Homosexuality and Monkey Pox

​What is Monkey Pox?
COVID pandemic has only ended a while ago when social media sites and news channels began spreading news about Monkey Pox so what is Monkey Pox?
Monkey Pox is one of the contagious diseases which means it can get transferred from one person to another and some of its symptoms could be headaches, high body temperature and muscle pain, followed by blisters appearing all over the body.
Currently, there is no cure or vaccine for Monkey Pox, but in most cases a person who suffers from it recovers without medications after two to three weeks of being infected.
Monkey Pox can be transferred between people during sex whether that was oral, anal, viganal sex, therefore it could get transferred between heterosexuals or homosexuals. Hugging, kissing, and touching the infected person could also transfer the disease. Other than that it could be transferred from the mother to her child during pregnancy or by mixing the blood of a person who suffers from it and another who is healthy. Everyone regardless of their age and sexual practices can get infected it and transfer it to another person.
Monkey Pox disease is not new and definitely didn’t start because of homosexual sex which is exactly the opposite of what has been reported by some news and what is supported and believed by some people.
According to the World Health Organization, the disease first began in the seventies and the first infection was when a nine-year-old boy had a close contact with animal fluids and thus began to be transmitted between humans until it was under control at that time. Back then the disease spread in ten African countries but later was stopped.
 
Why do people blame Monkey Pox on gay men?
Monkey Pox started spreading again during this year, and some people in several countries have linked it to homosexual sex this time, due to the high percentage of infections among homosexuals compared to the percentage of infections among heterosexuals.
 The start of the attack against homosexuals was when two homosexual men in two different countries in Europe were reported to be infected. That is when the blame was directly placed on gay and on bisexual men who mostly have sex with people from the same gender.
This opened the space for homophobic people to attack gay and bisexual men and use this disease as a reason to frighten and criticize LGBT+ people.
This situation is similar to what happened during the spread of AIDS, which was considered by some as a punishment from God to homosexual people.
 
What about gay and bisexual men in Iraq?
As usual, homosexuals in Iraq also have been criticized and threatened as Monkey Pox started spreading.
Muqtada al-Sadr, an Islamic man and the leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, announced through his Twitter account that Monkey Pox is nothing but a punishment from God to homosexuals, and he called on them to change and fix themselves.
Muqtada al-Sadr also pointed out the importance of having a special day against homosexuality as a way to stand against LGBT+ people in Iraq.
These false news that have gotten spread between people can make a lot damage to the Iraqi LGBT+ community. If a person gets infected, even if they were not from the LGBT+ community plus not infected due to sexual practices, can get accused of being gay.
People are not ready to enter into a new cycle of fear and anxiety like the one caused by COVID. That pandemic alone put many LGBT+ people in dangerous situations as they were subjected to a lot of physical and/or emotional abuse along with a lot of isolation. Based on the horrible experience, we say, what if the existence and spread of Monkey Pox is all now blamed on LGBT+ people?