Iraq religious militias target ‘emo’ youths and gays. The groups say militant Shia have been encouraged in the wave of attacks by the interior ministry, following a long-standing campaign of gay-bashing. A statement on its website claimed emos were “devil-worshippers”.

Gangs of youths have devised a particularly brutal method of killing those they regard as “emos”, in the West a term for youths who wear black and adopt a moody appearance but used in Iraq to describe anyone with “floppy hair” and dressed fashionably.

The method, known popularly as the “double block”, involves abducting the youths and smashing their heads between two lumps of concrete. Activists say up to 90 people, all but two of them men, have been killed in this method or by shooting or beating this year accused of being either homosexual or “emo”.

Huffington Post  and  Reuters  are finally covering this story, which  Towleroad broke last week.

Officials and human rights groups estimated as many as 90 Iraqis who are either gay or believed to be gay have been killed in the last six weeks alone – forecasting what experts fear is a return to the rampant hate crimes against homosexuals in 2009.

The New York Times reported,     … in the past two weeks, officials had found the bodies of six young men whose skulls had been crushed. Reuters reported the toll to be 14 or more, citing hospital and security officials, while rights groups say that more than 40 young men have been killed, but have provided no evidence for this figure.

    Human rights advocates say the threats and violence are aimed at gay men and at teenagers who style themselves in a uniquely Iraqi collage of hipster, punk, emo and Goth fashions. The look, shorthanded here as “emo,” has flourished on Baghdad’s streets as an emblem of greater social freedom as society has begun to bloom after years of warfare. But it has drawn scorn and outrage from some religious conservatives, and is often conflated with being gay.

    … over the past month, threatening letters began appearing in Shiite neighborhoods across Baghdad, residents said.

    One of the fliers, scanned and posted online, addresses dozens of gay men by name and nickname. It warns people identified as Japanese Haider, Allawi the Bra, Mohammed the Flower and others: Reform your behavior, stop being gay, or face deadly consequences.

    “Your fate will be death if you don’t quit doing this,” one leaflet warns. “Punishment will be tougher and tougher, you gays. Don’t be like the people of Lot.”

    Another flier circulating around the Zayouna neighborhood appears addressed to emo youths. It tells them to cut their hair, not to wear the clothing of devil worshipers, and not to listen to metal, emo or rap music. And if they refuse, “God’s punishment will be come down upon you and to be carried out by the mujahedeen,” the letter says. “Forewarned is forearmed.”

In the last year, there has been a massive hateful  uprising AGAINST the gay community.  Russia, the Republicans, Uganda, and now Iraq.  What’s next?