A gay Iraqi refugee, who goes by the alias “Hussam” because he says he fears for his safety and that of his family back home, has abruptly changed his story about U.S. military personnel murdering gay Iraqis.

Hussam made the explosive allegations during a fundraising event at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters to benefit Helem, an LGBT community center in Lebanon. He illustrated his stories of anti-gay atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers with graphic photos of corpses and one image of a group of naked, chained men he claimed were later executed by U.S. soldiers for being gay.

All of that turns out to be untrue. The Blade broke news of the allegations two weeks ago. Reporter Chris Johnson was in the room when Hussam told his tales and pressed him for more details. Hussam refused to release his photos so they could be authenticated. Now we know why.

According to a U.S. military spokesperson: “In a sworn statement to Special Agents, the individual giving the presentation at the 24 July fundraiser said his words were taken out of context, he was misunderstood due to language barriers, and he was misquoted. He stated that although he did show disturbing photographs at the event, the photographs of sectarian violence were in no way linked to U.S. service members. He also said he never witnessed any actions of U.S. Soldiers that he would classify as criminal or any evidence of U.S. service members targeting Iraqi men or women because of their sexual orientation.”

I can assure our readers that Hussam was not misquoted in our coverage. There was no ambiguity about what he said that night and language barriers played no part in any misunderstanding. The truth is that audience members were lied to, perhaps in an effort to extract more money from their pockets.

It is appalling that Hussam would exploit the tragedies in Iraq. Anti-gay atrocities are a fact of life there, but they are being committed by fellow Iraqis and militias, not U.S. service personnel. His lies will ultimately undermine efforts at helping gay Iraqis who are not as fortunate as Hussam was to escape to the United States. Future donors will be skeptical about claims of atrocities; activists will be reluctant to trust other refugees and their stories.

This unfortunate episode also raises questions about the LGBT activists in the room who heard the presentation. Why didn’t they speak out? Did they believe Hussam’s tall tales without proof? If so, why are they predisposed to swallow a story so outrageous as U.S. soldiers committing murder?

HRC and the National LGBT Bar Association should denounce Hussam and refuse to provide him with any future platforms for slandering the U.S. military. Donors at the event should demand a refund, as they were deceived and manipulated.

Just last week, D’Arcy Kemnitz, executive director of the National LGBT Bar Association, told the Blade she vouched for Hussam and that his credibility was “beyond reproach.”

She owes a more thorough explanation in light of the U.S. military’s conclusions about what really happened. Why did she vouch for the credibility of someone who has now changed his story? Did any of the event’s sponsors vet Hussam’s presentation? Why did they allow speakers at a fundraising event to demean U.S. service members with such grotesque charges? Is anyone at HRC, IGLHRC or the LGBT Bar Association the least bit upset about all this?

Kemnitz and the Bar Association are now refusing interview requests. That response is insufficient and entirely unacceptable.

As someone who has family and friends who have served in Iraq, I am outraged that LGBT activists allowed this to happen and then refused to speak out. Regardless of your opinion about the Iraq war, there’s no doubt that the men and women sent to fight have endured hardships beyond our worst nightmares. They deserve better than to be slandered as homophobic killers under the roof of our nation’s largest LGBT rights group.

Shame on Hussam and everyone involved in this sickening debacle.

I read a really interesting article in The Economist recently (can’t find it at the moment, but I’ll get it to you), showing that while homosexuality in Iran is frowned up (read as: punishable by death), there is a 30-year-old fatwa saying sex changes are ok. Here’s a related article from BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7259057.stm