Iraqi gay men – and straight men who are too flamboyant or too Western – are being hunted down by militants in Iraq and publicly executed, USA Today reports in a chilling story:

“At least 82 gay men have been killed in Iraq since December, according to Iraqi LGBT. The violence has raised questions about the Iraqi government’s ability to protect a diverse range of vulnerable minority groups that also includes Christians and Kurds, especially following the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities last month.

Mithal al-Alusi, a secular, liberal Sunni legislator, is among those who blame the killings on armed militant groups such as al-Qaeda and the Mahdi Army militia.

By targeting one of the most vulnerable groups in a conservative Muslim society — people whose sexual orientation is banned by Iraqi law — the militias essentially are serving notice that they remain powerful despite the U.S. and Iraqi militaries’ efforts to curtail them, al-Alusi says.

The militants ‘want to educate the society to accept killers on the street’ al-Alusi says in an interview. ‘Why did Hitler start with gays? They are weak. They have no political cover. They have no legal cover.’”

Iraqi gunmen go into cafes, drag gay men out of them and shoot them in the street.  This needs to stop.  Our domestic issues – gay marriage, the military ban, the Uniting American Families Act – all of these are important and it is good we are fighting for them.

But we also need, individually and together, to put pressure on the State Department and Congress to investigate these murders and  work with the Iraqis to end them, using a combination of education and punishment.

This is a matter of life and death. It cannot wait.