The United
Nations' news agency reports that teenage boys in Iraq, many
of them gay, are being forced into prostitution by street
gangs or poverty.
The agency, IRIN, says some families, under
economic pressure from the conflict in Iraq, have
hired out their sons, some as young as 13, to
prostitution rings. In other cases the boys keep their
activity secret from their family because the
punishment prescribed by Islamic law for homosexual
activity is death.
One self-identified gay 16-year-old called his
life a "disaster today," explaining to IRIN that he
was blackmailed into commercial sex work by a man who
took pictures of him in bed after they'd had sex.
Government officials told the U.N. reporter they're aware of
the problem but don't have the resources to address
it. Nongovernmental organizations like the Red
Crescent say they're working on the issue as well but are
hampered by lack of funding and threats from the gangs.
(Sirius OutQ News)