The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

At a time when billions are being spent in Iraq, a small group of Iraqi gay safe houses might have to close their doors due to lack of funding. LGBT Iraqis have increasingly faced violence from Shia death squads, especially since the 2005 fatwa from Iraq's leading Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, which declared that gays and lesbians should be “killed in the worst, most severe way.”

The group that runs the safe houses, Friends of Iraqi LGBT, has seen an increase in the need for the safe houses, but a sharp decline in funding for them. The group’s leader has said his group has specific knowledge of hundreds of cases of homophobic persecutions. Iraqi LGBT helps provide LGBT’s under threat of honor killing with refuge in the safer parts of Iraq (including safe houses and food), as well as helps them seek asylum abroad.

As reported by Julie Weisburg: “The cost of funding a safe house -- which serves 10 to 12 people at a time -- is about $1,800 a month: $800 for rent, usually paid three months in advance; $400 for the salaries of two armed guards for each house, an essential part of securing each facility; and $600 per month for gas, fuel for electricity generators, food, clean drinking water and hygienic supplies.

To put that in perspective: Halliburton's US-Iraq contracts passed $10 billion in 2004 -- with $10 billion the group could operate 462,000 shelters for a year.”

To donate to Iraqi LGBT, go to http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com.