LGBT posters spread in Baghdad, calling for acceptance

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Posters advocating the acceptance of homosexuality have been spread on different streets in Baghdad, calling for tolerance and coexistence.

On Monday, photos of posters supporting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community in Baghdad were circulated on social media networks leading to controversial discussions from users.

While many were against the move, others were defending the rights of the LGBT community and their freedom of expression.

So far, it is unclear who is behind the campaign.

The posters are mostly in the Arabic language. “I am equal to you. Difference is the basis of life,” the posters read with the LGBT-I acronym, the last letter “I” believed to represent “Iraq.”

Similarly, the US Consulate General in Erbil raised the famous rainbow flag in solidarity with LGBT rights which later led to controversial comments on social media networks as well.

In the past years, human rights organizations have repeatedly reported cases of tortures, kidnappings, and murders of LGBT in Iraq.

A total of 680 cases of LGBT’s being murdered were documented from 2004 until 2009, according to an Observer report published in 2009.

The so-called Islamic State (IS) emerged in Iraq in 2014 and had also released videos in the past showing suspected homosexual men thrown from rooftops of high buildings.

Iraq has a population of 38 million people with over 90 percent of them Muslim.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany