegal, there have been no nfirmed s of arrt and many homosexuals live openly certa regime held ci.

HOW GAY SYRIANS ARE USG PRI TO FIGHT INTOLERANCE (AND ISIS)

Servg openly ary Syria is don't ask, don't 't Ask, Don't Tell Homosexualy is illegal Syria, but no laws specify homosexualy as a dishonorable discharge or prohibn om ary donatns by MSMs Syria? Blood donatns by MSMs Syria is banned (fe ferral) (fe ferral) Syria, there were rtrictns on blood donatn by gay men due to ncerns about HIV transmissn.

People Human Rights Watch terviewed said that gay and bisexual men, transgenr women, and nonbary people were subject to creased vlence based on their actual or perceived sexual orientatn or genr inty. “Gay and bisexual men, transgenr women, and nonbary people said they were targeted for sexual vlence durg Syria’s nflict for beg perceived as ‘soft’.

” said Zeynep Pınar Erm, fellow the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights program at Human Rights Watch and thor of the report. Human Rights Watch nducted terviews Lebanon wh 40 gay and bisexual men, transgenr women, and nonbary dividuals, as well as four heterosexual men who experienced sexual vlence Syria. He told Human Rights Watch that he was not taed bee he was gay, but once his sexual orientatn was revealed, sexual vlence durg terrogatns creased drastilly:.

UNR ISIS: WHERE BEG GAY IS PUNISHED BY DEATH

Many of the victims are men and they have scribed how such vlence gets worse if they are nsired gay, or “soft” as the lol term translat. The more we spoke to survivors, the more we me to realize that the vlence seems to get much, much worse if they are perceived to be gay or “soft, ” which this ntext means they are seen as effemate. The more terviews we did, the more we unrstood the specific vulnerabili of gay men, bisexual men, transgenr women, and non-bary people when me to this type of you expla why transgenr women were clud this report?

THE SECRET, HYPOCRIL GAY WORLD OF ISISKILLERSISIS MURRED A 15-YEAR-OLD ACCED OF BEG GAY BUT SPARED THE LIFE OF HIS ‘RAPIST,’ A SENR JIHADI MANR. WHAT LI BEHD THE BTAL DOUBLE STANDARD?TIM TEEMANSENR EDOR AND WRERUPDATED JUL. 12, 2017 6:13PM EDT / PUBLISHED JAN. 06, 2016 12:01AM EST PHOTO ILLTRATN BY THE DAILY BEASTTHE MURR OF A 15-YEAR-OLD TEENAGER, THROWN TO HIS ATH BY ISIS FOR BEG GAY, NOT ONLY REVEALS—YET AGA—THE TERROR GROUP’S MURRO HOMOPHOBIA, BUT ALSO THE HYPOCRISY THAT EXISTS ALONGSI .A SENR MANR OF THE SO-LLED ISLAMIC STATE, NAMED REPORTS AS ABU ZAID AL-JAZRAWI, WAS HAVG SOME KD OF RELATNSHIP WH THIS AS-YET-NAMELS 15-YEAR-OLD, BUT THE MORE SENR MAN WAS NOT KILLED.INSTEAD, AL-JAZRAWI WAS REPORTEDLY FLOGGED, AND FORCED TO LEAVE SYRIA AND JO THE FIGHTG ONTS NORTHWTERN IRAQ.THE BOY, KILLED DEIR EZ-ZOR, SYRIA’S SEVENTH-LARGT CY, IS NOT THE FIRST TO BE MURRED SUCH A MANNER: THE IMAG OF MEN, ACCED AND SPECTED OF BEG GAY, BEG THROWN TO THEIR ATHS OM TALL BUILDGS HAS BEE BTALLY FAIAR. ON TUDAY, THE U.K.-BASED SYRIAN OBSERVATORY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, TOLD THE INPENNT THAT AT LEAST 25 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED BY ISIS FOR BEG GAY: SIX STONED, THREE SHOT THE HEAD, AND 16 THROWN OM HIGH-RISE BUILDGS.OF THE 15-YEAR-OLD’S KILLG, “THE HORRIFIC EXECUTN TOOK PLACE ONT OF A LARGE CROWD,” A LOL MEDIA ACTIVIST AND AN EYEWNS TOLD SYRIAN NEWS AGENCY ARA NEWS.“THE BOY WAS ACCED OF BEG ENGAGED A HOMOSEXUAL RELATN WH THE PROMENT ISIS OFFICER ABU ZAID AL-JAZRAWI,” MEDIA ACTIVIST SARAI AL-D TOLD THE AGENCY. THE SHARIA COURT DEIR EZ-ZOR REPORTEDLY SAID THAT ABU ZAID SHOULD, LIKE THE BOY, DIE FOR BEG GAY, BUT ISIS MANRS MAND HE BE SENT TO FIGHT IRAQ STEAD.SUBHI NAHAS, A GAY SYRIAN WHO PED THE UNTRY FEARG FOR HIS LIFE, AND WHO A HISTORY-MAKG SPEECH ADDRSED THE UNED NATNS LAST YEAR ABOUT LGBT PERSECUTN SYRIA, TOLD THE DAILY BEAST THAT THERE WERE POSSIBLE CULTURAL REASONS BEHD THE MURR OF ONE YOUNG MAN AND THE REPRIEVE OF HIS OLR SEXUAL PARTNER, SCRIBED AS THE TEEN’S “RAPIST” SOME REPORTS.“A TRADN WHICH ADULT MAL ENGAGED SEXUAL PLEASURE WH PRE-PUBCENT BOYS--GHELMAN--CLUDG HERMAPHRODIC BOYS, HAS EXISTED BEFORE THE CREATN OF ISLAM," NAHAS SAID. "BEE THE ENUNTERS DIDN'T RULT PREGNANCI, THEY BEME MORE MONPLACE AFTER ISLAM HAD TAKEN ROOT."THE SCRIPTNS OF THE 15-YEAR-OLD’S RELATNSHIP WH THE MANR ARE NTRADICTORY: IT HAS BEEN VARLY SCRIBED AS A “SEXUAL RELATN” AND “RAPE.” HOW NSENSUAL OR ERCIVE THE RELATNSHIP WAS IS UNCLEAR, AS IS THE NATURE OF THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN THE OLR AND YOUNGER MAN. “CULTURALLY, POST THE FORMATN OF ISLAM, PEOPLE RELATED HOMOSEXUALY TO PEDOPHILIA,” SAID NAHAS, NOW AN ACTIVIST WH THE ORGANIZATN FOR REFUGE, ASYLUM & MIGRATN (ORAM). “NO DISTCTN IS DRAWN BETWEEN THE TWO. IF SOMEBODY RAPED A BOY THEY LLED HIM A HOMOSEXUAL, NOT A PEDOPHILE. MAYBE THIS MANR HAD A KD OF WAIVER GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS PEERS. THEY THK, ‘HE DO GREAT THGS FOR PEOPLE. WE NNOT KILL HIM, BUT WE NEED A SPEGOAT, THE BOY.’“THEY DON’T LL THIS RELATNSHIP OR [THE] MEN ‘GAY,’” SAID NAHAS. “IF A MAN HAS SEX WH ANOTHER MAN, THE TWO PARTI ARE THE RECEPTIVE ONE AND THE ‘SERTER.’ IF YOU’RE THE RECEPTIVE PARTY, YOU’RE DOOMED. YOU’RE SEEN AS SODOMIZED, SOMEONE HAS DONE THIS TO YOU, YOU’RE THE ABOMATN. IF YOU’RE THE SERTER, YOU ARE NTROL, YOU’RE FUNCTNAL, YOU N REPRODUCE.”NAHAS SAID THE SE WAS ALSO PUZZLG: HE HAD HEARD THAT WHILE ISIS WAS SPARG EFFEMATE GAY MEN “FOR THE PLEASURE OF OLR MEN,” THE “MASCULE” MEN SPECTED OF BEG GAY WERE BEG KILLED.IN THIS SE, APPEARED TO NAHAS THAT THE ISIS MANR’S SENRY POSSIBLY PROTECTED HIM. “THEY NEED A SPEGOAT, THEY NEED A BOY TO KILL. THERE SHOULD BE ANOTHER PART TO THIS STORY, BUT PEOPLE ARE NOT WILLG YET TO GIVE ANY RMATN BEE ’S VERY SENSIVE.”MICHAEL LUONGO, EDOR OF GAY TRAVELS THE MLIM WORLD, TOLD THE DAILY BEAST THAT THE MURR OF THE 15-YEAR-OLD SHOWED ISIS’S HYPOCRISY. “IT GO TO THE IA THAT SOME PARTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND OTHER CULTUR BEG THE PERATOR IS OK ‎BEE THAT IS NOT UNMANLY.”LUONGO ADD, “IF THE SEX WAS WH A 15-YEAR-OLD BOY I WOULD BE CERTA HE WAS THE ONE WHO WAS PERATED, WHO WAS RAPED. THE HYPOCRISY WOULD ALSO BE ADD TO THAT WOULD BE STARTED BY THE SIR OF THE GUY WHO WAS NOT HARSHLY PUNISHED, BY THE MANR.“WE HAVE SEEN THIS TYPE OF HYPOCRISY OTHER SO-LLED RELIG GROUPS SUCH AS THE TALIBAN. THE HORROR IS ADD TO BY THE SENSE THE 15-YEAR-OLD WAS SENTIALLY RAPED AND THEN MURRED FOR HIS HAVG BEEN RAPED.”NAHAS TOLD THE DAILY BEAST THAT GAY MEN JOED ISIS TO PROTECT THEMSELV AND THEIR FAI, SOMETIM REPORTG ON FELLOW GAYS TO NCEAL THEMSELV MORE EFFECTIVELY. “SOME NEW RECS REPORT IENDS THEY ED TO HAVE SEX WH, BEE THEY BELIEVE ’S THE RIGHT THG TO DO.”NAHAS SAID THAT ORAM WAS STILL TRYG TO TABLISH THE VERACY OF A WEBSE THAT APPEARED LAST YEAR THAT PURPORTED TO SHOW MEMBERS OF ISIS ENGAGED GAY SEXUAL ACTS AND POS.THE SE, NAHAS SAID, WAS TABLISHED BY AN ASYLUM SEEKER NOW EUROPE, AND WHILE SOME OF THE PHOTOS HAD BEEN PHOTOSHOPPED, OTHER TAILS—MEN WEARG A CERTA KD OF MOUFLAGE AND WH ISIS FLAGS THE BACKGROUND—SUGGTED SOME OF THE PICTUR WERE REAL, “BUT PEOPLE NNOT NFIRM THIS BEE THEY ARE AAID. WE DO KNOW OF REPORTS THAT GAY PEOPLE ARE ISIS, OR HAVG SEX WH MEMBERS OF THE IA.“IN DOG SO, THEY SECURE PROTECTN FOR THEMSELV, AND A SAFE HAVEN FOR THEIR FAI AND—IF THEY HAVE THEM—THEIR CHILDREN. AT THE SAME TIME THEY N HAVE SEX THE BACKGROUND. THEY KNOW THEY ARE PROTECTED. THEY ARE NOT VTIGATED. NOW THE MSAGE OF THIS LATT CINT IS, ‘IF YOU ARE SENR ENOUGH WH AND HAVG GAY SEX, YOU WILL NOT BE EXECUTED.’”SPEAKG FOR ORAM—FOUND 2008 AS “THE ONLY TERNATNAL ANIZATN VOTED SOLELY TO ADVOTG FOR LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND TERSEX (LGBTI) REFUGE FLEEG BTALIZATN DUE TO SEXUAL ORIENTATN OR GENR INTY”—NAHAS SAID SYRIA REMAED “VERY DANGERO” FOR GAYS.“WE HEAR OM PEOPLE WH SYRIA LOOKG FOR ANY WAY THEY N GET OUT, OR FD A WAY TO GET RETTLED. THEY ARE TOO AAID TO REPORT WHAT IS GOG ON. LOTS ARE BEG KIDNAPPED, LOTS ARE BEG KILLED. THEY ARE EHER SRED FOR THEIR LIFE, OR HAVE NO IA WHAT TO DO TO PE AND HOW TO DO .”NAHAS EMPHASIZED THAT THE DANGER TO LGBT PEOPLE SYRIA DID NOT JT E OM ISIS, BUT OM THE ERNMENT, AND OTHER GROUPS—EXTREME AND NOT.ANOTHER ANT ISLAMIC GROUP, AHRAR ASH-SHAM, ALSO TARGETED GAYS—AND A THIRD GROUP, WHICH NAHAS LLED THE JUDICIAL COURT ALEPPO, EXECUTED SEVEN PEOPLE ACCED OF BEG GAY AND OF BEG DG ERS, BY SHOOTG THEM THEIR HEADS. THE GROUP ALSO KILLED A 17-YEAR-OLD BOY, ACCED OF BEG GAY.“THE TARGETG OF GAY PEOPLE SYRIA IS LATG, EVEN BY GROUPS WHO SAY THEY ARE SECULAR,” SAID NAHAS. “THEY BELIEVE THAT GAY PEOPLE ARE ONE OF THE MA REASONS THERE IS WAR SYRIA, AND THEY NEED TO BE KILLED SO THE WAR N BE WON.”JT AS THE 15-YEAR-OLD THE MOST RECENT KILLG MIGHT HAVE BEEN A SPEGOAT, SO ARE LGBTS BEG TREATED AS SUCH MORE GENERALLY.NAHAS SAID HE KNEW OF BETWEEN 100 AND 125 LGBT SYRIANS TURKEY, AWAG RETTLEMENT ABROAD, AS HE HIMSELF EVENTUALLY SECURED LAST YEAR AFTER A PERILO AND TERRIFYG PE OM SYRIA.OF WATCHG THE UNFOLDG EVENTS FOR LGBT PEOPLE HIS HOME UNTRY, NAHAS, WHO NOW LIV THE U.S., SAID, “IT’S VASTATG. YOU FEEL PARALYZED. YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NNOT DO ANYTHG. AND YOU FEEL LIKE, ‘HOW AND WHY IS THIS HAPPENG AND WHAT LED TO ?’ YOU NNOT DO ANYTHG ABOUT , AND I NEED TO DO SOMETHG AND WANT TO DO SOMETHG, BUT THERE’S NOTHG I N DO.“I ALWAYS PUT MYSELF THEIR SHO AND ALWAYS THK, ‘THAT ULD BE ME, THAT ULD HAVE BEEN ME AT ANY MOMENT.’ THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH ROURC, AND GAYS ARE AAID AND SRED, AND THEY’RE BEG TARGETED AND KILLED.” NAHAS PSED. “IT’S JT TOO MUCH.” TIM TEEMAN

But bee they didn’t nform to the nventnal ia of “manhood, ” the perpetrators who mted this vlence perceived them to be gay, or “soft” men.

We were told repeatedly that gay and bisexual men and transgenr women were subjected to sexual vlence tentn centers, at checkpots, and wh the Syrian army. Durg the nflict Syria, anybody uld be subjected to sexual vlence – men and women, heterosexual and gay, transgenr and cisgenr.

MR GAY SYRIA

It affects everybody, but seems to be exacerbated when the person is assumed to be a gay man, or when their sexual orientatn is disvered or uld their orientatn be disvered? If the European Unn and other ternatnal donors provid fundg for medil, mental health, and social support programs Lebanon for male survivors, cludg those who are gay or bisexual, and transgenr survivors of sexual vlence, uld be a way to tablish servic tailored to the specific needs of the survivors.

They should be served where they most feel fortable and receive trans affirmg servic wherever they there other factors that might make gay and bisexual men and transgenr women more vulnerable to this type of vlence? One survivor I spoke to, a gay man, told me that when his fay learned he was gay, his mother sent him text msag cludg terrible gay slurs. Yet many gay men there face a double threat: They’re beg persecuted by the Syrian army and by ant groups while their fai often reject them, or worse.

EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI

One uple, intified as gay based on text msag between them, were beaten, referred to pejoratively as “tante” (ntie) and for 10 nights were forced to strip and have sex wh each other ont of their Syrian army terrogators, who ed chalk to make up their fac. A 26-year-old told of beg bldfold and handcuffed to a ceilg by unintified men who said they were affiliated wh al-Qaeda and who tried to get him to reveal the nam of his gay iends. In addn to this abe, perpetrated by all parti to Syria’s nflict, more than half the gay Syrians whom Human Rights Watch terviewed told paful stori of fay rejectn, rangg om ostracism to vlence — and, five stanc, ath threats.

A 38-year-old baker, who left home 2007 when his fay found out he was gay, learned recently that his fay gave his name to the Islamist armed group Jabhat al-Nra.

In at least two s Human Rights Watch documented, gay men were subjected to anal exams by the Lebane Internal Secury Forc — spe lls om the Lebane doctors’ syndite and the jtice mister 2012 to abolish that practice, which amounts to torture. Humanarian assistance provirs and the Lebane ernment, wh the support of ternatnal donors, mt make sure gay Syrian refuge are receivg basic levels of assistance and protectn.

AMID BRAZEN, ADLY ATTACKS, GAY SYRIANS TELL OF FEAR OF ISIS PERSECUTN

It was solely about the se for terventn Syria has been ma by human rights groups for two years, wh women and gays at the foc. If 's this bad unr Bashar al-Assad's regime, which purports to be eely elected, unr extremist relig law implemented by the rebels, would gay men and lbians be put to ath, as is the se neighborg Iran? So for LGBT people who are unsure where they stand on Syria, the are the qutns for which you need answers: What will be done to protect gay and lbian people Syria if the Obama admistratn cis to attack?