March 28, 2006
Yesterday, as far as I can tell, the word "gay" appeared in the American corporate media
in connection with Iraq for the first time, when we learned that one of
the recently-released members of the Christian Peacemaker Team was gay,
but had kept it quiet thinking that revealing it would put his life at
even greater risk. In discussing this incident, the AP wrote: In
2001, Amnesty International reported that Iraq's constitution was
amended to make homosexuality a crime punishable by death. Although the
constitution reverted back to the original 1969 document when Saddam
Hussein's regime was toppled in 2003, the status of gay and lesbian
rights remain unclear. First of all, I have absolutely no
idea why, under what international legal system, the Iraqi constitution
would have "reverted back to the original 1969" version when the Iraqi
government was overthrown. All we heard at the time, and for several
years thereafter, was that Iraq had to write a constitution;
the clear implication in the press was that it had none, when in fact
it did. There was never a word about this "reverting" nonsense. And I
don't know anything about this Amnesty International claim. Certainly
the subject is not raised in the 1990 Constitution. Information on Wikipedia suggests that this whole thing has to do not with the Iraqi Constitution, but with the Iraqi criminal code,
which had a variety of penalties for gays and a wide assortment of
other sexual "offenses," and was assertedly supplemented in 2001 by a
decree providing the death penalty for prostitution, homosexuality,
incest and rape.
But back to the situation of gays. AP may think
that the "status" (presumably they mean the legal status) of gays and
lesbians remains unclear, but the situation of gays and lesbians is a
lot clearer. That is, if you read sources other than the corporate
media, which as far as I can tell have yet to breath a word about the
fate of gays in Iraq, who are being systematically persecuted and
killed in Iraq thanks to a death-to-gays fatwa issued by Shiite Muslim leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani last October. Pacific Views,
where I learned about this, has a nice summary of the horrendous
situation. Is this situation better or worse than it was before the
invasion? It's hard to tell, but it certainly sounds like it has gotten
much, much worse.
Update: I really should add that, in
addition to the fact that this current turn of events is essentially a
direct result of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it is a reasonable
interpretation of history to suggest that the 2001 change of law was an
indirect result of U.S. action as well. Wikipedia says, "It is believed
that sudden usage of the death penalty was tied to a desire by Saddam
Hussein to win the support of Iraqi Islamic conservatives." And this
desire was hardly the result of Saddam Hussein "finding religion." No,
it was the direct result of more than a decade of economic and
increasingly military warfare (think no-fly zones)
against Iraq by the U.S. and the U.K., and Hussein's need to shore up
internal support of his regime in the face of those external attacks.
Second update: The editor of Uruknet provides some important updates. First, this, from a gay Iraqi exile who was on Democracy Now a few days ago, answering the question of "is the situation better or worse than it was before the invasion": Iraq,
at the time of Saddam, was -- I mean, I'm talking about as a gay Iraqi
-- it was not as bad as we can see now. In fact, it was a little bit --
we have a little bit acceptance. We have little bit of -- not too many
intimidation. People are really accepting gays, especially in theater,
in entertainment and media. We had several actors, singers, which was
very popular before. There was no homophobic attitudes toward gay and
lesbians. Most of them are welcomed in the community and the society. And second, just to emphasize today's reality, the text of Sistani's fatwa, with emphasis added:Q: What is the judgement on sodomy and lesbianism?
A: "Forbidden. Those involved in the act should be punished. In fact, sodomites should be killed in the worst manner possible."
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