LGBTQ

Iraq Has Passed A Law Making Same-Sex Relationships A Crime

Under the new law, people can be jailed for 10 to 15 years for being in a same-sex relationship.

Isha Jain

Isha Jain

— 3 min read
Iraq Has Passed A Law Making Same-Sex Relationships A Crime

Iraq has passed a law making same-sex relationships a crime.

Iraq criminalizes same-sex relations lgbt flag
Gender rights activists and supporters of LGBTQ community walk the Delhi queer pride parade in New Delhi on January 8, 2023. (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Under the new law, which passed on Saturday, April 27, people can be jailed for 10 to 15 years for being in a same-sex relationship.

Iraqi Shiite woman walking
An Iraqi Shiite woman walks over a bridge on 08 August 2007. (Photo by ALI AL-SAADI/AFP via Getty Images)

In addition, transgender people can be sentenced to one to three years in jail.

same- sex relations illegal iraq
(Photo by JOSE CABEZAS/AFP via Getty Images)

People found guilty of “promoting” same-sex relations will be sentenced to a minimum of seven years in jail.

(Photo by JOSE CABEZAS/AFP via Getty Images)

The law also carries a sentence of one to three years for men who "intentionally" act or dress like women and people who perform or undergo gender-transition surgeries.

iraq prison same-sex relationships illegal
The words "God Help Me" are scrawled in Arabic on a prison door inside the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. (Photo by ROBERT SULLIVAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The government said the move will protect Iraqi society from “moral depravity and homosexuality.”

LGBTQ taboo iraq illegal
Shiite Muslim devotees self-flagellate over an unfurled banner on the ground depicting the Pride rainbow flag defaced with a boot and the Arabic slogan "no to homosexual society" as they participate in a mourning procession. (Photo by ASAAD NIAZI/AFP via Getty Images)

Although there was no previous law that explicitly punished same-sex relations, being LGBTQ remains taboo in Iraq’s conservative society.

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