By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

Chicago-based Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights last week announced an initiative to raise money to protect GLBTs living in Iraq.

“LGBTs are basically being hunted down and killed for being gay” in Iraq, according to Sean Casey of Heartland Alliance. “Normally we raise money for advocacy and raising awareness. This is just about survival,” Casey said.

More than 400 GLBTs have been slain since a fatwa was issued by the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in 2005 that called for the deaths of gays and lesbians in Iraq. Casey emphasized that the assailants in those slayings are organized militias dedicated to destroying GLBTs, not gangs randomly targeting them. Most of the killings have been carried out by members of the Badr Corps, the armed militia of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Heartland Alliance is working in conjunction with Iraqi LGBT, a London-based organization that has provided safe houses for GLBTs. The organization initially opened 16 such facilities, but dwindling financial resources have reduced that number down to just two.

“They are very expensive to maintain and very difficult to provide security for,” Casey said. “You have to find security guards who are willing to protect gays and lesbians.”

He said each house has about 20 residents.

The U.S. government has been slow in taking action, but Casey said that “discussions have been taking place” about the issue. Last June, U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) sent U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a letter urging the State Department to investigate the escalating numbers of attacks and report on their findings. So far the State Department has not issued a public response.

But Casey said the government is not the only one that needs to step up to the plate to help—the U.S. GLBT community needs to do so as well.

“This is a really important cause I’d like to see LGBT people in the U.S. embrace,” Casey said, adding, “We have a responsibility to support our gay brothers and sisters around the world.”

Heartland Alliance’s initiative with Iraq LGBT is part of a new project, the Global Equality Network, that Heartland Alliance has formed with GLBT organizations operating in areas of oppression and danger.

For information on donating to Heartland Alliance to support its work on behalf of Iraqi GLBTs, call (312) 660-1300 or visit www.heartlandalliance.org.