Petrelis Files

US Rep Polis Gave $10,000 to Gay Iraqis

Veteran progressive journalist Doug Ireland has a news piece up at the Gay City News site, about the latest series of gay murders in Iraq and how they're capturing the attention of the corporate media, global gay activists and freshman Congressman Jared Polis, D-CO.

He's openly gay, has shared his wealth to directly benefit the gay community in Iraq, and is knocking himself out on the problems of our brothers and sisters in the USA-occupied country:

Polis, a millionaire Internet entrepreneur and philanthropist, traveled to Iraq at his own expense before his election last year and attempted to investigate the ongoing campaign of "sexual cleansing" of Iraqi homosexuals, and on his return contributed $10,000 to the London-based all-volunteer association Iraqi LGBT, which has a network of members and correspondents throughout Iraq that has been tracking the organized campaign of assassinations of Iraqi gays.

I was critical of Polis' goof recently at a political convention in Texas, in which he displayed ignorance about federal hate crime matters and gays, but there ain't a damn thing critical I can say about his multifaceted approach to helping gay Iraqis. Bravo, Mr. Polis!

As a matter of fact, allow me to applaud his efforts, and castigate groups such as HRC, NGLTF and GLAAD, for maintaining their isolationism and lack of donations to the gay Iraqi group. Big boos to Gay In's silence.

Collectively, I believe our leading political groups should match the $10,000 Polis donated to Iraqi LGBT. The sooner the better, and maybe more gay lives will be saved.