Iraq Bans Media Using Term ‘Homosexuality,’ Must Instead say ‘Sexual Deviance’

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Facts

  • The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) — the country's official media regulator — on Tuesday ordered all media and social media companies operating in Iraq to avoid using the term "homosexuality" and instead say "sexual deviance." The term "gender" has also been banned, according to the CDC.1
  • The restrictions will prohibit all phone and internet companies licensed by the CMC from using the terms in any of their mobile applications. However, a government official has said that any decision will require final approval.2
  • The CMC portrayed the ban as a safeguard for societal values and public order, stating that the terms "homosexuality, homosexual, and Gender" hold undesirable connotations within Iraqi society.3
  • The penalties for violating the ban are still not clear, but a government official indicated that fines could be put in place to enforce the ban.4
  • Several major Iraqi political factions have intensified their criticism of LGBTQ+ rights. Shiite protesters — who have opposed the recent Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark — have included the burning of rainbow flags in their demonstrations.5
  • Iraq's national penal code does not include explicit provisions criminalizing same-sex relations. However, the country's judiciary often invokes provisions related to the preservation of "public morals" to prosecute people from the LGBTQ+ community.3

Sources: 1Reuters, 2CNN, 3CBS, 4Newser, and 5WION.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Pink News. Iraq, among other Arab nations in recent months, has launched a campaign against the LGBTQ+ community in order to distract from the many crises and challenges that the country is facing domestically. Post-2003 Iraq has seen rampant corruption, economic neglect, and war, yet the country's political elite consider it necessary to attack a small defenseless community to obfuscate its own culpability in Iraq's decline.
  • Narrative B, as provided by BBC. One should always keep in mind that attitudes in the Middle East regarding the LGBTQ+ community are, in many cases, the product of European colonialism. Many of the penal codes used against the community originate from the colonial period, when occupying authorities — who viewed many non-Western societies as sexually deviant — brought in such codes to defend "moral purity."

Predictions