edited: to put entire article in body of post, instead of just beginning & end.
A law amendment in Iraq has proposed capital punishment for homosexual relationships. Campaigners have called it a “dangerous” escalation in the country where people already face frequent attacks and discrimination. However, life for queer Iraqis hasn’t always been this way. As with so many stains on worldwide human rights, the worsening homophobia and transphobia in Iraq can be traced back to the British empire.
Iraq: debating the death penalty for LGBTQ+ people
The amendment to a 1988 anti-prostitution law passed a first reading in parliament last week. It would enable courts to issue “the death penalty or life imprisonment” sentences for “homosexual relations”. This is according to a document seen by Agence France-Press (AFP). The amendment would also set a minimum seven-year prison term for “promoting homosexuality”.
Currently, no existing laws explicitly punish homosexual relations. However, the state has prosecuted LGBTQ+ people for sodomy, or under vague morality and anti-prostitution clauses in Iraq’s penal code. This also comes at a time when the state and the media are also cracking-down on open discussion about LGBTQ+ issues.
The national media and communications commission is considering banning Iraq-based publications from using the term “homosexuality”. Instead, it would advise media outlets to use the derogatory term “sexual deviance”. It also wants to ban the term “gender”.
‘Abnormal social phenomena’, apparently
The law change appears to have broad support in the Islamist-majority assembly. Saud al-Saadi is member of Shiite Muslim party Huquq, the political wing of the powerful Iran-aligned Hezbollah Brigades and part of the ruling coalition. He said the amendment was “still under discussion and subject to exchanges of viewpoints”. Saadi said a second reading had yet to be scheduled, and argued that parliament aims to “fill a legal vacuum”.
Lawmaker Sharif Suleiman of the Kurdistan Democratic Party said the proposed legislation reflects:
our moral and human values and our fights against abnormal social phenomena… We need deterrent laws.
‘My life will end’
A 2022 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and non-governmental organisation IraQueer found that people often target LGBTQ+ Iraqis with “kidnappings, rapes, torture and murders”. The state fails to punish the perpetrators. LGBTQ+ rights researcher at HRW Rasha Younes called the new proposed legislation as a “dangerous step”. She told AFP:
That means that Iraqi individuals’ life and constant fear of being hunted down and killed by armed groups with impunity is now going to translate into the law itself.
The Iraqi government (is) using the rights of LGBT people to distract the public from its lack of delivery.
The surge in anti-LGBTQ sentiment has stoked further fear among members of the community. Iraqi gay man Abdallah told AFP:
The situation has become too complicated because we are not protected by the authorities. If someone finds out that I’m gay and has a problem with me, they can send my name or photo to armed groups. My life will end.
It is likely Iraqi politicians will pass the law – and it can be directly linked back to Britain’s colonial influence.
Colonialism: bringing homophobia to Iraq and the Middle East
Historically, Iraq and other countries in the Middle East were not as homophobic as they are today. Rather, the Ottoman empire – part of which would later become present-day Iraq – was relatively permissive of homosexuality, particularly if it was kept out of the public eye.
Then, as History wrote:
Britain seized Iraq from Ottoman Turkey during World War I and was granted a mandate by the League of Nations to govern the nation in 1920. A Hashemite monarchy was organized under British protection in 1921, and on October 3, 1932, the kingdom of Iraq was granted independence.
But the damage was already done. The Economist explained that:
In 1885 the British government introduced new penal codes that punished all homosexual behaviour. Of the more than 70 countries that criminalise homosexual acts today, over half are former British colonies. France introduced similar laws around the same time. After independence, only Jordan and Bahrain did away with such penalties.
Britain forced its anti-LGBTQ+ laws onto Iraq (as it did most of its colonies). Negative societal attitudes and state criminalisation have remained ever since.
Now, it’s LGBTQ+ Iraqis feeling the full effects of the legacy of British colonialism.
Blaming Britain for a 150 year old law instead of a clearly bigoted and distinctively intolerant religion and theocracy is an insane take.
This is actually pants on head stupid.
Yeah, there are a lot of things we can blame on imperialism/colonialism, but an independent country choosing to hate people for no reason is on them.
I had to click through a few things to find out where this remarkable piece of journalism came from, figuring it must be a former colony with a chip on their shoulder.
Canary.co is a British publication lol
The truth is no one can hate us like we hate ourselves 😅
They were big Corbyn cheerleaders they’re British but they will take any opportunity to slate us.
Passing the blame of current laws onto British from 150 years ago is also inherently racist because it requires the current people of Iraq to be without free will. They are their own people and make their own decisions.
“You can blame the British for that [modern day enforcement of backward laws that the rest of the world has since corrected]”
Horrendous state of affairs but the tying it “the British” is mind boggling. Pull your head out of yer arse.
Most brain-dead take I’ve heard. Apparently the UK managed to change Iraqi culture in well less than 20 years to become homophobic. ???
Kind of brain dead not to realize Iraq was a British mandate after World War I, 100 years ago. They did upend the bureaucratic systems following the fall of the Ottoman Empire and instituted sweeping new laws.
I think they are referring to the fact that Britain had control of Iraq for only around a decade.
I’m not well versed to speak about the UK and Iraq, but there are indeed examples in the contemporary world where some 8–14 years would be enough to change the public opinion quite a lot
I realise this, my issue is that this is blamed on Britian despite administration being for well less than 20 years before independence. Iraqi opinions to homosexuality have over history been more influenced by the teachings of Islam than Britain.
Lemmy.ml don’t blame literally everything on the west challenge
OP is from lemmy.zip and that’s the title of the article.
British Law was exported to all of its colonies. Homosexuality was not taboo in Pre-Anglo Ottoman Iraq. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the British land grabs you start to see these kinds of changes in the penal code.
deleted by creator
Bro don’t be obtuse. It was illegal to be gay in Britain as recently as 1981 in some parts. British colonial rule had a profound effect on the countries it held dominion over particularly in introducing laws which often held harsher punishments than at home in order to “civilize” the local people there. As other commenters have mentioned, homosexuality was not nearly as taboo in the Middle East during the days of the Ottoman Empire as it is today. Many countries which were under British rule still maintain harsh anti homosexuality laws today, the harshness of which can be traced back to the introduction of British law codes.
What’s stopping them repealing these laws in the century odd that the UK hasn’t controlled their countries? Yeah, colonialism was a bit naff, but blaming us for issues that persist that long after we left seems silly.
But instead of blaming a period of time that lasted only around a decade (British control of Iraq), why not blame the massive rise in fundamentalist Islamic views since the mid-20th century? That seems to be the much more important factor.
Hey, where do you think financialist Islam came from? Hint hint, it wasn’t under Ottoman occupation. It was post British colonial rule under a system set up by the British.
It’s more complicated than that. Governments established by Britain are a factor, but Salafi ideology fostered a hatred of Western ideals separate from colonial issues. Trying to say it’s Britain’s fault is oversimplifying to the point of absurdity.
Pretty sure the Ottoman Empire had a pretty good economy without any help from Britain.
You mean the “Sick Old Man of Europe”?
deleted by creator
You might as well blame current UK issues on the Romans.
Blaming the creation of a new law on anybody except the lawmakers is a pretty shit take, but blaming it on 150 year old colonialism is actually infantilistic.
It’s The Canary, they’re Corbynistas who will take any opportunity to shit on the UK.
Gonna be honest, I really doubt that non-existence of that law would stop them
How is centuries old colonialism at fault for the clearly bigoted and anti-LGBTQ theocracy of fundamentalist Islamic radicals that took over the country and are currently implementing and enforcing authoritarian restrictions on the population LIKE WE KNEW THEY WOULD?!?
Stupid as absolute fuck. Blame Sharia law and those that uphold it.
I mean that’s pretty much how all modern cultural views happened. The British came in and changed shit and when they left not everything changed back and a lot of cultural norms remained.
Edit: Idk anything about middle eastern history (thanks American education system!) I just thought it made sense since Britain has impacted cultures all over the world due to its violent colonialism.
Can you give us some examples of Iraqi social norms that are left from the Brits?
Nope because I don’t know any lmao
I was only bringing it up because it made sense in my head 😅
The British have nothing to do with the takeover of religious authoritarianism in the area and the obvious implications of what people would be oppressed when said religion becomes law.
This trying to shift the blame onto anyone except the actual problem, the modern religious extremists that control the country.
I’m not tryna shift blame I just thought it made sense 😅
Not you personally, but the overarching narrative you’re espousing is intended to take the pressure off of the current oppressors which are the religious authorities of the middle east.
Sorry if it seemed like I was specifically targeting you, it’s more about the articles perspective being used as a tool.
Hey that’s fair. I’m not a big fan of religious doctrine personally so I understand. I just thought that it might’ve been a remnant of British culture at the time.
But like I said I’m ignorant af about it all and I’ll accept that
So the point is we should have held onto our colonies so their laws could have changed with ours right?
Edit - I didn’t think this would need an /s but clearly it does.
Funny joke.
