AN ISIS LEADER PUT OUT A CALL FOR A MONTH OF HURT

 ISIS, many of their enemies share a homicidal hatred of gays

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has frequently used the Islamic holy month of Ramadan - which is supposed to be for fasting and prayer - as an excuse to step up its slaughter of people it considers heretics.

Last year, ISIS supporters bombed a Shiite mosque in Kuwait and attacked tourists at a Tunisian beach resort, among other atrocities, during the holy month.

Last month, an ISIS leader put out a call for "a month of hurt" in the United States as well as Europe during Ramadan.

On Monday, the group called the Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen "one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America," and Mateen pledged allegiance to the group in a 911 call during the shooting. However there has been no evidence uncovered so far of a direct link between the shooter and the group's Mideast leaders.

Still, the Orlando nightclub massacre would fall in line with ISIS' goals, as the group has a history of targeting gays with brutal public killings.

Many Muslims consider homosexuality to be sinful. In some parts of the Arab world, homosexuals have been arrested and sentenced to prison on charges linked to "debauchery." In Iran and Saudi Arabia, they have been lashed. Many other religions also frown on homosexuality to a degree that begets jailings, beatings and worse.

OutRight Action International, a monitoring and advocacy groups for LGBT rights, has kept track of dozens of killings of gays in ISIS territory for the crime of "sodomy."

The most recent, self-reported execution the terrorists undertook happened around May 7 of this year, according to OutRight. A "blindfolded young boy" can be seen in photos getting tossed off a roof and then pelted with stones after landing, with an audience of men and children taking part.

ISIS frequently reserves one of its most gruesome methods of killing for suspected gays -- throwing them to their death from building rooftops.

In one infamous incident in the Syrian city of Palmyra, a masked ISIS judge read out the sentence against the two men convicted of homosexuality: They would be thrown to their deaths from the roof of the nearby Wael Hotel.

He asked one of the men if he was satisfied with the sentence. Death, the judge told him, would help cleanse him of his sin.

"I'd prefer it if you shoot me in the head," 32-year-old Hawas Mallah replied helplessly. The second man, 21-year-old Mohammed Salameh, pleaded for a chance to repent, promising never to have sex with a man again, according to a witness among the onlookers that sunny July morning who gave The Associated Press a rare firsthand account.

"Take them and throw them off," the judge ordered. Other masked extremists tied the men's hands behind their backs and blindfolded them. They led them to the roof of the four-story hotel, according to the witness, who spoke in the Turkish city of Reyhanli on condition he be identified only by his first name, Omar, for fear of reprisals.

Videos ISIS has released show masked militants dangling men over the precipices of buildings by their legs to drop them head-first or tossing them over the edge. At least 36 men in Syria and Iraq have been killed by ISIS militants on charges of sodomy, according to OutRight Action International, though its Middle East and North Africa coordinator, Hossein Alizadeh, said it was not possible to confirm the sexual orientation of the victims.

The fear of a horrific death among gay men under ISIS rule is further compounded by their isolation in a deeply conservative society that largely shuns them.

Many Muslims consider homosexuality to be sinful. Gay men are haunted constantly by the possibility that someone, perhaps even a relative, will betray them to the militants - whether to curry favor with IS or simply out of hatred for their sexual orientation. ISIS fighters sometimes torture suspected homosexuals to reveal their friends' names and search their laptops and mobile phones. Even among ISIS opponents, gays find little sympathy. Some in the public who might be shocked by other ISIS atrocities say killings of gays is justified. Syrian rebel factions have killed or abused gays as well.

A 26-year-old Syrian gay man told the AP that even two years after fleeing to Turkey, he wakes up shaken by nightmares that he is about to be hurled from a building. The man spoke on condition that he be identified as Daniel Halaby, the name he now uses in his activism tracking ISIS atrocities, and that the city in Turkey where he lives not be named for his own safety.

Halaby says a childhood friend who became radicalized and joined ISIS betrayed him to the militants in 2013, forcing him to flee his home city of Aleppo.

"He knew everything about me, such as being secular and gay. ... I am sure he is the one who gave my name to Daesh," he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

At that time, in mid-2013, ISIS had just started to spread from neighboring Iraq into Syria. It didn't