Photo: Creative Commons/Cary Bass-Deschenes/flickr
BAGHDAD,— Iraqi and Kurdish leaders condemned the raising of a rainbow flag by foreign diplomats to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia on Sunday, saying that it violated the country’s social norms and religious principles.
The act of solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) took place at the European Union’s mission in Baghdad and also included diplomats from the UK and Canada.
The Council of Representative’s foreign affairs committee said in a statement that the act was provocative and offended the religious beliefs of many Iraqis.
Second Deputy Speaker Bashir Haddad, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), said in a statement that raising the rainbow flag in Baghdad hurt the feelings of Iraqi society and demanded that the EU mission to take down the flag as soon as possible, apologize for displaying it, and never repeat such an action again.
Shia cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon bloc said that the event was unacceptable and called on the federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to act to prevent it happening again in the future.
According to a 2017 human rights report issued by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), “members of the [LGBTI] community continue to face severe discrimination, threats, physical attacks, kidnappings, and in some cases, killings due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA) says that, while there are no statutes specifically banning same-sex activity in Iraq, it is de facto criminalized. Courts use Article 401 of the Iraqi Penal Code, which bans “immodest acts,” to prosecute LGBTI individuals.
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