YOUR FAVORITE LOGO TV SHOWS ARE ON PARAMOUNT+

Queer Insurrectionist Battalion In Syria May Be "Fake News" After All

"We deny the formation of such a battalion," said a spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Earlier this week numerous outlets (including this one) reported on an LGBT fighting force taking on ISIS in north Syria. But activists and members of the Syrian Kurdish militia are now claiming the Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army (TQILA) doesn't exist.

On Monday, The International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF), an anarchist movement devoted to pushing back against the Islamic State in Rojava, tweeted about TQILA's formation, along with a picture of rebels holding up a banner that read "these faggots kill fascists." (In the background, another fighter held up a rainbow flag.)

IRPGF claimed the goal of the Queer Insurrection was “to smash the gender binary and advance the women’s revolution, as well as the broader gender and sexual revolution.”

“TQILA’s members have watched in horror as fascist and extremist forces around the world have attacked the Queer community and murdered countless of our community members citing that they are ‘ill’, ‘sick’ and ‘unnatural,'” their online manifesto claimed. "The images of gay men being thrown off roofs and stoned to death by Daesh was not something we could idly watch. It is also not only Daesh whose hatred for queer, trans and other non-binary peoples leads to religiously motivated hatred and attacks."

But the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Armenians and other fighting forces, says there is no such group. "While emphasizing our deep respect for human rights, including the rights of homosexuals, we deny the formation of such a battalion within the framework of our forces and we consider this news to be untrue,” the group said in a statement.

Stephen J. Boitano/LightRocket via Getty Images

LAYRAMOON, ALEPPO, SYRIA - 2012/11/09: Free Syrian Army fighters gather near the frontline. (Photo by Stephen J. Boitano/LightRocket via Getty Images)

In response, the IRPGF told Newsweek the SDF was just confused.

"We made this subgroup in our organization,” said spokesman Heval Rojhilat. “We don't need their permission for that since it is within our own autonomous organization.The facts are well established that the IRPGF and TQILA as a subgroup exist, the comrades are on the ground fighting, and that the IRPGF is a member of the IFB and continues to battle the enemy in Raqqa.”

Rojhilat would not share how big the unit was or any other details, citing safety concerns.

Regardless of it actually existing, reaction to the existence of a queer rebel battalion has been mixed in the region: On Facebook, one commenter wrote ""Do they know how to shoot the gun? Then it's okay."

Another added, "I fear their incursion into our society and that they will spoil our morals... the regime and the Rojava Peshmerga [military force] is filled with faggots."

Latest News