The Malawi gay couple at the centre of world attention following their arrest last year have been found guilty of "unnatural acts and gross indecency". They were arrested on 27 December, the day they celebrated their engagement with a party that drew crowds of curious onlookers.
They face a possible prison sentence of 14 years.
"The state has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the two were married," Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa said.
The judge convicted both men of engaging in gay sex which he said was "against the order of nature."
The Guardian quoted angry residents and relatives from Machinjiri township, where they live on the outskirts of Blantyre, saying they will not allow them to return home when they are set free.
One comment on the Nyasa Times website was typical:
"I have been waiting for this date to come and am a happy person ever, it shows that Malawi itself is not a colony anymore, it have its on power to reinforce the law without listening to all these useless countries."
Said another:
"I think sentencing them is under estimating the punishment, I would be the first to stone them given chance, how on earth can two men marry?"
But the Guardian also quotes a retired economist, Thindwa, saying: "we are giving them moral support by bringing them food, money and clothes to prison." The couple have also received support from others in Malawi including the lawyers association.
Peter Tatchell has been in continuous communication with them and has issued the following statement:
“This is an outrageous verdict. While Steven and Tiwonge freely confirmed their love for each other, there was was no credible evidence that they had committed any illegal homosexual acts."
“The law under which they were convicted is a discriminatory law that only applies to same-sex relations. It is unconstitutional. Article 20 of Malawi’s constitution guarantees equality and non-discrimination. The law in Malawi is not supposed to discriminate.”
“Malawi's anti-gay laws were not devised by Malawians. They were devised in London in the nineteenth century and imposed on the people of Malawi by the British colonisers and their army of occupation. Before the British came and conquered Malawi, there were no laws against homosexuality. These laws are a foreign imposition. They are not African laws."
“I expect both men will now appeal against the verdict and against any sentence that is handed down. Steven and Tiwonge’s best hope is that a higher court will overturn this unjust, cruel verdict."
“With so much hatred and violence in the world, it is bizarre that any court would criminalise two people for loving each other."
Sixty Members of Congress, led by Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), have issued a letter calling on President Obama and Congressional leaders to pass legislation which would end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) immigrant families. The statement, which comes from members of the LGBT Equality Caucus, urges passage of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) and for inclusion of “LGBT binational families in comprehensive immigration reform.” Under current immigration law, lesbian and gay Americans are unable to sponsor their partners for residency in the United States, resulting in many such families living separately, or facing imminent separation, from their loved ones.
“No one,” the letter insists, “should be forced to choose between the person they love and the country they call home. It is time that our immigration laws kept families together instead of tearing them apart.”
“Passage of immigration reform will require every family standing with their neighbors and loved ones to work for change,” said Rachel B. Tiven, Executive Director of Immigration Equality, a national organization that works to end discrimination in U.S. immigration law. “The LGBT Equality Caucus’s letter signals that our champions in Congress, and the LGBT community, are ready to work for passage of reform that includes all families, including LGBT families. There are more than 36,000 lesbian and gay binational families counting on us to get this work done.
The letter – spearheaded by Congresswoman Baldwin and Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Jared Polis (D-CO), Mike Honda (D-CA) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) – comes as Congress is expected to turn its attention to comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the near future. According to an analysis of U.S. census data, more than 36,000 lesbian and gay binational couples would benefit from an LGBT-inclusive immigration reform bill. Nearly half of those families, data show, are raising young children who face the possibility of being separated from one of their parents.
“Recognizing how important familes have been to our national development, the central mission of our immigration system has always been to reunify families.,” said Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). “In order to be true to that core value, comprehensive immigration reform must fix our system to include LGBT families. Failure to do so would leave us with a flawed system that continues to tear apart families, contrary to our legal and constitutional traditions.”
Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the lead House sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act, which would also end discrimination against LGBT binational families, agreed.
“We must take the government out of the business of singling out LGBT families for discriminatory treatment and live up to our democratic ideal of equality under the law,” Nadler said. “I join my colleagues in calling on Congress and the White House to include the Uniting American Families Act, which I have introduced in every Congress since 2000, in any immigration reform legislation, and end discrimination against binational LGBT families.
“There is simply no place for discrimination in America,” Congresswoman Baldwin added. “As we tackle comprehensive immigration reform, it’s imperative that we end discriminatory laws that hurt couples, their children and extended families, and their communities and employers.”
Immigration Equality has also significantly increased its legislative work on the issue, recently announcing the formation of a 501(c)4 Action Fund, to significant increase its lobbying work, and an expanded Washington, D.C. office.
“This is the moment,” Tiven said. “Introduction of comprehensive immigration reform legislation provides a unique opportunity to win a critical victory for LGBT families, and all families. We will work, non-stop, with our allies in the LGBT Equality Caucus, and the immigration rights movement, to do just that.”
GILLIBRAND, BALDWIN TO SEC. CLINTON: SAVE LGBT REFUGEES
LGBT Individuals Tortured and Killed in Iraq in 2009
No Proper Investigations, No Arrests for Crimes Against LGBT Individuals in Iraq
Take Action to Enforce Human Rights Laws to Protect Members of the LGBT Community in Countries Where Their Rights Are Abused.
Washington, D.C. – With hundreds of LGBT individuals being beaten, persecuted and even killed in Iraq, Iran and other countries, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), joined by 11 of their Senate colleagues and 31 of their House colleagues, today wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to work with U.S. Ambassadors, the United Nations and NGOs across the globe to enforce human rights laws that protect LGBT individuals in the countries where they are under threat. Where safe conditions are not possible, the U.S. and the UN must work with refugee and human rights groups to expedite refugees’ flight to safety.
According to Human Rights Watch, there is no official number of deaths since the killing of LGBT individuals began in Iraq, but the U.N. has provided rough estimates range in the hundreds in 2009 alone. Not one murder of an LGBT individual in Iraq has led to an arrest, according to Human Rights Watch.
“It is time for us in Congress to take a strong stand against all hate crimes and persecution – wherever they occur,” Senator Gillibrand said. “People in this world should not have to suffer or fear for their lives because of who they are or what they believe in. It is wrong and it must end. If Iraq, Iran and other countries are not providing the legal protections that members of their LGBT communities are entitled to, it is our duty to join with our partners in the international community, enforce the human rights laws that protect us all, and free LGBT individuals from persecution. While the ultimate goal is safe conditions in these countries, until that happens, the U.S., UN and the international community must ensure that LGBT refugees can reach safety in countries where they won’t face persecution”
“The lives of LGBT individuals in Iran and Iraq, as well as those LGBT refugees who have fled persecution, are in grave danger,” said Congresswoman Baldwin, Co-Chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus. “I know Secretary of State Clinton shares our concerns for human rights and I hope she will use the full force of her office to respond to the plight of Iraqi and Iranian LGBT refugees and urge the UNHRC to do the same,” Congresswoman Baldwin said.
“Senator Gillibrand’s letter highlights the difficulty that foreign lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) refugees face when their home countries, and their countries of first asylum, permit or condone discrimination and brutal attacks based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Secretary Clinton has said that LGBT rights are human rights and we agree. We look forward to working with the State Department and Senator Gillibrand to ensure that U.S. foreign policy strongly supports protecting the human rights of LGBT individuals abroad.”
“Today, these Members of Congress have presented a comprehensive set of recommendations that will help ensure the protection of individuals who flee persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity only to face further persecution and violence in the countries they have fled to in search of safe refuge,” said Human Rights First’s Eleanor Acer. “We praise their leadership on this issue, and urge the administration to implement these measures including a fast-track resettlement process for individuals facing serious protection risks.”
Gideon Aronoff, President & CEO of HIAS said, ““Refugees who have fled persecution on the basis of their sexuality are among the most vulnerable in the world, as persecution often follows them across borders from one country to the next. Additionally, in some parts of the world the LGBT population is at special risk because of strong cultural mores that reject and demonize all but traditional male/female relationships. For some, resettlement to the U. S. or another free country is the only life-saving solution, but neither the U.S. Refugee Program nor the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is adequately prepared to give LGBT refugees the access to safety which they so desperately need. The Congressional letter organized by Sen. Gillibrand to Secretary Clinton suggests sensible and concrete steps to save the lives of LGBT refugees, and we urge the Department of State to give these suggestions expeditious consideration.”
The letter is signed by:
Kirsten E. Gillibran, United States Senator
Patrick J. Leahy, United States Senator
Daniel K. Akaka, United States Senator
Jeff Bingaman, United States Senator
Sherrod Brown, United States Senator
Robert P. Casey Jr., United States Senator
Russell D. Feingold, United States Senator
Frank R. Lautenberg, United States Senator
Joseph L. Lieberma, United States Senator
Jeff Merkley, United States Senator
Charles E. Schumer, United States Senator
Ron Wyden, United States Senator
Tammy Baldwin, United States Representative
Jared Polis, United States Representative
Barney Frank, United States Representative
Jan Schakowsky, United States Representative
Jerrold Nadler, United States Representative
Michael M. Honda, United States Representative
Lois Capps, United States Representative
James P. Moran, United States Representative
Zoe Lofgren, United States Representative
David Wu, United States Representative
Edolphus Towns, United States Representative
Carolyn Maloney, United States Representative
Alcee Hastings, United States Representative
John Conyers, United States Representative
Luis Gutierrez, United States Representative
Bill Delahunt, United States Representative
Eliot Engel, United States Representative
Raúl M. Grijalva, United States Representative
Chellie Pingree, United States Representative
Joseph Crowley, United States Representative
Gary Ackerman, United States Representative
Anthony Weiner, United States Representative
Maurice Hinchey, United States Representative
Steven Rothman, United States Representative
James P. McGovern, United States Representative
Lynn Woolsey, United States Representative
Paul Tonko, United States Representative
Mike Quigley, United States Representative
Steve Israel, United States Representative
Howard Berman, United States Representative
Henry Waxman, United States Representative
Brad Sherman, United States Representative
Senator Gillibrand and Congresswoman Baldwin’s letter to Secretary Clinton is below:
WASHINGTON, January 21 – The Ugandan Anti Homosexuality Bill (2009) undermines very basic human rights, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of Congress heard this afternoon.
Julius Kaggwa of the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, who had flown-in from Uganda for today’s hearing, said that his group had been approached by many in his country who had received death threat.
And there was total silence in the hearing room at the US Congress when he told law-makers that he was himself a “personal victim” to both verbal and physical assault as were gays who often suffered daily.
“Our rights as human are universal,” he told the hearing, adding that the character of Uganda and the rights of its citizens were at stake.
Mr Kaggwa pointed out that sexual minorities in Uganda were already excluded in HIV programmes – and the Bill makes the situation unimaginably worse.
“All in Uganda are affected,” he said.
Mr Kaggwa added that the Bill was not just a foreign policy issue. “It’s national issue affecting all Ugandans.”
Cary Alan Johnson, executive director if the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, told the hearing that the lack of unequivocal condemnation by the Ugandan Government had already caused grave damage.
The United States must maintain the pressure on Uganda, he insisted.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Karl Wycoff, who was representing the U.S. Department of State, told the hearing that the Bill not only constitutes serious threats to human rights in Uganda and the internationall reputation of country, but also compromises Aids work.
Rev. Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian Anglican priest was is currently project director at the progressive Boston ‘think tank’ Political Research Associates, said that Ugandans were fighting for their rights – and needed the support of the United States.
He reminded the Commission member of the deep US conservative evangelical influcene and support for the Bill.
Rev. Kaoma pointed out that since the anti gay seminar in Uganda last March, at which three American evangelicals, including Scott Lively, attendend, 14 known cases of arrest had occurred, including one death, on grounds of suspected homosexuality
Christine Lubinski of the HIV Medicine Association at the Infectious Diseases Society of America said that 1500 doctors were outraged by Bill and its threat to combat HIV.
“Silence equals death,” she said. “We have a responsibility to ensure billions of USPEPFAR money is reaching those in need.
Representative Tammy Baldwin, who chaired the hearing, said that through their involvement in the Bill religious leaders were attempting to restrict human rights and that the Bill would put USPEPFAR in serious jeopardy.
“No modification of the Bill would make it palatable to those committed to social justice,” Ms Lubinski insisted.
And she went on to say that Uganda already had regressive laws affecting the LGBT community in the country.
Representative James McGovern said that the Bill, which would seriously limit HIV work, turns people into “sex spies”.
And he had a warning to the Ugandan authorities: “US Congress stands behind Mr. Kaggwa”. He added that he would be “watching for his security very closely”.
This report was compiled courtesy of Jirair Ratevosian, Deputy Director, Public Policy at The Foundation for AIDS Research, who was “tweeting” from the hearing.
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (WI-02) chairs a January 2010 Congressional hearing in strong opposition to pending legislation in Uganda that would outlaw homosexuality and make any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex punishable by prison or even death.
Baldwin, Polis, Frank Lead Opposition to Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill Send Letters to Presidents Obama and Museveni
In strong opposition to pending legislation in Uganda that would outlaw homosexuality and make any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex punishable by prison or even death, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, and Congressmen Jared Polis and Barney Frank, Co-Chairs of the Congressional Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Equality Caucus, joined by more than ninety of their colleagues, have sent letters to President Obama and Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
In the letters, the Members of Congress call the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009 “the most extreme and hateful attempt by an African country to criminalize their LGBT community.” The Members asked President Obama to use his “personal leadership, and that of our country, in seeking to deter these legislative proposals,” and warned President Museveni that, “Should the bill be passed, any range of bilateral programs important to relations between our countries and, indeed, to the Ugandan people inevitably would be called under review.”
The Ugandan legislation would increase the penalty for same-sex sexual acts to life in prison, limit the distribution of information on HIV by criminalizing the “promotion of homosexuality,” and establish the crime of “aggravated homosexuality” punishable by death for anyone in Uganda who is HIV positive and has consensual same-sex relations. Further, the bill includes a provision that could lead to the imprisonment for up to three years of anyone who fails to report to the government within 24 hours the identities of everyone they know who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, or who supports human rights for people who are.
“The pending Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda is an appalling violation of human rights and it behooves us, as Americans and Members of Congress, to do all we can to prevent its passage,” said Congresswoman Baldwin. “We fervently hope that President Obama will use the full force of his office to oppose this hateful and life-threatening legislation in Uganda and send a clear message to other countries that such discrimination must not be tolerated. And, we hope that Ugandan President Museveni recognizes that this legislation is morally untenable and politically harmful to his nation,” Baldwin said.
“This is nothing more than the institutionalization of hatred and bigotry and it must be stopped,” said Congressman Polis. “Governments should promote peace within their people, not instill unconscionable discrimination, which will undoubtedly lead to human rights violations. I strongly encourage Presidents Obama and Museveni to do everything in their powers to prevent it from becoming law,” Polis said.
“Having accepted debt relief from the international community only a few years ago, Uganda has an obligation to show some respect for basic human rights,” said Congressman Frank. “Vicious unleashing of persecution of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people should and will be an obstacle to any future Congressional initiative to provide aid to that country,” Frank added.
The letter to President Obama expresses the Members’ serious concerns about the grave injustice occurring in Uganda and other countries that are taking steps to criminalize or otherwise severely discriminate against the LGBT communities and asks the President to speak out publicly against this proposed legislation to bring further attention to the issue.
The letter to Ugandan President Museveni urges him to use every means possible to convey to leaders in Parliament that this draconian legislation is reckless in both intent and potential impact and should be withdrawn immediately.
This week Shirley Tan, her partner Jay Mercado, and sons Jashley and Jorienne pressed Congress and the White House for equal immigration rights for gay and lesbian binational families.
The Tan-Mercado family met with several members of Congress, the staff of numerous additional Congressional offices, and, in a West Wing meeting, White House staffers to press for new cosponsors for the Uniting American Families Act and the House Reuniting Families Act, as well as for inclusion of lesbian and gay binational families in comprehensive immigration reform.
Members and hill staff commended the family on – and thanked them for – their advocacy. They made it clear that they will not soon forget the family’s story or the plight of tens of thousands of other families like them. Supportive members told the family that they will continue to prioritize ending discrimination against LGBT immigrant families.
With Senator Dianne Feinstein
With Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcano. The United Methodist Church has endorsed UAFA and the Reuniting Families Act.
Iraqi gays condemn Obama/Clinton inaction on pogrom Embassy statement 'offensive and insulting'
03.06.09
For immediate use
A group representing Iraqi lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people (LGBT) has spoken of their deep anger and offence at a statement by the Baghdad US Embassy concerning the violence and murder campaign against gays.
In a response to US Rep. Jared Polis, following a meeting with Iraqi government officials, chargé d’affaires Patricia Butenis said "We have no evidence that [the Iraq government's] security forces are in any way involved with these militias."
Iraqi LGBT has been reporting for four years on police involvement with the terror campaign.
Group members speaking from Iraq said that they are "fed up with such 'political' words" and that the Americans are doing nothing to stop the terror campaign against them. They believe that the priority for Hillary Clinton's State Department and Obama's administration is to not upset the Iraqi government as they have no other allies within the country.
They believe that no-one is trying to help them and feel that the current timid diplomacy "will not do much good".
"These words from the American embassy are insulting to us, our lives in Iraq and to those many friends of ours who have died. This statement is evidence that the Iraqi government is doing nothing to protect its citizens."
"They are responsible for these crimes through bringing no one to justice, refusing to acknowledge their police's involvement and providing no rights for Iraqi LGBT in law."
"People should not forget that what's happening in Iraq right now is a direct result of the unlawful US invasion."
Scott Long, director of Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program, has also criticism the State Department. In an interview with EdgeBoston, responding to State spokesperson John T. Fleming's pointed statement that 'homosexuality is not a crime in Iraq', Long responded that the fact that homosexuality is not a crime punishable by death "would be an interesting fact if the law, or the rule of law, mattered in Iraq."
Long has just returned from a fact-finding mission to Iraq where he spoke to 25 survivors from Baghdad and other cities, including Najaf, Basra and Samarra.
As a consequence of what they found, Human Rights Watch has been organizing ways for as many LGBT Iraqis as possible to get out of the country.
Colorado U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, who has spoken about Iraqi government involvement with the violence, has written with Reps. Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank to U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill.
"As LGBT Americans and cochairs of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, we are disturbed and shocked at allegations that Ministry of the Interior Security Forces may be involved in the mass persecution and execution of LGBT Iraqis ... The persecution of Iraqis based on sexual orientation or gender identity is escalating and is unacceptable regardless of whether these policies are extrajudicial or state-sanctioned."
The letter called on the U.S. embassy in Iraq to "prioritize the investigation" of the allegations and work with the Iraqi government to end the executions of LGBT Iraqis. Polis is drafting another letter that would be signed by more members of Congress and sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Rep. Jared Polis has received a letter from Iraqi officials regarding reports of LGBT executions in the country, and he has sent a letter calling on the new U.S. ambassador to the country to investigate the charges.
After meeting with Iraqi officials earlier this month regarding the persecution of gays in Iraq, U.S. representative Jared Polis of Colorado has received a response letter from the Iraqi chargé d’affaires and has also initiated a new letter to the recently confirmed U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, that is cosigned by representatives Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin.
The letter from Iraqi chargé d’affaires Patricia Butenis denies any official government involvement in LGBT executions that have taken place but suggests some extra-governmental militias may have engaged in such violence.
"We have seen the international media report that, according to Amnesty International, as many as 25 men and boys were killed over the past few weeks by militia or relatives influenced by religious leaders who have publicly condemned homosexuality," Butenis wrote in a letter dated April 22, 2009. "Reports from Embassy contacts familiar with the areas where some of the bodies were found suggest the killings are the work of militias who believe homosexuality is a form of Western deviance that cannot be tolerated."
Brian Branton, Polis's chief of staff, said the information was a step forward after the Iraqi ministry had originally called the militia charges "unfounded." "We were glad to hear that acknowledgment in her letter because in earlier conversations with the state department they had not owned up to that," Branton said of Iraqi officials.
But Butenis rejected the idea that any of the Iraqi government's police had targeted LGBT individuals. "We have no evidence that [the Iraq government's] security forces are in any way involved with these militias," Butenis said in the letter.
Though Branton agreed that much of what's happening may not be explicitly sanctioned by the government as a whole, he also said people who work for the government may be taking matters into their own hands. "I actually think that you have some rogue individuals out there who are part of the government throwing people into jail and then, in some cases, killing them," he said. "Technically, it's not official, but it's happening nonetheless and no one seems to be stopping them."
Polis indicated in an earlier interview that he was inclined to believe that there’s "a breakdown in the chain of command." "I don't have any reason to believe that these instances were authorized at the highest level of civilian government," Polis said.
The letter also stated that no Iraqis currently on death row are charged with crimes related to homosexuality, according to the Iraqi minister of human rights, Wijdan Salim. "The [embassy justice attaché] has also reviewed relevant sections of the Iraqi Penal Code and confirmed that homosexual conduct is not punishable by death in Iraq," Butenis wrote.
Branton said it may be true that no one on death row is specifically charged with homosexuality. "But we think it’s unusual in the stories we've heard that five or six people will be thrown in a jail cell together, and it will become clear to them in the course of their conversations that they're all LGBT," he said.
Prior to traveling to Iraq earlier this month, Polis received a letter forwarded by an Iraqi human rights group that was written by a jailed man who said he was beaten into confessing he was a member of the gay rights group Iraqi LGBT. The group said the man had been sentenced to death in a court in Karkh, Iraq, and executed. (The group and the author's names were not made public for their protection.) Polis also enlisted the help of a translator to interview by phone a transgender Iraqi man who said he had been arrested, beaten, and raped by Ministry of Interior security forces.
On Monday, representatives Polis, Baldwin, and Frank -- the three openly gay members of Congress -- sent a letter on the matter to the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill.
"As LGBT Americans and cochairs of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, we are disturbed and shocked at allegations that Ministry of the Interior Security Forces may be involved in the mass persecution and execution of LGBT Iraqis," read the letter. "The persecution of Iraqis based on sexual orientation or gender identity is escalating and is unacceptable regardless of whether these policies are extrajudicial or state-sanctioned."
The letter called on the U.S. embassy in Iraq to "prioritize the investigation" of the allegations and work with the Iraqi government to end the executions of LGBT Iraqis. Branton said they were in the process of drafting another letter that would be signed by more members of Congress and sent to Secretary of State Clinton.
Ultimately, Polis would like to see the Iraqi government state an official policy on LGBT rights. "The Iraqi civilian government needs to make it clear that respect for human rights is a basic Iraqi value, including all groups that are not popular in Iraq -- Christians, gays, and atheists," he said. "There are moderate Arab countries where homosexuals are not accepted but at least the gays and lesbians who live there don't live in constant fear of life and limb and being arrested and executed by the police."
As organized killings of Iraqi gays have escalated in recent months amid a homophobic campaign in that nation's media, openly gay Democratic Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado has asked the US State Department to investigate. Polis, the first non-incumbent openly gay man ever elected to Congress, who returned from a visit to Iraq at the beginning of April, told Gay City News that while in Baghdad he had met with the chargé d'affaires, who is overseeing the US embassy pending the arrival of a new ambassador.
"We asked the embassy and the State Department to investigate the reports of killings of gay men, and turned over to the chargé d'affaires the names and phone numbers of all the gay Iraqi contacts we had and a letter detailing our concerns," including allegations that the Iraqi government is involved in the killings, Polis told this reporter, adding, "They seemed very willing to investigate."
If the State Department does undertake such an investigation, that would reflect a significant change in US policy by the Obama administration. In 2007, two openly gay members of Congress, Democrats Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, wrote a lengthy letter to Bush Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice detailing the anti-gay death squads' murder campaign and asking the US to investigate and intervene.
Their letter, which cited extensive reporting in Gay City News on repression of gays in Iraq, had no effect.
Polis, a millionaire Internet entrepreneur and philanthropist, traveled to Iraq at his own expense before his election last year and attempted to investigate the ongoing campaign of "sexual cleansing" of Iraqi homosexuals, and on his return contributed $10,000 to the London-based all-volunteer association Iraqi LGBT, which has a network of members and correspondents throughout Iraq that has been tracking the organized campaign of assassinations of Iraqi gays.
Ali Hili, the coordinator of Iraqi LGBT, who briefed Polis by telephone for his Iraqi trip, told Gay City News from London that "we have been able to confirm 63 more murders of gay people in Iraq just since December," bringing to nearly 600 the number of cases of LGBT Iraqis killed for their sexuality that his group has documented since the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of all Iraqi Shiite Muslims, issued a death-to-all-gays fatwa in 2005. But, Hili added, "Since there are parts of Iraq where we have no correspondents or members, we are convinced that the actual number of gays killed in these last months since December is much higher."
At the same time, the BBC reported last week that according to Amnesty International "in the last few weeks 25 boys and men are reported to have been killed in Baghdad because they were, or perceived to be, gay." In an unusual move, Amnesty International wrote to the Iraqi President, Nouri al-Maliki, demanding "urgent and concerted action" by his government to stop the killings.
Hili told this reporter, "There is an intensive media campaign against homosexuals in Iraq at this time which we believe is inspired by the Ministry of the Interior, both in the daily newspapers and on nearly all the television stations. Their reports brand all gays as 'perverts' and try to portray us as terrorists who are undermining the moral fiber of Iraqi youth." Hili said the current homo-hating media campaign appears to have been sparked as an unfortunate reaction to an April 4 Reuters dispatch that reported: "Two gay men were killed in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, a local official said, and police said they had found the bodies of four more after clerics urged a crackdown on a perceived spread of homosexuality... The police source said the bodies of four gay men were unearthed in Sadr City on March 25, each bearing a sign reading 'pervert' in Arabic on their chests."
"After the Reuters dispatch, the Iraqi media spoke about the murders of gays for the very first time," Hili said, "but unfortunately in such hate-filled and incendiary terms that their reports and commentaries only encouraged further violence." On April 8, the New York Times published a story, headlined "Iraq's Newly Open Gays Face Scorn and Murder," in which it recognized for the first time the existence of anti-gay death squads, which Gay City News first reported three years ago (see this reporter's March 23-29, 2006 article, "Shia Death Squads Target Iraqi Gays,"). "Gay men and lesbians have long been among the targets of both Shiite and Sunni death squads" in Iraq, the Times reported.
Unfortunately, the Times article omitted any mention of the anti-gay death squads of the Badr Corps, the military arm of the former Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which in 2007 changed its name to the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq when it entered the coalition government as its largest Islamist party, and which acknowledges Sistani as its supreme leader and spiritual guide.
The estimated 11,000 members of the Badr Corps militia, which has been responsible for a large majority of the murders of gays since Sistani's fatwa calling for such killings, was integrated into the Ministry of the Interior in 2006, and since then its Badr anti-gay death squads have operated in police uniforms with complete impunity, as Gay City News has previously reported on many occasions.
Iraqi LGBT activists in Iraq have been the victims of Badr Corps members operating in police uniforms, including five key gay activists arrested in a police raid on a secret organizing meeting in 2006; no word of them has since surfaced, and they are presumed to have been killed (see this reporter's December 7-12, 2006 article, "Iraqi Gay Activists Abducted" ).
There have been 17 Iraqi LGBT activists killed since the Ayatollah Sistani's 2005 fatwa, including Hili's own brother.
Hili said the Times article also gave a somewhat misleading impression about the degree to which Iraqi gays are able to be open. Iraqi LGBT had maintained a network of four safe houses in Baghdad for queers targeted by the anti-gay death squads. But now, Hili told Gay City News, "We have had to close three of them out of fear. The guys we were trying to protect in those safe houses became so afraid in the current climate of vicious anti-gay crusading by the media and the clerics, and following the latest assassinations of gays, that they were afraid to continue living collectively, that this made them easy targets. So they simply left our safe houses.
We have now only one safe house left." Hili also said that he had received reports from Iraq of five gay men, all Iraqi LGBT members, who are in prison awaiting execution. Hili said "We have been told they are expecting to be executed in two weeks."
Hili said it is unclear on what precise charges the gay men will be executed. "One of our informants who was in detention with these five guys and then was released told me by phone how these men told him that their trial was a lightening-quick kangaroo court. It was an incredibly brief trial, and these five members of ours weren't able to obtain legal representation or defend themselves in that kind of context." Hili said that according to this account, the five members of his group "thought they were being accused of being a part of a 'terrorist organization,' meaning Iraqi LGBT," Hili recounted. The five were found by police in possession of literature from his group. Hili has spoken with both Amnesty International and with Human Rights Watch about the case of his five members awaiting execution.
Dalia Hashad of Amnesty International told Gay City News, "Amnesty has been unable to get from the Iraqi government any confirmation that the men are in custody or that they are facing execution, but from what we have heard from individuals in Iraq, they were sentenced to die for belonging to a 'banned group.' We are protesting to the Iraqi government and are continuing to try to investigate, but it is very difficult to get any information about such prisoners in Iraq." Scott Long, director of Human Rights Watch's LGBT desk, told Rex Wockner's gay news service, "Together with other groups, members of Congress and concerned activists, we're doing everything we can to investigate and determine who's jailed and what their fates may be. The Iraqi government and the US government must both investigate these charges immediately." Long is traveling to Iraq to pursue an HRW investigation.
Polis is also trying to ascertain the status of the five imprisoned Iraqi LGBT members, but a statement given by a State Department spokesman to Edge.boston.com, a gay news website, raises concerns that the US may not yet be taking the charges seriously, despite the congressman's recent visit. The site quoted John Fleming, public affairs officer for the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, as pooh-poohing the notion that the five gay men facing execution were being targeted for belonging to Iraqi LGBT, saying that homosexuality "is immaterial to Iraqis." Fleming, according to Edge, stated, "Frankly, there are other issues they are concerned about like basic survival, getting food and water. It's a luxury for the average Iraqi to worry about homosexuality." This statement by Fleming, who served a year in Iraq under the Bush administration, is, of course, contradicted by the recent media reports this month by such diverse sources as the Times, Reuters, CNN, and the British dailies The Independent and The Guardian, confirming Gay City News' three years of reporting.
This State Department staffer's statement suggests rather strongly the urgent need to keep up the pressure on the Obama administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to thoroughly investigate the dangers facing gay Iraqis and act decisively to save those threatened with death.
Iraqi LGBT is desperately in need of contributions to finance its work in Iraq. Donations may be made on credit cards through PayPal on the group's web site.
Doug Ireland can be reached through his blog, DIRELAND
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