Gay Iraq Hostage To Be Honored

In November 2005, Canadian activist James Loney traveled to Iraq as a member of the Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT). What started as hope for peace ended in a captive nightmare. An Iraqi extremist group that calls themselves Words Of Righteousness Brigade kidnapped Loney and three other travelers. The peacemakers spent four months in captivity until rescued.

James Loney became an instant hero upon his return home, especially in the GLBT community. For four months, Loney feared for his life- not just as a foreign hostage, but also as a gay man in the custody of extremists who might kill him strictly based on his sexuality. Thus, Loney's sexuality and his relationship with partner Dan Hunt were kept a secret. All photos of the couple were removed from the internet and Dan Hunt refused media interviews.

Luckily, James Loney made it home but not without suffering the loss of a fellow CPT worker; the pain of knowing his open relationship had to be a secret; and the fear of being outed in a country where his homosexuality could result in death. James Loney and partner Dan Hunt will receive the Fearless award at Pride Toronto in honor of their heroism.

In a Xtra interview Loney talks of fear he experienced, "Fear is something that every gay person struggles with or has struggled with, the fear of being who I am and what the cost of being who I am is. There is a dimension of fear that only queer people can experience.

"I think of all the people that have come before, the space that we have now has been won by much suffering. People who were bashed, who were fired, who were killed, just for being who they are -- every one of those fearless acts has been a seed of freedom, a seed of liberation and we're just starting to see the fruits of it now."

Full Story: A life-or-death closet
Toronto Gay Pride: Pride Toronto "Fearless"
Gay Pride 2006: Gay Pride Calendar
The Iraq War: Iraq War Statistics

_{Image courtesy of Brandon Wardlaw.}