The Human Rights Watch issued a report today condemning the violence committed against the LGBT community in Iraq, where it is suspected that hundreds have been murdered since 2004 as a part of a “social cleansing” campaign. From the Washington Post:

Although the scope of the problem remains unclear, hundreds of gay men may have been killed this year in predominantly Shiite Muslim areas, the report’s authors said, basing their conclusion on interviews with gay Iraqi men, hospital officials and an unnamed United Nations official in Baghdad.

“The government has done absolutely nothing to respond,” said Scott Long, director of the gay rights program at Human Rights Watch. “So far there has been pretty much a stone wall.”

Homosexuality was tacitly accepted during the last years of Saddam Hussein’s rule, but Iraqis have long viewed it as taboo and shameful.

Iraq’s human rights minister, Wijdan Salim, has expressed concern about the reported slayings, but few other government officials have addressed the issue publicly or indicated that they are disturbed by the reports.

CNN ran the following segment on the report.

In response to the new DOMA brief filed today by the DOJ, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) issued a press release asking Obama to live up to his pre-election promises while trumpeting their growing list of bigots… I mean membership.

“In a high-profile interview with Rick Warren, Barack Obama convinced millions of Americans he opposed gay marriage; we are calling on the President to live up to his campaign commitment” said Brian Brown [NOM Executive Director].

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) announces today that their 2 Million for Marriage campaign now has topped 500,000 active supporters, part of a planned expansion of its activist base in preparation for fighting to prevent President Obama from overturning DOMA.

“NOM’s activist base is exploding, increasing tenfold in the first five months of this year,” said Brian Brown, “We’ve moved from 50,000 to more than 500,000 Americans pledging to protect DOMA.”

NOM’s goal for 2009 is to build an army of 2 million Americans willing to fight against efforts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. “At this rapid rate of growth, we will meet or exceed our ambitious goals by the end of 2009,” notes Brown.

“The National Organization for Marriage has emerged as the nation’s only major national grassroots organization dedicated to protecting marriage,” notes Maggie Gallagher, president and founder of NOM. “DOMA is the only federal law that protects marriage as the union of husband and wife, and guarantees voters in Georgia or Wisconsin that a handful of judges in Massachusetts will not be able to impose gay marriage on their state.”

In a New York Times Magazine interview over the weekend Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano fielded a few questions about the lesbian rumors that have followed her and other women in politics.

Men don’t know what to make of women who choose to be single. Rumors of lesbianism have dogged women in politics like you,Condoleezza Rice and Ann Richards.
Right. I think the more people get to know a person, the less that becomes an issue. It’s interesting. In Arizona when I first ran for public office, that’s when the rumors were going around, and of course I’m sure they go around now.

In 2002, during your gubernatorial campaign, you publicly denied rumors that you were a lesbian.
I just happen not to be married.

Are you seeing anybody now?
Yes, my staff.

Some food for thought…

Back in 2006, Napolitano was asked why she opposed Prop 107, an amendment which would have banned same-sex marriage in Arizona. The governor responded “Marriage is between a man and a woman. That is the law, and I believe that’s our tradition. I think Prop 107 goes way beyond that.”

When asked if her view was hypocritical because most people believed she was a closeted lesbian.

“No. No, and I’m offended by that question.”

The Department of Justice has filed a new DOMA brief in Federal Court today that softens the anti-gay rhetoric but still defends the law while it remains on the books.

Justice Department lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a gay California couple challenging the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The administration’s response to the case has angered gay activists who see it as backtracking on campaign promises made by Barack Obama last year.

In court papers, the administration said it supports repeal of the law.

Yet the same filing says the Justice Department will defend the statute in this case because a reasonable argument can be made that the law is constitutional.

…

“The administration believes the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and should be repealed,” said Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler, because it prevents equal rights and benefits.

The department is obligated “to defend federal statutes when they are challenged in court. The Justice Department cannot pick and choose which federal laws it will defend based on any one administration’s policy preferences,” Schmaler added.

A previous filing in June sparked outrage in the LGBT community for citing incest and underage marriage in defense of DOMA.