Muqtada al-Sadr Slams Comments Attributed to Biden on the US as a Homosexual State

Shafaq News/ Influential Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, on Wednesday vehemently criticized statements he attributed to President Joe Biden on the US being a "homosexual state", rejecting what he described as the "compulsion or persuasion" of Iraq towards this "obscenity."

Al-Sadr, in a statement he shared on Twitter, lambasted labeling the United States as a "homosexual state" and Biden administration's endorsement of "spreading obscenity in the world."

"We vehemently condemn and denounce such reprehensible actions and the support of obscenity worldwide," al-Sadr said.

He stressed that the Arab nations will not capitulate to coercion or persuasion to engage in such "obscenity", singling out "our beloved Iraq, its universities, and all its institutions" as particularly imperiled.

Biden on Saturday hosted the largest Pride celebration in White House history, calling for new measures to protect the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ people amid a spate of what he called "terrifying" attacks and legislation.

Biden, a Democrat, urged Congress to pass the "Equality Act" which would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity for protection alongside race, religion, sex and national origin, and ban assault weapons.

Thousands of guests picnicked on the South Lawn including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly LGBTQ U.S. Cabinet secretary confirmed by lawmakers, and Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Admiral Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate.

Biden said the guests also included survivors of deadly shootings at the LGTBQ Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs last November and Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016.

The attacks and a flurry of bills in Republican-led states targeting transgender youth, banning teachers of younger children from discussing gender or sexuality and proposed or passed laws restricting drag performances have created a threatening environment for LGTBQ people, Biden said.

"When families across the country face excruciating decisions to relocate to a different state to protect their child from dangerous ant-LGTBQ laws, we have to act. We need to push back against the hundreds of callous and cynical bills introduced in states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors and nurses," he said.

As president, Biden has overturned a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, issued a new order to stop conversion therapy and signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which federally recognizes same-sex marriages, into law.

On Dec. 3, a mass anti-LGBTQ campaign was launched in Baghdad’s Sadr City, less than 24 hours after leader of the Sadrist movement called for collecting 1 million signatures "in support of the fight against the LGBTQ community," so that "it does not spread vice,” as al-Sadr put it.

" Faithful men and women around the world should unite in order to combat the LGBTQ community, not with violence, nor with murder and threats, but with education, awareness, logic and high moral standards," he said.

On July 8, the federal parliament started a campaign to collect signatures to pass an anti-homosexuality law, and the Kurdistan Region parliament followed suit, as it proceeded to pass a law punishing the LGBTQ community and their defenders.