Special to WorldTribune.com

As supporters of same-sex marriage celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow gay marriage in all 50 states, a different story was unfolding in the Middle East.

Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) terrorists executed four gay men in response to the U.S. court’s ruling while, in Istanbul, Turkish police used water cannons to break up a gay pride parade.

A Syrian Twitter user, posting on the #LoveWins hashtag, said ISIL threw four gay men off the roof of a five-story building in Deir ez-Zor as a crowd watched from the street below.

The #LoveWins hashtag was used throughout the world to celebrate the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 26, but Islamists used it to tweet anti-gay messages.

ISIS says it uses “flirting squads” to expose homosexuals. In the past it has released video of the execution of gay men by throwing them off of rooftops. If the men survive the fall, they are stoned to death.

Meanwhile, in Istanbul, police stopped a gay pride parade on June 28 by firing water cannons at the marchers. Many observers say the parade, which had been held in previous years, was stopped because it coincided with the holy month of Ramadan.

Police began to break up the parade soon after the marchers began assembling near Taksim Square, according to Turkey’s Dogan news agency. Taksim Square is a traditional rallying point in Istanbul and was the staging ground for weeks of unrest in 2013.

Unlike many other Muslim-majority countries, homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey, but anti-homosexual attitudes are known to be widespread.

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