Homosexuality in the "New" Iraq

A reporter from the NY Times recently wrote an article from Baghdad on the increasing killings of gay men in and around the city of Sadr. Since the recent development of democracy in the country as well as the heightening in security, many gay men and women have started to become more open about their sexuality by socializing in public and wearing clothes that more fit their personalities and lifestyles. However, with the coming out of many homosexual men, a lot of the rest of the population have become angry and appalled by the new surge in the openness of sexuality because of their highly conservative religious beliefs. Police officials and Clerics have openly spoken out against homosexuality saying it’s disgusting and against the law, and are trying to get people to help them root out homosexuality in Iraqi society. Radical groups have begun to kill gay men when walking on the streets, and even more shockingly the family of the gay men have started to shoot them, resulting in the death of at least 25 people in the past few months. The openly gay men affected have said that they are afraid to leave their homes for fear of being killed but still do because they need to live their lives. This type of persecution of homosexual individuals and the violence on the body self that is involved in the situation in Iraq today, is one that needs to be addressed in the near future before it becomes even more horrific than it is now. However what I find most intriguing about this whole situation is that many Americans see Iraq as a country that is being “saved” by the military presence that we have imposed upon them, when in reality they are killing their own people because of something so trivial as their alternative lifestyles.