Aug. 9 (UPI) — Iraq is ordering all media and social media platforms in the country to stop using the words “homosexual” and “homosexuality,” and replace them with the term “sexual deviance” in publications and broadcasts.
Iraq’s Media and Communications Commission issued the directive Wednesday to safeguard societal values, according to Iraq’s state and private news outlets.
While the commission also instructed media to refrain from using the word “gender,” there was no information about penalties for noncompliance other than the possibility of fines.
“The directive from Iraq’s official media regulator is the latest in a series of attacks on freedom of expression under the guise of respect for ‘public morals,’ Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Aya Majzoub said in a statement Wednesday.
“The CMC’s ban of the word ‘homosexuality’ and insistence that media use ‘sexual deviance’ instead is a dangerous move that can fuel discrimination and violent attacks against members of the LGBTI community,” Majzoub added.
“Furthermore, its ban and demonization of the word ‘gender’ demonstrates a callous disregard for combatting gender-based violence at a time when civil society has been reporting an increase in crimes against women and girls, amid widespread impunity.”
While Iraq’s national penal code does not criminalize homosexuality, the country’s judiciary has invoked provisions in laws that preserve “public morals” in order to prosecute people for same-sex acts.
According to Amnesty International, the Ministry of Interior spent the first half of this year cracking down on “indecent content” online and prosecuted more than 20 individuals using the country’s public morality laws.
Many Muslim-majority nations have resisted the advancement of LGBTQ rights for religious and cultural reasons. Those governments, which criticize LGBTQ rights and burn rainbow flags, also have opposed a number of global initiatives at the United Nations.
Seven nations — including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates — carry the strictest penalties, with homosexual acts being punishable by death. Afghanistan reintroduced the death penalty for homosexual acts in 2021, after the Taliban retook control.
In its statement Wednesday, Amnesty International urged Iraq to retract its directive that bans the words “homosexual” and “gender.”
“The Iraqi authorities must immediately overturn this decision and ensure that they respect the right to freedom of expression and non-discrimination for all individuals in the country,” Majzoub said, “regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.”
