NYCLU Urges ACTION to End Rockefeller Drug Laws
The New York Civil Liberties Union (the local affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union) sent out the following action alert.
Dear Friend of Reform:
We wrote to you back in January with the news that we believed 2009 would finally be the year for true reform of our state’s mandatory minimum drug sentencing laws.
And check this out: Last week, the New York State Assembly passed a historic overhaul of the Rockefeller Drug Laws by a vote of 96-46. Now is your chance to show your support of the bill! It goes a long way towards reaching many of the goals communities and advocates have been pushing for for almost four decades.
But the fight isn’t over.
The same progressive bill has now been introduced in the New York State Senate where it faces a much tougher road to passage. Many senators have been intimidated by the scare tactics and misrepresentations of prosecutors who don’t want to give up their power over New Yorkers’ lives.
So it’s up to all of us to remind our representatives that power-hungry prosecutors do not run this state. And it’s up to all of us to say to Governor Paterson: We need your leadership more than ever right now.
Click here to send a free fax to the governor and to your state senators urging them to support S. 2855, the best way to move New York in a new direction.
For 36 years, the Rockefeller Drug Laws have forced judges to hand down extremely harsh prison terms for the possession or sale of small amounts of drugs. Though intended to target major dealers, most New Yorkers trapped by the laws are low-level, nonviolent people suffering from substance abuse problems, homelessness, mental illness or unemployment. They are overwhelmingly black and Latino.
Enough is enough. This year is the best chance we’ve seen since the Rockefeller laws were passed in 1973 to actually get real reform of these harsh and wasteful laws. But the state senate will not act if you do not lead the way.
Send your free fax right now. Then forward this email to your neighbors. And your family. And your friends. And your neighbors’ family and friends. We need a huge outpouring of support for this bill to overpower the prosecutors’ fear-mongering.
This is our chance. Let’s go make it happen.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
message from United ENDA Coalition
Dear Colleagues for a United ENDA:
Greetings from the Nation’s Capitol. Since our last update, many of us had an amazing opportunity to get together and talk about an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) at the Creating Change conference held last month in Denver, Colorado. We see such incredible momentum for positive change around the country and in Washington. It was wonderful to see so many friends and colleagues and to talk about our ability to make a difference. So much work is being done across the country to build towards passage of an inclusive ENDA, and that is exactly what is needed. Please take the lead in congressional districts in your state.
Positive Signals from Congressman Frank on Inclusive ENDA
In a recent interview with the Washington Blade, Congressman Barney Frank (D- Mass. 4), acknowledged the fantastic work being done to advance the work of an inclusive ENDA at the grassroots level, noting “the various coalitions” and the fact that “transgender groups are doing what wasn’t done previously, which is lobbying member by member.”
For the full article visit : http://www.washblade.com/2009/1-23/news/national/13969.cfm
The January 12, 2009 edition of The New Yorker featured a profile called “Barney’s Great Adventure,” which said “Frank is uncharacteristically hopeful about the future, including gay rights. Then it quoted Congressman Frank saying: ‘We’re going to do three things in Congress… First, a hate crimes bill-that shouldn’t be too hard. Next we move on to employment discrimination. We almost got that through before, but now we can win even if we add transgender protections, which we are going to do. And finally, after the troops get home from Iraq, gays in the military. The time has come.”
Your efforts make a huge difference on Capitol Hill. Keep up the good work!
White House Supports Fully Inclusive ENDA
What a change on Inauguration Day! When President Obama took office, the LGBT civil rights agenda that had been at change.gov was quickly uploaded to whitehouse.gov.
Right there, for the world to see, is this priority:
Combat Employment Discrimination: President Obama and Vice President Biden will work to …pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
The new President is not just on board with a plan to protect the entire LGBT community in the workplace, his Administration is leading the way. Let’s put this bill on President Obama’s desk to be signed, shall we?
Grassroots Call to Action
As we move toward the introduction of ENDA in this 111th Congress, we need to build momentum from the grassroots, as well as keep the lobbying effort strong in Washington. On every front, we must convey to Congress and the White House our community’s strong commitment to passage of a bill that covers both sexual orientation and gender identity. Please use the tools available at unitedenda.org to call and set up meetings with your U.S. representative and senators today, and take a diverse team from your district with you. We need every one of us, as organizations and as individuals, to ramp up efforts in every congressional district. Do not wait to be asked, please contact your senators and representatives today!
More Detail On Inclusive ENDA Activities At The Creating Change Conference
For those who want to know what you missed at the Creating Change conference there was a day-long institute called “It’s Time to Pass an Inclusive ENDA;” a workshop “ENDA for All,” and a United ENDA coalition organizing meeting for those able to make it. Both returning and new activists committed to passage of an inclusive ENDA had a chance to get the latest news from Washington, brush up on new skills, reestablish ties with other coalition allies, and recommit to this important work.
If we are reaching you for the first time with this update because your organization joined the United ENDA Coalition in Denver, we welcome you.
Let Us Know About Your Key Efforts
If you have information that you believe should be included in this monthly update, please send it our way. And please let us know if contacts for your organization change, so we are sending updates and alerts to those who need them.
In deep appreciation for all that are doing to ensure that an inclusive ENDA becomes law, we remain,
Yours in solidarity,
United ENDA Steering Committee Co-Chairs
Mara Keisling
Executive Director
National Center for Transgender Equality
1325 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
202-903-0112 office
www.NCTEquality.org
Julie Anne Childs
Assistant to the Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
1325 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
Main Line: 202-393-5177
Direct Line: 202-639-6302
Blackberry: 202-744-9172
Fax: 202-393-2241
jchilds@thetaskforce.org
www.thetaskforce.org
Greetings from the Nation’s Capitol. Since our last update, many of us had an amazing opportunity to get together and talk about an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) at the Creating Change conference held last month in Denver, Colorado. We see such incredible momentum for positive change around the country and in Washington. It was wonderful to see so many friends and colleagues and to talk about our ability to make a difference. So much work is being done across the country to build towards passage of an inclusive ENDA, and that is exactly what is needed. Please take the lead in congressional districts in your state.
Positive Signals from Congressman Frank on Inclusive ENDA
In a recent interview with the Washington Blade, Congressman Barney Frank (D- Mass. 4), acknowledged the fantastic work being done to advance the work of an inclusive ENDA at the grassroots level, noting “the various coalitions” and the fact that “transgender groups are doing what wasn’t done previously, which is lobbying member by member.”
For the full article visit : http://www.washblade.com/2009/1-23/news/national/13969.cfm
The January 12, 2009 edition of The New Yorker featured a profile called “Barney’s Great Adventure,” which said “Frank is uncharacteristically hopeful about the future, including gay rights. Then it quoted Congressman Frank saying: ‘We’re going to do three things in Congress… First, a hate crimes bill-that shouldn’t be too hard. Next we move on to employment discrimination. We almost got that through before, but now we can win even if we add transgender protections, which we are going to do. And finally, after the troops get home from Iraq, gays in the military. The time has come.”
Your efforts make a huge difference on Capitol Hill. Keep up the good work!
White House Supports Fully Inclusive ENDA
What a change on Inauguration Day! When President Obama took office, the LGBT civil rights agenda that had been at change.gov was quickly uploaded to whitehouse.gov.
Right there, for the world to see, is this priority:
Combat Employment Discrimination: President Obama and Vice President Biden will work to …pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
The new President is not just on board with a plan to protect the entire LGBT community in the workplace, his Administration is leading the way. Let’s put this bill on President Obama’s desk to be signed, shall we?
Grassroots Call to Action
As we move toward the introduction of ENDA in this 111th Congress, we need to build momentum from the grassroots, as well as keep the lobbying effort strong in Washington. On every front, we must convey to Congress and the White House our community’s strong commitment to passage of a bill that covers both sexual orientation and gender identity. Please use the tools available at unitedenda.org to call and set up meetings with your U.S. representative and senators today, and take a diverse team from your district with you. We need every one of us, as organizations and as individuals, to ramp up efforts in every congressional district. Do not wait to be asked, please contact your senators and representatives today!
More Detail On Inclusive ENDA Activities At The Creating Change Conference
For those who want to know what you missed at the Creating Change conference there was a day-long institute called “It’s Time to Pass an Inclusive ENDA;” a workshop “ENDA for All,” and a United ENDA coalition organizing meeting for those able to make it. Both returning and new activists committed to passage of an inclusive ENDA had a chance to get the latest news from Washington, brush up on new skills, reestablish ties with other coalition allies, and recommit to this important work.
If we are reaching you for the first time with this update because your organization joined the United ENDA Coalition in Denver, we welcome you.
Let Us Know About Your Key Efforts
If you have information that you believe should be included in this monthly update, please send it our way. And please let us know if contacts for your organization change, so we are sending updates and alerts to those who need them.
In deep appreciation for all that are doing to ensure that an inclusive ENDA becomes law, we remain,
Yours in solidarity,
United ENDA Steering Committee Co-Chairs
Mara Keisling
Executive Director
National Center for Transgender Equality
1325 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
202-903-0112 office
www.NCTEquality.org
Julie Anne Childs
Assistant to the Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
1325 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
Main Line: 202-393-5177
Direct Line: 202-639-6302
Blackberry: 202-744-9172
Fax: 202-393-2241
jchilds@thetaskforce.org
www.thetaskforce.org
KELLY CURBS 'GAY' STINGS BY LARRY CELONA
New York Post - 03/09/2009
Following accusations that vice cops were making dubious arrests of gay men at pornography shops, the NYPD has decided that similar investigations will now have to be approved by the department's higher-ups, sources told ThePost.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly called the head of the department's OrganizedCrime Control Bureau, which oversees the vice squad, and others to PoliceHeadquarters after protests outside Mayor Bloomberg's home over the arrests.
Protesters said undercover vice-squad cops were flirting with customers inManhattan shops and offering to have sex for money - which the activistssaid amounted to entrapment. The department had said it was not targeting gay men but was ratherconducting a nuisance-abatement operation in response to neighborcomplaints.
As a result of the talks, it was decided that all such operations would haveto be cleared by OCCB head Chief Anthony Izzo, the sources said.
Following accusations that vice cops were making dubious arrests of gay men at pornography shops, the NYPD has decided that similar investigations will now have to be approved by the department's higher-ups, sources told ThePost.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly called the head of the department's OrganizedCrime Control Bureau, which oversees the vice squad, and others to PoliceHeadquarters after protests outside Mayor Bloomberg's home over the arrests.
Protesters said undercover vice-squad cops were flirting with customers inManhattan shops and offering to have sex for money - which the activistssaid amounted to entrapment. The department had said it was not targeting gay men but was ratherconducting a nuisance-abatement operation in response to neighborcomplaints.
As a result of the talks, it was decided that all such operations would haveto be cleared by OCCB head Chief Anthony Izzo, the sources said.
Friday, March 6, 2009
New Yorkers to Gather in Solidarity Demonstration Against the Acquital of Jacobo Pineiro Rial’s Murder of Gay Couple in Vigo, Spain - This Saturday.
(pictured: Accused Murderer Jacobo Piniero Rial)
In an act of solidarity New Yorkers will gather in front of the Spanish Embassy, 150 East, 58 Street, on Saturday March 7, 2009 from 1:00 – 2:30 PM.
In response to the outrage due to “Spain’s Matthew Sheppard’s” case, New Yorkers will gather on Saturday, March 7, 2009, from 1:00 – 2:30 PM, in front of the Spanish Embassy, 150 East, 58 Street, in an act of solidarity against the acquittal of Jacobo Pineiro Rial, murderer of Isaac Ali Dani Peréz Triviño and Julio Anderson Luciano of Vigo, Spain.
The New York City demonstration coincides with the simultaneous ‘protestas’ in Barcelona, Madrid and Vigo on the same day.
On the morning of January 13th, 2006, Isaac Ali Dani Peréz Triviño and Julio Anderson Luciano were both stabbed to death by Mr. Pineiro.. “The bodies showed a total of 57 stab wounds, according to forensics…After killing them, Piñeiro took a shower and cleaned himself up. He filled a suitcase with some of their belongings to make it look like a robbery and then spilled clothing all over the place. He poured alcohol over everything, including his victims' bodies, turned on the gas spigot on the stove, and set everything on fire.”, mentions Andres Duque of Blabbeando, the fist site to report the horrific murder and outcome in the US.
Three years after the brutal murder, Julio Pineiro Rial almost walked out a free man. He was acquitted by a jury of both murders on the basis of ‘self-defense’. His sentencing still remains to take place for setting fire to the apartment where Isaac and Julio were murdered. Insiders estimate that his sentence will be around 15 to 20 years.
The Supreme Court of Justice of Galicia [Fiscalía del Tribunal Superior de Xustiza de Galicia (TSXG)] “confirmed that the evidence to be presented to the Supreme Court in reference to the verdict issued by the jury on the double murder of Calle Oporto of Vigo, will be addressed promptly due to the urgency and importance of the case.” – Faro de Vigo.
The demonstration in New York City on Saturday, March 7, 2009 in front of the Spanish Embassy is to show support in solidarity with those that are appalled by the outcome of the case. The demonstration sends a clear message to the WORLD that nowadays we need to listen, react and respond to this outrage. Our message to all Spaniards is that the we, New Yorkers, care and offer our support; that we embrace the pain of Marta Pérez Triviñio, mother of Isaac, and all their relatives and friends, as well as those of Julio Anderson; that in moments of injustice we cannot simply stand mute.
hat tip: Latino Commission on AIDS
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Suit Seeks to Force Government to Extend Benefits to Same-Sex Couples
By Abby Goodnough and Katie Zezima
New York Times - 3/3/09
BOSTON — The legal advocacy group that successfully argued for sex-same marriage in Massachusetts intends to file suit here on Tuesday seeking some federal benefits for spouses in such marriages.
The target is the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress in 1996, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage. That law denies federal benefits, like Social Security survivors’ payments, to spouses in such marriages.
Because same-sex marriage is allowed in only two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut, the number of spouses who are denied such benefits is fairly small. But Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the group planning to file the federal suit, believes the number will grow as more states consider granting gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.
At least eight other states, including New York, are considering same-sex marriage bills.
“In our view, it’s a straightforward equal-protection issue,” said Mary L. Bonauto, civil rights project director for the group, referring to the constitutional mandate that laws be applied equally to everyone.
The suit, to be filed in Federal District Court in Boston, does not challenge a separate provision of the act that says states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Information about the suit is posted on the advocacy group's web site.
While the Government Accountability Office has identified more than 1,100 federal statutory provisions in which marital status is a factor in rights and benefits, the suit focuses narrowly on equal protection as applied to Social Security, federal income tax, federal employees and retirees, and the issuance of passports.
“We picked programs every American can relate to,” Ms. Bonauto said.
The plaintiffs in the suit include eight couples and three widowers, all of whom were married in Massachusetts after the state began allowing same-sex marriages in 2004. All have applied for federal benefits, Ms. Bonauto said, but have been denied because the federal government does not recognize their marriages.
Some of the plaintiffs are federal employees who cannot share their health benefits with spouses; others cannot file taxes jointly or are receiving less generous Social Security retirement benefits.
The widowers include Dean Hara, the spouse of former Representative Gerry E. Studds. After Mr. Studds died in 2006, Mr. Hara, 51, was denied his Congressional pension and other benefits normally extended to surviving spouses of federal employees.
Another married couple, Melba Abreu and Beatrice Hernandez, estimate they would have saved about $20,000 in federal income tax over the past few years if they had been able to file jointly.
“In our case, the core of our American dream has always been for Melba and I to provide for one another,” said Ms. Hernandez, 47, of Boston. “This presents a real threat to that, when we take a good hard look at our future years.”
Another plaintiff, Herbert Burtis, 78, lost his spouse last year and would be entitled to about $700 a month in Social Security survivor benefits if his marriage had been heterosexual.
“Nobody else has to go through that begging to be considered equal to other married people,” said Mr. Burtis, who married in 2004 but was with his partner for more than 60 years.
Although federal courts have heard other challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, Ms. Bonauto said, this is the first in which plaintiffs who were married in their state of residence applied for federal benefits and were denied them.
Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, a group that has lobbied against same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, said he did not think one part of the federal act could be singled out and struck down.
Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law scholar and dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine, said that the case seemed strong but that victory was not certain.
“I think that under established equal protection law, they have strong claims,” Mr. Chemerinsky said. “But it does raise issues that courts haven’t dealt with before, so that makes it more difficult to predict what the courts will do.”
Mr. Burtis, who was among hundreds of gay, married residents of Massachusetts whom Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders reached out to, said he did not expect to receive federal benefits in his lifetime.
“But at least I can be part of what I think would be a historic moment to help someone in a future generation get equality under the law,” he said.
By Abby Goodnough and Katie Zezima
New York Times - 3/3/09
BOSTON — The legal advocacy group that successfully argued for sex-same marriage in Massachusetts intends to file suit here on Tuesday seeking some federal benefits for spouses in such marriages.
The target is the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress in 1996, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage. That law denies federal benefits, like Social Security survivors’ payments, to spouses in such marriages.
Because same-sex marriage is allowed in only two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut, the number of spouses who are denied such benefits is fairly small. But Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the group planning to file the federal suit, believes the number will grow as more states consider granting gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.
At least eight other states, including New York, are considering same-sex marriage bills.
“In our view, it’s a straightforward equal-protection issue,” said Mary L. Bonauto, civil rights project director for the group, referring to the constitutional mandate that laws be applied equally to everyone.
The suit, to be filed in Federal District Court in Boston, does not challenge a separate provision of the act that says states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Information about the suit is posted on the advocacy group's web site.
While the Government Accountability Office has identified more than 1,100 federal statutory provisions in which marital status is a factor in rights and benefits, the suit focuses narrowly on equal protection as applied to Social Security, federal income tax, federal employees and retirees, and the issuance of passports.
“We picked programs every American can relate to,” Ms. Bonauto said.
The plaintiffs in the suit include eight couples and three widowers, all of whom were married in Massachusetts after the state began allowing same-sex marriages in 2004. All have applied for federal benefits, Ms. Bonauto said, but have been denied because the federal government does not recognize their marriages.
Some of the plaintiffs are federal employees who cannot share their health benefits with spouses; others cannot file taxes jointly or are receiving less generous Social Security retirement benefits.
The widowers include Dean Hara, the spouse of former Representative Gerry E. Studds. After Mr. Studds died in 2006, Mr. Hara, 51, was denied his Congressional pension and other benefits normally extended to surviving spouses of federal employees.
Another married couple, Melba Abreu and Beatrice Hernandez, estimate they would have saved about $20,000 in federal income tax over the past few years if they had been able to file jointly.
“In our case, the core of our American dream has always been for Melba and I to provide for one another,” said Ms. Hernandez, 47, of Boston. “This presents a real threat to that, when we take a good hard look at our future years.”
Another plaintiff, Herbert Burtis, 78, lost his spouse last year and would be entitled to about $700 a month in Social Security survivor benefits if his marriage had been heterosexual.
“Nobody else has to go through that begging to be considered equal to other married people,” said Mr. Burtis, who married in 2004 but was with his partner for more than 60 years.
Although federal courts have heard other challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, Ms. Bonauto said, this is the first in which plaintiffs who were married in their state of residence applied for federal benefits and were denied them.
Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, a group that has lobbied against same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, said he did not think one part of the federal act could be singled out and struck down.
Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law scholar and dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine, said that the case seemed strong but that victory was not certain.
“I think that under established equal protection law, they have strong claims,” Mr. Chemerinsky said. “But it does raise issues that courts haven’t dealt with before, so that makes it more difficult to predict what the courts will do.”
Mr. Burtis, who was among hundreds of gay, married residents of Massachusetts whom Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders reached out to, said he did not expect to receive federal benefits in his lifetime.
“But at least I can be part of what I think would be a historic moment to help someone in a future generation get equality under the law,” he said.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Iraq's queer underground railroad
A secret network of safe houses and escape routes is saving gay Iraqis from execution by Islamist death squads
by Peter Tatchell
guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 25 February 2009 21.30 GMT
In the bad old days of slavery in the United States, there was the "Underground Railroad" – a clandestine network of secret routes and safe houses – which spirited thousands of southern slaves to freedom in the north.
Today, 200 years later in Iraq, a modern version of the underground railroad is saving the lives of gay people who are fleeing Islamist death squads. It is providing safe houses in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, and is smuggling lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to neighbouring countries, where it helps them apply for United Nations humanitarian protection.
This secret network, coordinated by Iraqi LGBT exiles in London, is saving dozens of lives.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, homophobia and the terrorisation of LGBT people has got much worse. The western invasion of Iraq in 2003 ended the tyrannical Baathist dictatorship. But it also destroyed a secular state, created chaos and lawlessness and allowed the flourishing of religious fundamentalism. The result has been an Islamist-inspired homophobic terror campaign against LGBT Iraqis.
You can watch two short videos, which show the terror of queer life in "democratic" Iraq here and here.
This campaign of terror is sanctioned by Iraq's leading Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. In 2005, he issued a fatwa urging the killing of LGBT people in the "worst, most severe way" possible.
This is the same Sistani who was praised by President Bush as a "leading moderate". The British government concurred. We hosted him in Britain for medical treatment. He was anti-Saddam, so the west backed him, even after he issued his murderous religious edicts.
Although the general security situation has improved in Iraq, for LGBT people it has deteriorated sharply. Systematic assassinations of queers are being orchestrated by police and security agents in the interior ministry, many of whom are former members of the Iranian-backed Badr Corps militia.
Queers are being shot dead in their homes, streets and workplaces. Even suspected gay children are being murdered. They killers claim to be doing these assassinations at the behest of the "democratic" Iraqi government, in order to eradicate what they see as immoral, un-Islamic behaviour.
This programme of targeted murders has one aim, according to the death squads: the total eradication of all queers from Iraq. It is, in effect, a form of sexual cleansing. The killers boast that most "sodomites" have already been eliminated.
The interior ministry is, of course, a key ministry in the UK-backed and US-backed government of Iraq. Some democracy! In fact, there is no democracy or human rights at all for Iraqi queers. If the government in Baghdad is not actively encouraging the mass killing of LGBT people, it is definitely allowing rogue police and Islamists to do so.
To protect against this terror and save lives, the Iraqi LGBT organisation has created its underground queer railroad, complete with safe houses and escape routes.
"Since establishing the safe houses project in 2006 we have provided refuge for dozens of gay people who were being hunted by death squads," reports Ali Hili, coordinator of Iraqi LGBT.
"We have also assisted people to escape from Iraq to neighbouring countries, where we have established resettlement projects. Our efforts have got gay refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and we've already moved some of them a third safer country, in Europe or North America. These lucky ones are now beginning to rebuild their lives," Mr Hili said.
K is a 33-year-old architect who escaped to Amman in Jordan. He now helps run the Iraqi LGBT support group there, aiding other LGBT refugees from Iraq. So far, seven out of 23 Iraqi LGBT refugees who have been smuggled to Jordan have had their applications for asylum approved by the UNHCR and been able to secure asylum in countries such as the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.
This heroic work is not without its risks and sacrifices. Many of the underground activists have been assassinated, in a series of grisly homophobic and transphobic murders.
Two lesbians who ran the safe house in the city of Najaf were butchered, together with a young boy they had rescued from the sex industry. Last summer, the coordinator of a Baghdad safe house, Bashar, was gunned to death in his local barber's shop by an Islamist hit squad.
Previously, five gay activists who organised another Baghdad safe house were massacred.
The lack of funds is a perpetual problem. Three of the five safe houses in Baghdad had to close last year because of a lack of donations to keep them running. Two have since been reopened but it is a constant struggle to fund them. Money is needed to pay rent, electricity and food bills for the 10-12 LGBT refugees who are crammed into each house. Many more LGBT Iraqis still need a place to hide.
A secret network of safe houses and escape routes is saving gay Iraqis from execution by Islamist death squads
by Peter Tatchell
guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 25 February 2009 21.30 GMT
In the bad old days of slavery in the United States, there was the "Underground Railroad" – a clandestine network of secret routes and safe houses – which spirited thousands of southern slaves to freedom in the north.
Today, 200 years later in Iraq, a modern version of the underground railroad is saving the lives of gay people who are fleeing Islamist death squads. It is providing safe houses in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, and is smuggling lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to neighbouring countries, where it helps them apply for United Nations humanitarian protection.
This secret network, coordinated by Iraqi LGBT exiles in London, is saving dozens of lives.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, homophobia and the terrorisation of LGBT people has got much worse. The western invasion of Iraq in 2003 ended the tyrannical Baathist dictatorship. But it also destroyed a secular state, created chaos and lawlessness and allowed the flourishing of religious fundamentalism. The result has been an Islamist-inspired homophobic terror campaign against LGBT Iraqis.
You can watch two short videos, which show the terror of queer life in "democratic" Iraq here and here.
This campaign of terror is sanctioned by Iraq's leading Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. In 2005, he issued a fatwa urging the killing of LGBT people in the "worst, most severe way" possible.
This is the same Sistani who was praised by President Bush as a "leading moderate". The British government concurred. We hosted him in Britain for medical treatment. He was anti-Saddam, so the west backed him, even after he issued his murderous religious edicts.
Although the general security situation has improved in Iraq, for LGBT people it has deteriorated sharply. Systematic assassinations of queers are being orchestrated by police and security agents in the interior ministry, many of whom are former members of the Iranian-backed Badr Corps militia.
Queers are being shot dead in their homes, streets and workplaces. Even suspected gay children are being murdered. They killers claim to be doing these assassinations at the behest of the "democratic" Iraqi government, in order to eradicate what they see as immoral, un-Islamic behaviour.
This programme of targeted murders has one aim, according to the death squads: the total eradication of all queers from Iraq. It is, in effect, a form of sexual cleansing. The killers boast that most "sodomites" have already been eliminated.
The interior ministry is, of course, a key ministry in the UK-backed and US-backed government of Iraq. Some democracy! In fact, there is no democracy or human rights at all for Iraqi queers. If the government in Baghdad is not actively encouraging the mass killing of LGBT people, it is definitely allowing rogue police and Islamists to do so.
To protect against this terror and save lives, the Iraqi LGBT organisation has created its underground queer railroad, complete with safe houses and escape routes.
"Since establishing the safe houses project in 2006 we have provided refuge for dozens of gay people who were being hunted by death squads," reports Ali Hili, coordinator of Iraqi LGBT.
"We have also assisted people to escape from Iraq to neighbouring countries, where we have established resettlement projects. Our efforts have got gay refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and we've already moved some of them a third safer country, in Europe or North America. These lucky ones are now beginning to rebuild their lives," Mr Hili said.
K is a 33-year-old architect who escaped to Amman in Jordan. He now helps run the Iraqi LGBT support group there, aiding other LGBT refugees from Iraq. So far, seven out of 23 Iraqi LGBT refugees who have been smuggled to Jordan have had their applications for asylum approved by the UNHCR and been able to secure asylum in countries such as the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.
This heroic work is not without its risks and sacrifices. Many of the underground activists have been assassinated, in a series of grisly homophobic and transphobic murders.
Two lesbians who ran the safe house in the city of Najaf were butchered, together with a young boy they had rescued from the sex industry. Last summer, the coordinator of a Baghdad safe house, Bashar, was gunned to death in his local barber's shop by an Islamist hit squad.
Previously, five gay activists who organised another Baghdad safe house were massacred.
The lack of funds is a perpetual problem. Three of the five safe houses in Baghdad had to close last year because of a lack of donations to keep them running. Two have since been reopened but it is a constant struggle to fund them. Money is needed to pay rent, electricity and food bills for the 10-12 LGBT refugees who are crammed into each house. Many more LGBT Iraqis still need a place to hide.
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