It’s sad to say that being gay still isn’t accepted wholeheartedly in the world. There are more places moving towards equality and bettering the lives of everyone but in some it is probably worst that you can possibly know.
ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham) just released photographic and video evidence of three men standing on top of a building while a large crowd peers up at them. The men who are clothed in balaclavas, are staggered. Two stand next to their victim and one more stands in the corner filming it.
In an instant they throw the victim off the building who lands face down but the terror is not done. In the last act a crowd of men throw rocks at him until he is stoned to death. As we hear more reports of gay persecution in Syria we wanted to discuss the issue and future implications.
How does this affect you ? Why did this happen?
The victim had to go through this torture because it was assumed that he was a gay man. It was never said definitively whether he was or not but just an accusation led to him being terrorized and his death being filmed as a warning to others who are gay and the media.
This is just one time this has happened recently but there are over six cases of ISIS doing this to those who are allegedly gay. These are simply the reported cases and the full extent is not quite known.
Gay men who feared for their lives in Istanbul have to flee to America to work and learn for fear of being killed in their home country. They have to veil their individuality to save their life and in the meantime hope that the advocating for gay rights is making its move and hope that one day it will prevail and overrule the terror happening in Syria.
CNN covered how dangerous life is for a gay man in Syria. They interviewed a man who goes by the name of “Nour” and who currently seeks refuge in the USA. In his interview he recalls the bullying that he had to endure in high school. In just being gay he was a criminal by the rules of his country and he was physically and verbally harmed by other students during and after classes. On top of that his family was not there to protect him, they too despised any man who was gay and he was seen as breaking the rules.
According to CNN: Article 520 of the Syrian Penal Code of 1949 states: “Any unnatural sexual intercourse shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of up to three years.” When ISIS power grew, Nour knew he had to go after seeing a video of two men being beheaded for supposedly being “spies” but upon hearing the words of the man who slaughtered them saying “When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes” he knew that his life was threatened and that they beheading was not merely for them being spies, if in fact they even were.
They are now waiting for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help find settlements for and refugee status for those who are LGBT. This has yet to stop and the threats follow, for more stories, updates and news on this. To read the full interview and watch the CNN video, Click here.
Research and see what you can do to help make a change and find safe places for those whose lives are risked just for the fact that they are homosexual. Our heart goes out to those who were harmed and who passed away in the Syrian war against Gays.
