Militias target some Iraqis for being gay
“I’m not a terrorist,” he tells the Iraqi police who surround him. “I want you to know I am different. But I am not a terrorist.”
To some fundamentalist Iraqi Muslims, Ahmed Sadoun Saleh was worse than a terrorist.
He was gay. He wore his hair long and took female hormones to grow breasts. Amused by his appearance, Iraqi police officers stopped him in December at a checkpoint in a southern Baghdad neighborhood dominated by radical Shiite militias. They groped Saleh and ridiculed him.
The assault was captured on video and circulated on cellphones throughout Baghdad, says Ali Hili, founder of London-based Iraqi LGBT, a group dedicated to protecting Iraq’s gays and lesbians. Shortly after the video was made public, Hili says Saleh contacted him, fearing for his life, and asked for his help to flee Iraq.
“Unfortunately, it was too late,” Hili says. Saleh turned up dead two months later, he says.
At least 82 gay men have been killed in Iraq since December, according to Iraqi LGBT. The violence has raised questions about the Iraqi government’s ability to protect a diverse range of vulnerable minority groups that also includes Christians and Kurds, especially following the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities last month.
Mithal al-Alusi, a secular, liberal Sunni legislator, is among those who blame the killings on armed militant groups such as al-Qaeda and the Mahdi Army militia.
See Militias target some Iraqis for being gay
USA Today
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Family says Bryce Faulkner is undergoing anti-gay counseling willingly
The parents of Bryce Faulkner, a young man who was reported missing by friends and his boyfriend, say he is undergoing anti-gay counseling at his own will.
“He’s fine,” Debra Faulkner told FOXNews.com. “All the stories you’ve been told are not true.”
However, a man who claims to be Bryce’s boyfriend doubts the validity of Mrs. Faulkner’s statement.
Travis Swanson says he and Faulkner are boyfriends and refuses to take down a website to help Bryce until he is told to do so by his alleged boyfriend. Now Bryce’s parents are threatening to sue.
“[Bryce] got caught up with friends who were pulling him that way,” Mrs. Faulkner said. “He just wants to take some time and figure out what he wants to do with his life.”
Through a statement released by a family spokesperson, Bryce says he is seeking treatment on his own accord.
“Every decision that I’ve made has been based solely upon my beliefs and I have not been manipulated or coerced by anyone to do anything,” Bryce Faulkner’s statement read. He declined further comment.
See Family says Bryce Faulkner is undergoing anti-gay counseling willingly Gay Socialites
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Friends Campaign to Find Man Lost in ‘Ex-Gay’ Netherworld EDGE Boston - Kilian Melloy - 3 hours ago A young gay medical student named Bryce Faulkner
A young gay medical student named Bryce Faulkner had made plans to move from Arkansas to be closer to his boyfriend, Travis Swanson, who lives in Wisconsin. But now Bryce has vanished–into a 14-month program meant to “convert” him to heterosexuality, it is thought.
A July 20 Sky News article reports that Swanson last heard from Faulkner, 23, when the two spoke via telephone on June 15.
Faulkner’s friends and advocates fear that the young man may have been pressured by his parents into signing up for a program with Exodus International, a group that claims that gays can be “cured.”
It is thought that Faulkner might be at a center run by the religious group in Florida.
A page dedicated to supporting efforts to locate and “rescue” Faulkner at GLBT equality advocate Rev. Brett Harris’ Ergonomical Ministries outlines one possible scenario leading to the young man’s abrupt loss of communication with friends and with Swanson.See Friends Campaign to Find Man Lost in ‘Ex-Gay‘ Netherworld.
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Gay Moroccan writer takes on homophobia
(Paris) A soft-spoken slip of a young man, Abdellah Taia hardly looks the part of an iconoclast. But as Morocco’s first high-profile, openly gay man, Taia has made it his mission to win acceptance for homosexuals throughout the Muslim world.
Taia has defied Moroccan society’s don’t-ask, don’t-tell attitude toward homosexuality - …
Tags: Attitude, Gay Man, Gay Paris, High Profile, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuals, Iconoclast, Moroccan Society, Morocco, Muslim World, Taia, Young ManMiscommunication plays role in Norwegian’s death
Health staff trying to understand a bleeding Norwegian patient, who said he was a haemophiliac, thought he said he was homosexual and sent him home without necessary treatment
A Norwegian student who was smashed in the head with a glass at a Copenhagen bar on Sunday night, died after medical staff at Rigshospitalet sent him home following language barrier miscommunication.
Henning Schou Kofed from Copenhagen Police said they had received information that when the 25-year-old presented himself at the hospital on Monday with his injury explaining he was a haemophiliac, hospital staff mistook him for saying he was a homosexual and sent him home.The Danish word for haemophilia is ‘hæmofili’ while the word ‘homofil’ means homophile or homosexual.
Ekstra Bladet newspaper reports that the young man was found dead less than 24 hours later at his accommodation in Sydhavn of a brain haemorrhage. See Miscommunication plays role in Norwegian’s death
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Bigoted GOP Rep blames ABC News For Calling Matt’s Death a “Hoax”
For the second night in a row, Countdown’s Keith Olbermann has blasted North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx as the Worst Person in the World.
Last night she won for saying on the floor of the house:
“We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay,” Foxx said during debate. “The bill was named for him, the hate-crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”
Shepard died several days after he was found tied to a remote fence in Wyoming, severely beaten and robbed of $20. Prosecutors said he was lured from a bar by two men, including one whose defense attorney said reacted violently after Shepard made a sexual advance.
Tonight Keith told Foxx to “apologize sincerely” To MAtt’s Mom - who was sitting in the gallery of the house when Fox spoke - or resign her seat in the US House of Representatives.
Who knew such bigotry as Foxx’s was alive and well in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina?
Check out the video here.
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Wyoming murder “really a hoax,” congresswoman
As Congress approved legislation to expand the legal application of hate crimes, cosponsor Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., proclaimed on Wednesday that “We have
declared America to be a hate-free zone.”
It may not be that easy.
During debate on the legislation, a Republican congresswoman from North Carolina questioned the decade-old Laramie, Wyoming murder that galvanized a national drive to impose penalties on hate-driven crimes.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., used the word “hoax” to describe the killing of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was tied crucifixion-style to a fence, repeatedly pistol whipped and left for dead. He later died in a local hospital.
“. . . We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery,” Foxx told the House. “It wasn’t because he was gay This — the bill was named for him, (the) hate crime bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”
The “hoax” argument is directly contradicted by court testimony by girlfriends of the two men who murdered Shepard. Both girlfriends testified that the killers set out to find and rob a gay man. They befriended Shepard in a bar. The slight Shepard asked them to give him a ride home.
Foxx was not alone in her heavy prose. “Pedophiles and other bizarre sex orientations given protection by Congress,” headlined a release by the Traditional Values Coalition.
The legislation extends to women, gays and the disabled provisions of America’s existing hate crimes law. The law already singles out for special punishment violent crime based on race, religion and/or national origin of the victim.
Asked about Rep. Foxx’s “hoax” allegation, McDermott replied with a Latin maxim: “Res ipsa loquiter.” Translated, it means: The matter speaks for itself.
See Wyoming murder “really a hoax,” congresswoman Seattle Post Intelligencer
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WATCH GOP Rep: Story of Matthew Shepard’s Murder A “Hoax”
As the House of Representatives debates an expansion of hate crimes legislation, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) has taken the rhetoric to a new level, claiming that those who say Matthew Shepard was murdered in Wyoming for being gay are perpetrating a “hoax” on the American people.
“I also would like to point out that there was a bill — the hate crimes bill that’s called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. This — the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills,” said Foxx.
A Foxx spokesman didn’t immediately return a call. The Matthew Shepard “hoax” notion is a popular meme on right-wing blogs.
The Matthew Shepard Foundation is dedicated to reducing hate crimes.
The New York Times reported in 1998: “According to the local police and prosecutors, the two men lured Mr. Shepard out of a bar by saying they were gay. Then, the Laramie police say, the pair kidnapped Mr. Shepard, pistol-whipped him with a .357 Magnum, and left him tied to a ranch fence for 18 hours until a passing bicyclist spotted Mr. Shepard, who was unconscious.”
“She should be ashamed,” said Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), himself a victim of a hate crime during the struggle for civil rights. “That is unreal, unbelievable. The law enforcement people and almost every reasonable person I know believes he was murdered because he was gay.”
WATCH GOP Rep: Story of Matthew Shepard’s Murder A “Hoax”
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World Television Premiere Event: The Film ‘Pedro’ Airs on MTV, MTV Tr3s, mtvU & LOGO on Wednesday, April 1 at 8:00 PM ET/PT
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TWO Calls on Authorities to Investigate Ted Haggard’s Former Church, Says Hush Money Scandal Emerges From New Life’s Closet
NEW YORK, NY – Truth Wins Out (TWO) today called on Colorado officials to investigate New Life Church, after the Associated Press revealed that New Life paid money to keep a male volunteer from publicly disclosing a romantic affair with the church’s former minister Ted Haggard.
According to the AP, New Life’s current Senior Pastor, Brady Boyd, said that the church reached a legal settlement to pay the man for counseling and college tuition, with one condition being that none of the parties involved discuss the relationship publicly.
“Until conservative churches stop shaming gay people and learn to accept them, we will see more tawdry scandals,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “These calamities are a direct result of the closet.”
Rev. Boyd denied that New Life paid hush money and said, “Our desire was to help him. Here was a young man who wanted to get on with his life. We considered it more compassionate assistance — certainly not hush money.”
TWO called on Colorado officials to look into the matter.
“Authorities should investigate to ensure that this volunteer was not manipulated or coerced into silence,” said Besen. “The leadership of New Life has little credibility and should not simply be taken at their word. At a minimum, Boyd should resign for using his position of power to pressure a vulnerable member of his congregation into silence.”
In 2006, Denver escort Mike Jones disclosed that he and Haggard had a three-year relationship where money was exchanged for sex. Shortly after, Haggard stepped down from New Life. Next week, HBO will air a documentary on the rise and fall of Haggard. The disgraced minister will be promoting the show in media appearances throughout the week.
There is speculation that the HBO special spurred the volunteer to contact a Colorado Springs television station to discuss the situation.
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay lies. TWO also counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates America about the lives of GLBT people.
Web: www.TruthWinsOut.org
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