Gays in Iraq fear for their lives

[ECH1969]

"I don't want to be gay anymore. When I go out to buy bread, I'm afraid. When the doorbell rings, I think that they have come for me." That is the fear that haunts Hussein, and other gay men in Iraq.

Islam considers homosexuality sinful. A website published in the name of Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shia cleric, says gays should be put to death.

"Those who commit sodomy must be killed in the harshest way," says a section of the website dealing with questions of morality.

A transsexual friend of his, who had changed names from Haydar to Dina, was killed on her way to a party in Baghdad about six months ago, Hussein said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4915172.stm

[sendero]

1. Just more of the graat "freedom"..

..we've unleashed in Iraq.

[shenmue]

2. This is what...

religious fanaticism will do.

[BR_Parkway]

3. Falwell, Dobson and crew get a real live "preview" to what they'd

like to create right here.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

4. We invaded Iraq and all they got was...

...a lousy free market.

[Touchdown]

5. Welcome to the party. Gays fear for their lives in America too.

Anyplace where funadamentalism is rampant, gays will live in fear.

[Puglover]

6. I'll bet the Idiot and his moronic

30 percent LOVE this shit. If they had their way it would be just like that here in the U.S.