Six gay men have been killed over a period of 10 days, according to an Iraqi official.
In two separate incidents, the men were disowned by their families before their tribes pursued and executed them.
The report comes in the midst of increasing awareness of homophobia and anti-gay violence in countries such as Jamaica and Uganda.
This is not the time for such deafening silence from ex-gay ministries.
Silence speaks a thousand words: “If you do not want this to happen to you, then just ‘change'”. Unfortunately, there is nothing they can do to stop this escalating violence except stepping back. In such countries, they can be killed by only being perceived as homosexuals.
Stop the hate. Then the killings will stop. It’s far too complicated for these “tribes” to understand.
I’m no cheerleader for ex-gay ministries but there really isn’t any reason to believe that Exodus support anti-gay violence.
Where do you get the impression that they want these killings to stop, Phil? They seem to want the gays to stop existing, particularly if they are part of their own family (tribe).
Joe, Dave said:
Now think candidly about this; how silent do you suppose Exodus would be if even one pastor had been simply arrested for preaching an anti-gay sermon over there?
Now you have an idea of their priorities.
Based on their behavior in Uganda and since, there’s no reason to believe they don’t support anti-gay violence.
Randy thinks he alone can save the LGBTQ of Uganda, but that was so last month’s topic. As the situation deteriorates, he’s been slient.
David,
All I’m saying is – Calm down. You have your reasons for disliking Exodus but they do not support anti-gay violence.
Calm down, is that a joke? I guess candid was a little much to ask for.
Tribalism is mostly to blame for this, as well as religion. So how can we really get rid tribalism in the middle east? Sadly, you cannot make an omelette without breaking some eggs. I think the only solution is the subjugation of these tribes by a totalitarian power in the mold of the Ceauşescu regime (can you believe that most Romanians at end of the regime didn’t even know about Dracula) for a paradigm shift to occur, and not regional tributes that Hussein imposed on the tribes. This would be the way to dismantle archaic values and mores, while inducing values of freedom among an opressed populace. Once that occurs, the regime needs to be overthrown. I think this is what’s actually occuring in dense areas of Iran. It seems that most Iranian youths are fed up with the Ayatollahs.
Sadly, news like this is far too common out of Iraq these days.
What happens overseas, both in places like Iraq and in Uganda, bear watching. When groups like Exodus Ministries, NARTH, etc. journey overseas to advocate their ‘change’, they bear some responsibility. After all, why is it necessary to ‘change’ if being gay isn’t a problem?
They contribute to the message that it is not okay to be gay, that there is something wrong with gays. Whether they intend to provoke the violence that erupts in these places, their basic message is the same as the people committing the violence: It is wrong to be gay.
That message is absolutely the wrong one to send, but it is necessary to their belief system or there would be no reason to change.
Not only are ex-gay ministries ignoring the gay murders in Iraq, so is a ” Bay Area Queer Activist” group called QUIT (www.QuitPalestine.org)
At it’s website, QUT promotes & perpetrates vandalism of Bay Area businesses “in solidarity” with the Palestinian people.
QUIT has organized boycotts of Pride events in Israel, and has disrupted Pride events in San Francisco.
QUIT has organized boycotts of Eytan Fox, an openly gay Israeli
film director whose work is about building bridges between gay Israelis & Gay Palestinians.
QUIT does not want bridges to be built.
QUIT ignores the murders of LGBT Arabs, and in fact, does NOTHING to promote LGBT rights or unity, EVER.
Imagine what QUIT could accomplish if they put all that anger & rage into fighting Prop 8 or saving the lives of gay Iraqis.
Shockingly, the San Francisco Bay Guradian & the SF Bay Times (the latter an LGBT weekly) gives QUIT positive press coverage!
In the aftermath of Prop 8, and the anti-gay violence in Iraq, Jamaica & Uganda , it’s time to stop giving our own traitors a free pass.
Those who do not support LGBT rights, lives & unity should be told that there’s no longer a place for them at the table.
It’s time to start saving LGBT lives.
David N,
Whatever one’s views may be about the status of Palestine/Israel’s involvement etc — and what are or are not appropriate times and places for protesting — QUIT’s stance is perfectly clear regarding official use of the death penalty and about persecution of GLBT people in areas under Palestinian control. They are against both.
I agree, this is not the time/place to discuss the Middle East conflict.
My post was about QUIT’s behavior.
Yes, I saw their statement “condeming” the violence against gay men in the West Bank.
Those are hollow words.
QUIT, who makes regular trips to the West Bank, has done NOTHING to help save the lives of gay Arabs who are being murdered by Arab governments.
Here in the Bay Area, QUIT has a long history of vandalism, and of disrupting Pride events~~they use the word “Queer” to justify this.
QUIT’s “occupation” of a Starbuck’s in Berkeley~~documented at their website~~was childish.
Imagine what QUIT could accomplish if they put all that rage into saving the lives of LGBT Arabs in Iraq & the West Bank~~something I’m more than willing to do
I’d be willing to go before US immigration & personally sponsor 1 gay Iraqi & 1 gay Palestinian for immigration to the USA~~a far more productive thing to do than “occupy” Starbuck’s.
I’ve never even heard of QUIT, but this is Ex-Gay Watch. There are plenty of GLBT blogs available to take them to task. Doing so here and now dilutes our limited resources and focus. There are few blogs doing what we do, specifically monitoring the ex-gay movement. You write for TWO David, surely you can deal with this on your own turf without introducing the Mideast conflict in a place where it is way off topic.
If you want to hold QUIT accountable for whatever you think they did or didn’t do, write an article at TWO, where I am sure others would take notice and comment.
Hi, I am writing a piece on this for TWO.
I didn’t mean to be disruptive here: I just feel so fired up about the murders in Iraq & want to see something done to help them.
Thank-you David N, and we will look forward to it. Even if the piece you’re writing is largely a critique of QUIT, I hope you may also have some ideas about how better to (as example) both advance the political rights of Palestinians as a whole and at the same time advance the social rights of GLBT people in those highly conservative communities.
Those may not be your positions, as such, but they are very good example of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. That is a topic we do run into a lot at ExGayWatch!
ps We acknowledge Israel as a progressive country regarding GLBT rights etc — even by World standards, let alone compared to the nations around them.
(And I’m not even TOUCHING the ‘queer’ naming issue!!!)
I understand. I just don’t want a tangent of those proportions to get started!
Grant:
I’d be happy to discuss the MIddle East conflict in private emails.
Please click my name: that will lead you to my blog where you can email me.
I think you’ll find me to be quite moderate on those issues.
But I cannot be moderate when LGBTs are being murdered.
We need to do something to save our people’s lives~~that will always be my top priority.
RE: the word Queer: what people call themselves is of no concern to me.
Queer, gay, lesbian, LGBT, whatever, all are fine & valid.
But when a group uses a word to justify acts of vandalism, well, that’s
not OK.