Despite being Iraq’s only openly-gay LGBT activist, Amir Ashour has no concept of coming out. Opening up about his identity was a gradual process; personal safety and cultural attitudes meant he never felt compelled to make a grandiose statement about it. “We don’t even have Arabic or Kurdish words for coming out,” he points out, rejecting the notion he ever experienced that defining moment in his life.
Ashour is an anomaly, though. That he no longer lives in, or is allowed back into, his homeland is indicative of that.
The situation for LGBT Iraqis is bleak; a 2015 UN report highlighted the numerous human rights abuses that have taken place there. Put simply, living openly as an LGBT person is literally a matter of life and death. Local militias and government agents have a history of targeting queer people, and despite homosexuality not technically being illegal, religious extremists have carried out numerous public executions in recent years.