Iraq criminalises same-sex relationships with maximum 15 years in prison

Iraq’s parliament has passed a law criminalising same-sex relationships with a maximum 15-year prison sentence, in a move it said aimed to uphold religious values, but was condemned by rights advocates as the latest attack on the LGBTQ community in Iraq.

The law adopted on Saturday aims to “protect Iraqi society from moral depravity and the calls for homosexuality that have overtaken the world,” according to a copy of the law seen by the Reuters news agency.

It was backed mainly by conservative Shia Muslim parties who form the largest coalition in Iraq’s parliament.

The Law on Combating Prostitution and Homosexuality bans same-sex relations with at least 10 years and a maximum of 15 years in prison, and mandates at least seven years in prison for anybody who promotes homosexuality or prostitution.

The amended law makes “biological sex change based on personal desire and inclination” a crime and punishes transgender people and doctors who perform gender-affirming surgery with up to three years in prison.

The bill had initially included the death penalty for same-sex acts but was amended before being passed after strong opposition from the United States and European nations.

Until Saturday, Iraq did not explicitly criminalise gay sex, though loosely defined morality clauses in its penal code had been used to target LGBTQ people, and members of the community have also been killed by armed groups and individuals.

Iraq criminalises same-sex relationships with maximum 15 years in prison | LGBTQ News | Al Jazeera

Good thing all those people died to make Iraq free.

I guess I will be cancelling my vacation to Iraq.

However, if we are going to be going to war for GLBT rights I am going to have to put an end to the Desantis private army that has been set up to go after drag events. Iraq is far away and requires travel, but I am here waiting for the Floridu gravy seals to FAFO. I know what rednecks from Ocala can do in combat, and I am worth about a thousand male mullets in arms.

If it were an attack force of florida lesbians with mullets I would be much more worried.

Well, we gave them Reaganomics, and that's what really matters.

On the bright side, it's only 15 years and not the death penalty.

Not that it should be criminalized to begin with

One doesn't have to look very far in the region to see what a "free" Palestinian state would look like.

From the river to the sea, homos won't be free!

And if Trump gets in, look for the GOP to be trying this near you.

Clarence already signalled he doesn't think SCOTUS decisions protecting gays are settled any more than Roe V Wade.

This is horrible.

My view is that people should pay attention to what oppressed groups in situations like this say themselves, and help them to achieve their goals. Iraqueer (cool name) is one such group. They promote education, advocacy and services for LGBTQ people in Iraq.

Not for long they're not.

They appear to be operating anonymously in Iraq. They have a base in Sweden.

Hot take: Maybe the primitives obsessed with other peoples genitals don't deserve to self govern?

Does Saddam have any living relatives we could airdrop in to force them to act vaguely civilized again? Or possibly Hunter Biden?

Maybe if you are all ready to go kill some muslims for the GLBT people you might want to look in your own backyard? Really, you just want to promote killing muslims because you havew never done shit for GLBT people in your own country.

Stop using GLBT people to promote your genocide against Islam.

Y'know, I took a one hour "positive space ambassador" course years ago, and ever since then there's been a little sign with a rainbow on the corner of my work desk to indicate my role as a positive space ambassador. No one has ever requested my services, but as I understand it if someone stops by and asks if it's still okay to be gay, it's my responsibility to reassure them that's it's still okay to be gay.

The savages running Iraq today think my little desk sign should get me sent to prison for at least seven years.

But no, I'm the asshole for suggesting maybe they're not fit to govern themselves.

Moral relativism is bullshit. Some things are wrong and should be vigorously opposed, such as the Iraqi parliament's actions here. But I don't see anyone suggesting genocide.

You are dessperate to use GLBT issues to try and influence people to kill muslims. You are a genocidal fuck, and nop one needs you as an ally when your purpose is to try to manipulate gay people into genociding Islam.

That is not how it works, and go sit over with Trump. Fuck off and die. I do not need your genocide strings attached to your acceptance.

You need to check out his calls for Islamic genocide for Isreal. Glad you do not see it, but 14th douchebag demands GLBT people go fight for Isreal because the inventors of anti-lgbt hate are somehow the heroes.

I don't see any call for genocide here, in fairness. But there are a lot of questions begged by "don't let the primitives rule themselves", and I'm not sure I want to hear the answers.

Perhaps it sumply means that people who will imprison you for existing ought not be the ones making the rules.

Even though you may not mean this literally, dehumanizing ideological opponents like this helps lead to situations such as what's happening in Gaza. I think the members of the Iraqi parliament who voted for this are odious bigots, but they don't deserve to die. Nor do people who support Israel. Word choices matter, is all I'm saying. "Go fuck yourself" gets the same point across and is a harmless, even fun activity in general.

it is directed at @14thDoctor and others who try to use conditions for support. For instance I think jewish people should exist and have protections in the US even though some might be anti-glbt or wishing for genocide on muslims. 14th and others around here have flat out gone after the GLBT community for not supporting Isreali genocide. This is not the first occasion of this sort of thing with the 14th. In the past he has gotten on GLBT people around here for not being violent to nazis and punching them for being nazis. I am not thrilled with Nazis, but I am also not going out to assault them because he feels I should.

This is a personal thing with 14th where he can FOAD. It is a lot of we should all appreciate his jewish superiority and fight his battles for him while he sits back and does absolutely no fighting. It is very much the idea that goyum should die for jews, because jews are superior and should not be wasting their lives when lesser people can be sent out as pawns to die for them. Over the course of time here his attitude has become clearly malignant and religiously superior.

This sort of attitude is not being a real ally. I am not asking Isrealis to go kill Iraq because they are being cruel to GLBT people. I am also not going to get all worked up at Iraq when I have problems right here in Florida I need to fight. I did not want the war in Iraq to begin with last time, why would I want it now because they are mean to a few gay people? It would r3eally seem like there are some much bigger problems in Iraq to deal with than their treatment of GLBT people. I am pretty sure half their population of females have much bigger problems, and are far beyond the much smaller percentages of GLBT people who can be stealth. A woman cannot be stealth about being a woman, but a glbt person does have the closet to hide in unlike many other minorities.

By the '90s, Saddam was worse. He started out secular-ish, but to appease the religious hardliners he enacted more and more anti-homosexuality laws, including the death penalty.

On a related tangent, what are your thoughts on the UK governing themselves when trans policy has been driven by Joanne Rowling's money?

Tories, Republicans, etc. have proven they should not be governing jack shit. Those incapable of basic tolerance of human rights should stay away from politics.

Where are all the protests against this?

No you don't understand Krieg, a liberated Palestine will be a utopia for progressives and LGBTQ folk

They're went home after they figured out what the point of protests are.

All the leftists that care enough to protest over lgbtq stuff are busy focusing on the far more important issue of some rude tweets from the wizard book lady.

@14thDoctor probably doesn't think that dumb questions deserve answers, so I'll ask you a reciprocal question:

What are you thoughts on the United States of America governing themselves when they have a bigoted Supreme Court and several dozen homophobic State Governors?

There's already a dedicated thread about Rowling that I started, and at least one dedicated thread about politicians going after trans people that Nova started.

What are our thoughts on Anna feeling the need to run interference for the indefensibly homophobic and transphobic Iraqi government with some textbook whataboutism?