Iraq's official media regulator on Tuesday ordered all media and social media companies operating in the Arab state not to use the term "homosexuality" and instead to say "sexual deviance," a government spokesperson said and a document from the regulator shows.
The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) document said that the use of the term "gender" was also banned. It prohibited all phone and internet companies licensed by it from using the terms in any of their mobile applications.
A government official later said that the decision still required final approval.
The regulator "directs media organisations ... not to use the term 'homosexuality' and to use the correct term 'sexual deviance'," the Arabic-language statement said.
A government spokesperson said a penalty for violating the rule had not yet been set but could include a fine.
Iraq does not explicitly criminalise gay sex but loosely defined morality clauses in its penal code have been used to target members of the LGBT community.
Major Iraqi parties have in the past two months stepped up criticism of LGBT rights, with rainbow flags frequently being burned in protests by Shi'ite Muslim factions opposed to recent Koran burnings in Sweden and Denmark.
More than 60 countries criminalise gay sex, while same-sex sexual acts are legal in more than 130 countries, according to Our World in Data.
The opposite of burning a Koran is burning a gay pride flag? What, they couldn't find any Gay Bibles?
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Actchully...
what
I remember in the late 90s some guy wrote a play where Jesus and his disciples were gay. You can imagine how conservatives felt about this.
Jesus was, supposedly, an unmarried 30-something rabbi, which was highly unusually for Jewish society at the time. He was a carpenter (worked with wood) and his friends were shepherds and sailors (historically gay professions). The signs have always been there.
It's that or he was married to Mary Magdalene.
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Canonically, there is very little said about Mary Magdalene in the Bible, other than that she was one of Jesus' earliest followers and witnessed his crucifixion and resurrection. The stuff you are talking about comes from "heretical" texts.
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I mean, they freaked out from The Last Temptation of Christ which said that Jesus was straight
Gotta say, they're really not good at the whole "sex is normal and good" thing
Yeah their views on sex are so... toxic. It must be exhausting.