“Hate is Preached and even the Family is Not a refuge!”

You would think that homophobia would be neutralized here in the US to some extent, although in the past this was common: brutal assaults, negligence, with-holding the right to work etc. The biggest issue I have to this day is the mistreatment of homosexuals-thinking they are a disease that needs to be cured, and the only way to accomplish this is the killing of innocent people. Now these ideas and the mistreatment of homosexuals have stopped here in the US, but what about outside the US? Do people still hold these warped, misguided and savaged principles? Apparently so!
Young boys and men are brutally murdered and condemned by the church and more importantly the church. A subculture of gay society has been allowed to flourish in Baghdad because Iraq has become Democratic, but this newly found culture has been dealt a blow which as of right now seems that they cannot recover from. Sadri City has been the focal point of these attacks, for within the past 2 months there have been about twenty-five deaths, and attached to the bodies was a note with the word “pervert” written in Arabic. There was one man named Basim who recalls, “Three of my closest friends have been killed during the past two weeks alone. They had been planning to go to a café away from Sadri City because we don’t feel safe here, but they killed them on the way. I had planned to go with them but fortunately I didn’t go.” I feel that the chaos, the destruction of life and families has moved across the Atlantic and into the Middle East, but the odd thing is nowhere is safe-families won’t protect their own sons because of hatred.
However, because of this new subculture that’s risen the streets of Sadri City are changing drastically. There are some like Basim who wear their hair long, ears pierced which is uncommon for Iraqi males, and some wear white makeup to make their skin look lighter, which is apparently a popular look for gay men in Sadri. Since two years have passed now women walk the streets unveiled-wearing dresses above their knees and more people have started to actually go out at night. In light of this there is animosity, hatred and religious persecutions not only by the community but their own families, thus the state has created a death squad to—handle the situation. The recent spate of violence has seemed aimed at more openly gay men rather than homosexuals in general. Yet the Clerics of Sadri City have begun to bring about the wrath of god on gay men. “Homosexuality is against the law and it’s disgusting”, said Lt. Muthana Shaad who for the past four months has taken the role to “campaign to clean up the streets and get the beggars and homosexuals off of them.” To ensure they do their job the young gay men are constantly harassed and badgered by in the police to ensure they “can’t get together in a coffee shop or walk together in the street.” This whole idea of cleaning up the streets of homosexual filth is so frustrating. Why must we create laws to subjugate others-hatred, discrimination, racism, homophobia and Murder! Why do we create these laws, why?!

Here's the Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/world/middleeast/08gay.html?_r=2&ref=world