The most dangerous countries for us as the LGBTQ community

Homosexuality is still a crime in 72 countries . And even countries with no legal barriers, such as the US, record shocking levels of hate crimes – there were 53 transgender murders from 2013 to 2015 and not a single one was prosecuted, for example. Based on the data that is available, here are seven of the countries where LGBT rights are most under threat – but where campaigners are also making the occasional small step of progress.

Iraq: 

          

“It depends on what part of the country you are in – but in two words I’d describe Iraq as ‘not safe’ for LGBT people,” says Amir Ashour, Iraq’s only openly gay activist, explaining that it’s not just the threat from Islamic State in Mosul and Hawija. “In Baghdad and the middle of Iraq the violence is actually more visible from groups supported by the government, who do killing campaigns. The latest one was in January – we knew several people who were killed but there were rumors there was a list of 100 names.”        Attacks on gay individuals under Isis have been widely reported, but Iraq’s systematic killing campaigns of gay individuals pre-date the terror group and continue to this day. Ashour, the founder of LGBT group IraQueer, estimates there’s been at least once a year since 2006.*

Iran:

Iran’s leaders describe homosexuality as “moral bankruptcy” or “modern western barbarism”. Amnesty International estimates that 5000 gays and lesbians have been executed there since the 1979 Iranian revolution. Although it is less common now, it still occurs. In the summer of 2016 a 19-year-old boy was hanged in Iran’s Markazi province: in 2014 two men were executed. 

Egypt:

Egypt is widely regarded as being the biggest jailer of gay men – the New York Times estimated at least 250 LGBT people have been arrested since 2013 while LGBT blog 67 crimes estimate that that number could be closer to 500.

Being gay or transgender is not illegal in Egypt, but ever since the military pushed out the president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the authorities have engaged in a crackdown on the LGBT community, imprisoning them on the charge of “debauchery”, which comes with a jail term of up to 17 years. Traditional meeting spots are increasingly unsafe, and since 2014 gay dating apps such as Grindr have been warning their Egyptian users that “police may be posing as LGBT on social media to entrap you”.

Russia:

A gay scene with regular events is tolerated in Moscow. But Putin’s government is openly anti-gay, and is discussing another homophobic law, which proposes jailing people for public displays of non-heterosexual orientation or gender identity.

LGBT groups have been denied the right to hold pride marches under anti-propaganda laws and well-publicised events that have been held have been disrupted by violent thugs. Nor has any action been taken to shut down groups that openly go after LGBT people, such as Occupy Pedophilia, a national network of Russians who torture gay men, and then post hugely popular videos of their acts online.