Iraqi LGBT Leader Gunned Down in Baghdad

Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress at 4:54 PM on September 29, 2008.

A terrible end for a heroic organizer.

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LGBT publication EDGE writes that in Iraq, "for gays and lesbians at least, times have never been worse." Peter Tatchell of Outrage! reported on the most recent atrocity on Sept. 25, when an LGBT leader was gunned down:

This morning, I received news from Iraq that the coordinator of Iraqi LGBT in Baghdad, Bashar, aged 27, a university student, has been assassinated in a barber shop.

Militias burst in and sprayed his body with bullets at point blank range.

He was the organizer of the safe houses for gays and lesbians in Baghdad. His efforts saved the lives of dozens of people.

"Homosexuality was generally tolerated under Saddam," Hali, founder of Iraqi LGBT, said in 2007. "There certainly was no danger of gay people being assassinated in the street by police. ... Life in Iraq now is hell for all LGBT people; no one can be openly gay and alive."

Tagged as: iraq, lgbt, assassination, hero

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Deputy Editor for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.

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