Inside the “ISIS Stronghold,” Civilians Face a Multifront War

In a handout photo, the guided-missile cruiser Philippine Sea launches an attack against Islamic State targets in Syria on September 23, 2014. (Eric Garst / US Navy via The New York Times)

 

Anna Lekas Miller | Truthout | November 21, 2105

It is still possible to take the bus from Beirut to Raqqa, the Syrian city just east of Aleppo that is now the de facto capital of the Islamic State. The journey once took seven hours, but it now takes a minimum of 20, due to roads destroyed by clashes and dozens of checkpoints from the trifecta of the Syrian regime, al-Nusra and the Islamic State. According to accounts from those who have recently made this journey, there are still some passengers on the largely empty bus leaving from Beirut’s Charles Helou bus station every other day, provided that passengers don’t have cigarettes in their pockets and are prepared to obey modesty laws dictated by the Islamic State.

But civilian life is far from normal in Raqqa right now. First the US-led coalition to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) began pummeling the city, targeting fighters while also inadvertently killing several civilians. In recent weeks, the Russian military has launched airstrikes on the city, also – while allegedly fighting the Islamic State – causing several civilian casualties.

On November 15, French President François Hollande announced that France would launch airstrikes on the Islamic State, in retaliation for the now notorious ISIS-coordinated attack that left 129 dead and injured 350 in Paris on November 13. While some civilians living inside Raqqa support the international measures taken to drive the Islamic State from their city, the strikes nevertheless mean added chaos – and an additional danger – to their daily lives.

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OC lawyer wants to “kill the gays” in California, according to initiative goal

Ken Williams – SDGLN Editor in Chief | San Deigo Gay & Lesbian News | March 26, 2015

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California – An Orange County lawyer has filed a notice with the State of California that he intends to circulate an initiative measure that would call for the death of anyone who engages in sodomy in the Golden State.

Matt McLaughlin, 45 — who listed his business address as 19744 Beach Blvd., No. 219, a Mail Boxes Express site in the Newland Shopping Center in Huntington Beach, CA 92648 — filed his notice in late February and it was marked as received on Feb. 26 by the Initiative Coordinator in the California Attorney General’s Office.

McLaughlin proposes to kill “sodomites” to prevent God’s “utter destruction” a la Sodom and Gomorrah.

Furthermore, McLaughlin taps into Russian and Ugandan lingo in seeking to ban “sodomistic propaganda” and would fine offenders $1 million per occurrence and/or up to 10 years in prison and/or banishment for life from California.

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Auschwitz survivors speak out against shunning of Putin from memorial

Putin’s Immoral Choice | Orphanages vs. Loving Same-Sex Families

Melanie Nathan | Oblogdeeoblogda | October 14, 2013.

Russian lawmakers would rather see infants and children starve and suffer neglect, resulting in deformities and attachment disorders than provide these children with the opportunities for love and health.  A picture speaks a million words – how does one grasp what could have been; and why would Russian lawmakers,  Vladimir Putin at the helm, toss these small children away in the name of bigotry and hate?

President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning gay and lesbian couples in foreign countries from adopting Russian children. The Kremlin said in a statement that “the measure is aimed at guaranteeing a harmonious and full upbringing for children in adoptive families”. It also bans adoption by unmarried individuals who live in countries with laws permitting same-sex marriages. Yet apparently these same lawmakers send their own kids to study in these very countries that permit same-sex marriage.

Several Russian lawmakers stated that children are much better off in the state-run orphanages than raised by same-sex parents.

The Russians who base these decisions on the so called ‘moral’ teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church, ought to be ashamed. These children are neglected, starved and desperate for loving families. Hypocrisy abounds.

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The Russian Orthodox Church provides an official and shameful response to Castro LGBT Protests

Russian Orthodox Church in Dresden (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Melanie Nathan | Oblogdeeoblogda | August 25, 2013

The Russian Church took our protests this Sunday very seriously and below is their response.  After you read it  you will note that nowhere do they take a  single sentence to show care or concern for persecuted LGBTI people in Russia.  The Orthodox Church has refused  to dialogue with us, and they failed to respond to our concerns.  Instead they fled in advance of our picket outside the Church, and knowing they would not be there, that there could of course be no harm, still called the police on us.  When we arrived the Church was locked and there were 3 patrol cars and two officers on bikes. All for nothing. (My report on the Sunday picket is linked below.)

There is no decency in their response. Just disrespect and further confirmation that the Church is in fact complicit in the persecution of Russia’s LGBT gays.

The police showed up to persecute the gays – or so the Church thought, but instead the police sided with us giving us the right to protest outside the Church. In the meantime the Church and its Parishioners fled the scene before  we even arrived arrived. I have never seen such a shameful response to a call for dialogue and such  disrespect by neighbors for LGBT Americans and the persecuted Russians.

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Google in Russia blocking gay news websites

Image via CrunchBase

Joe Morgan | Gay Star News | August 19, 2013

LGBT Russians have complained to Google after they were unable to access a popular gay news website.

Gay.Ru, a news and interviews portal, was blocked from the Google homepage.

Usually if a Russian was to type in ‘gay’ into the main search engine, they would discover the website.

But now after the ‘gay propaganda’ laws have become enforced, it has disappeared from the search engine.

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