When committed with criminal intent “serious” violations of international humanitarian law, or violations that “endanger protected persons or objects or if they breach important values,” amount to war crimes. [209] This applies to both international and non-international armed conflict, and to both state and non-state actors. [210]

Another movie so often called queer that it’s surprising to learn it was never explicitly stated. Neil Jordan’s gothic romantic horror pairs young Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as two vampires in an intense lifelong relationship. “Lestat and Louis are in a relationship. They fight over another man. And they co-parent a child together,” said horror screenwriter Michael Varrati. “In many ways, ‘Interview’ is the most commercially successful gay film of all time, and most audiences didn’t even realize they were seeing a gay film.” —JDThis report is based on interviews Human Rights Watch conducted in Lebanon with 40 gay and bisexual men and transgender women—some of whom were perceived by perpetrators to be gay men—and non-binary individuals, as well as 4 heterosexual men. The survivors all described their experience of sexual violence in Syria. We also conducted interviews with 20 caseworkers and representatives of humanitarian organizations operating in Lebanon. While many of the men and boys and transgender women interviewed have also experienced sexual violence in Lebanon, those incidents lie outside the purview of this report. Immediately halt the practice of enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and detention, and the use of torture and sexual violence in detention facilities. The film is widely considered one of the most controversial of all time. When “The Devils” was released in 1971, it faced harsh criticism and censorship due to its Holy Trinity of intense violence, sexuality, and religious themes. While it isn’t explicitly queer, it certainly is explicit. Film critic Judith Crist called it a “grand fiesta for sadists and perverts.” What could be more queer than that? —JD Julia Ducournau’s 2021 Palme d’Or winner — the second ever to be clinched by a woman director at Cannes — begins as bloody slasher about a car fanatic serial killer who wields a pointed hair pin functionally akin to Leatherface’s chainsaw. That soon blooms into a bizarre body horror tragedy anchored by Agathe Rousselle as the incomparable Alexia. Intelligence officers threatened Yousef, a 28-year-old gay man, during interrogation, with the rape of his mother and sister. Yousef said: “They want to get you annoyed. They use your sister’s name, your mom’s name. ‘We are going to do this [rape] to her,’ they say.” [131]

I]t’s a shame to be LGBT [in Syria]. If you are LGBT you bring shame to the family and you should be killed. The family should wash the shame so that they can have friends again. Therefore, the numbers do not reflect the reality. [33] As in the case of women survivors of sexual violence, shame and stigma around this issue, fed by gender stereotypes, prevents male survivors from coming forward. [34] “I lost my dignity,” a paper submitted by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria COI) to the Human Rights Council, states: Male victims also suffer long-term physical and mental health issues including depression, many times compounded by an inability to admit to others what they experienced, in large part out of fear that perceived loss of masculinity would prevent them from fulfilling traditional gender roles. [35] I would like you to pass on our voice. It’s not a voice. It’s a cry of pain. We have been here in Lebanon because they not only raped us, they also raped our land and dignity.Sabah, 40, a transgender woman, was detained in Sednaya, a military prison in Damascus, before the Syrian conflict started. Sabah was arrested in 2007 for hiding a friend who was chased by the police for reasons unrelated to the conflict. She was taken to military prison because at the time she was serving in the army and was on leave. After spending a few years in Sednaya prison she was transferred to Hama Central Prison after the conflict started in 2011, where other detainees raped her multiple times. Sabah stayed in the central prison until 2015. “I was always soft looking. It deprived me from my family and my life,” she said. [104] Sabah explained: I was almost 32. Even if you are caught with other people, they would interrogate you individually. It is the same routine that applied on everybody just for being gay or trans. We are beaten, treated with violence and insulted. Not by one person but by many. They could tell from our appearance [that we were trans or gay]. Perpetrators were both guards and prisoners. If someone [other prisoners] asked for me, I had to go and see them among the normal [other] prisoners [for them to abuse or rape me]. You couldn’t say no or we would be thrown from buildings, slaughtered, or beaten with sharp objects. [105]