US Embassy in Baghdad Celebrates Pride While Gay Men Are Tortured Blocks Away

A Washington Post article talks about how much change is coming to Baghdad with a "first-ever U.S. Embassy Gay Pride Theme Party next Friday at Baghdaddy's, which is the embassy employee association's pub", commemorated with a drag show.

An embassy spokesman told the post by way of explanation: "This is an event organized and sponsored by a group of employees. Given the lack of places to meet in Baghdad, the embassy allows groups to use its social facilities for events on a first-come, first-served basis."

As my friend at NG Blog put it, WTF?!

Literally, blocks away in Baghdad and elsewhere in the country of Iraq, gay men are being rounded up, tortured and executed.

The lack of sensitivity and couth that these Americans are showing within their cushy safety zone behind the walls of the embassy, strikes me as a slap in the face to their fellow gays struggling to stay alive nearby. As the spokesman mentioned, there's a lack of places to meet in Baghdad.

Gee, you think?

To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they thought this wouldn't get out. But when you title it "the first-ever" such pride event at the Embassy in Iraq and have a hard time finding any Iraqi citizens able to join, you're bound to get noticed.

Instead of expending energy on figuring out what drag outfit they should wear, I would prefer that they focus on seeing how they can assist their fellow LGBT in saving their lives.