Militias target some Iraqis for being gay

— The turns to the camera and pleads with his tormentors.

“I’m not a ,” he tells the who surround him. “I want you to know I am different. But I am not a .”

To some fundamentalist Iraqi , Ahmed Sadoun was worse than a .

He was . He wore his hair long and took female to grow breasts. Amused by his , Iraqi stopped him in December at a checkpoint in a southern dominated by radical Shiite . They groped and ridiculed him.

The assault was captured on video and circulated on cellphones throughout Baghdad, says Hili, founder of London-based Iraqi , a group dedicated to protecting ’s and . Shortly after the video was made public, Hili says contacted him, fearing for his life, and asked for his help to flee .

“Unfortunately, it was too late,” Hili says. turned up dead two months later, he says.

At least 82 men have been killed in since December, according to Iraqi . The has raised questions about the ’s ability to protect a diverse range of vulnerable minority that also includes and , especially following the withdrawal of U.S. from last month.

Mithal al-Alusi, a secular, liberal Sunni , is among those who blame the on armed militant such as al-Qaeda and the Mahdi .

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Violence at gay beauty pageant

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LGBT health survey shows trouble spots

. The largest to date comparing the of the , , and community to and non- residents showed disparities.

The statistics:

In a of nearly 1,600 residents:

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Saddam’s rule ‘better’ for gay Iraqis

Investigating reports of the murder and of men in , Byrne found that some found ’s preferable to the threat of they today.Some readers will find parts of his report disturbing.

There has been so much news of from that the position of sexual is rarely touched on in the media.

But stories of and murder of , particularly men, have been emerging in the press for several years

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Report Warns Murder Rate Against Transgendered People Is Rising

A new report has found an estimated 200 persons were murdered from January 2008 to June 2009; which is enough to say that every three days a person is killed somewhere in the world.

The project was started by the (TGEU) and the journal ‘Liminalis’ in an effort to track and combat committed against the , , , and questioning () community.

The project compiled at least 121 from 2008 and another 83 for the year-to-date. show that the for is a , effecting , , , , , and Oceania.

“Furthermore that the number of reports of murdered trans is increasing in the last years,” the report warns. “The majority of cases have been reported from and .”

The report shows Brazil is by far the most in the world for the community. In 2008, 59 were murdered while another 23 were reported so far this year. Last year, 16 were murdered in the , the second most dangerous .

While the report is an effort to document all crimes, even its authors admit to the limitations of compiling a while continue to avoid reporting .

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Another front for fairness

AT A HEARING at the last week, supporters of a bill to ban on the basis of and outlined the myriad barriers that confront - those who are born male but live as females, or vice versa. Unlike those whose or sexual expose them to , might not be able to avoid the issue when applying for , apartments, or loans. The may become evident from a check on a number or a search of credit reports.

aren’t looking for . The goal of the , introduced by Representative , is to give residents of space to live without or . The bill responds sensibly to a real problem, and deserves to pass.

don’t make the lightly; many, though not all, undergo gender-reassignment surgery. The case of Dana Zircher, profiled recently by the ’s Bella English, underscores the difficulty of the process, even when individuals have and employers. Zircher, a and a parent, has undergone a , surgery, and 350 hours of .

Instead of addressing the of actual ’s lives, though, are trying to undermine Sciortino’s by calling it a “Bathroom Bill.’’ The difference between a and a man who wants to infiltrate a ladies’ room is perfectly obvious, at least to anyone who is not deliberately obfuscating the issue. The difference would surely be obvious to and judges. Thirteen other states, including , , and , and of cities, including and Cambridge, already forbid against - and are as safe as ever.

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Ending prisoner rape in Michigan

LINDA MCFARLANE writes:

The () last week settled a brought by over 500 female who were sexually abused in the state’s . With the $100-million , hopefully the will also begin to take the proactive steps needed to prevent and the sexual that continues to plague its facilities.

This decision came after more than ten years of litigation, during which the courts repeatedly ruled against the state.

Although the prevalence of in Michigan is well documented, leading officials have insisted that this type of is not a serious problem. In 2008, Director Patricia Caruso opposed national standards being developed to behind bars, stating that they would require that a “disproportionate amount of resources be dedicated to an issue that affects less than 1% of the prison .”

This claim is in of the facts. A 2007 national by the ’s , which surveyed at three Michigan , found that the proportion of experiencing sexual in the past year alone ranged from 4.6% to 7.9%.

and other forms of sexual cause long-term harm to and their communities. Prisoner suffer physical injury, contract and other , and experience severe . The vast majority of ultimately return home, bringing their and medical and with them.

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Aussie High school told to apologise

Gary has demanded an from a Catholic in after it published an anti- letter in its .

In a letter to the editor, former Xavier student Matt Price called for “a world free from ”, who, he said live lives devoted to and .

His letter called for businesses not to employ , with Price revealing that he with his message.

Price, who claims to be a ‘cured’ , said his new ‘’ life allowed him to “/heal my in the way I was guided as a child”.

Gary told MCV the school was inciting against .

“To publish calls for a world free of is nothing less than an to kill ,” he said.

called on Xavier to “apologise unreservedly for this serious and illegal breach of NSW anti- laws”.

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For Gay Iranian Refugees, a Matter of Life or Death

NOTE: This is the second of two parts, the first, on the election revolt, was on EDGE in June.

The international media clamor surrounding last month’s election, which saw the contentious re-election of result in weeks of , and , may have died down, but the unstable lives on for residents of the Islamic republic.

They continue to major restrictions on and threats to their safety if they choose to speak out. And they will not soon forget the street that resulted in the death, and of many , and –all part of the worst unrest the country has seen in thirty years.

This is particularly true for and , both those who remain inside the country and those who have escaped. They are familiar with oppressive treatment from their government, one which continues to and crack down against any outward display of queerness. The first story (published here June 30, 2009,) examined the facing the community, particularly in light of the government’s to any post-election of .

Building from that story, we now take a look at the facing who have fled the country with the hopes of seeking in the West. Forced, in many cases, to leave behind their families, and the culture of their blood, their dreams of living in still a number of .

When refugees and seekers leave, they are sent to live temporarily to a number of a , though most end up in small Turkish towns known as “,” far from the larger cities like or Istanbul. They file a request to be granted official status with the for Refugees (UNHCR), in order to legally move West, and then they wait. In many cases, that can last up to three years, a time during which is difficult to find and is not unusual.
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Homosexual Haitian Migrants Focus of UA Doctoral Student’s Research


Erin Durban

Erin spent time in Haiti last year initiating her field research about individuals who immigrate to the . While there, she worked to immerse herself in the culture, which included learning about vévé, used during , from a priest, .

Erin Durban in Haiti

Erin , center, is making her to Haiti to learn about the Haitians make in immigrating to the , but then opting to return to their home country.

Erin , a doctoral in the UA’s gender and women’s studies department, will travel to Haiti to study the Haitians migrants make when they leave for the U.S. but then return home.

As an undergraduate in Denver, Erin began to study the conditions of Haitian and ways the has been embroiled in the history of the country.

Now a doctoral in gender and women’s studies, is studying the of “-identified” Haitians who choose to leave for the , but then opt to return home.

Perplexing to is the idea that the has a for offering “more liberated spaces” to around the world seeking – whether for political, economic, or because of – and yet certain of Haitians decide to return to a county that has offers little protection against -based .

, whose are in , migration and cultural studies as well as social and , said she is interested in studying way Haitians interpret the between the and Haiti within the context of what is defined as “home.”

She recently received a Social and Institute grant for her project, “Desire to Return, Desire to Leave: Investigating Haitian Migration.” The institute, which operates out of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, promotes research in the college.

The project will take her later this month to the country of more than 9 million inhabitants, where she will spend several weeks conducting research in Jacmel and Port-au- to better understand the association with the migration of Haitians who are .

Her investigation, she said, may also help to shed more light on the ways in which economic, political and social interactions and pressures influence certain .

One challenge she’ll is the amount of information about in Haitians, said , who intends to publish an article about her research and incorporate her findings into her dissertation.

“Surprisingly, there is not a of research about migration in Haiti,” said, noting that of existing and documentaries, most tend to on men or the vodou, or voodoo, , which tends to be more accepting of .

The , too, tends to be on the turmoil in Haiti, considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

’s interest in these issues was heighted about five years ago with the announcement of the ’ Stabilization Mission in Haiti, a established in response to armed in the country. The is among the offering military and police personnel in the effort.

“Everywhere I went it seemed I was hearing about Haiti and I found it very strange that here is this place that is really close that no one ever really talks about,” she said. “But when they do, all we ever hear about is , and disease.”

said it is important to understand – outside of the typical contexts of and – how gender and are shaping the experience of migrants.

She was encouraged to begin studying what she described as “the coexistence” of two seemingly conflicting beliefs about migration after visiting Haiti last year.

One describes the desire by and to leave Haiti for the more “progressive” , whereas another describes a strong desire to return to Haiti once in the because of a to live in their home .

Her research, she said, may help explain the role that family obligations, work-related struggles, the pursuit of , , the associated with being an , “the heightened anti- post-Sept. 11″ and other factors play in migrants choosing to leave the .

In her grant , noted that her research could potentially “rethink the idea of the as a site of ‘liberation’ for of the world from a new vantage point.” Of particular concern are ways in which , xenophobia and affect and influence the of .

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