Army of Us: Queer Soldiers Do Battle Against ISIS

"These faggots kill fascists," reads a banner from the Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army, a group of LGBTQ and allied soliders who descended on Syria to fight ISIS.

The existence of TQILA -- which operates alongside the International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces, an anarchist group committed to defeating ISIS -- has been reported by several outlets, including Newsweek. The volunteer service members are working with an Kurdish and American forces to free the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, a current ISIS stronghold.

TQILA members have declared on Twitter that they are battling ISIS for killing gay men in its occupied territories -- typically by throwing them off buildings or stoning them to death -- but made it clear they are not waging war against Islam, but against all religious fanatics who target LGBT people for violence.

In its statement, TQILA stresses its work to liberate women from tyranny and break the patriarchy, which is at the root of homophobia and transphobia. Female Kurdish soldiers are treated equally to male service members, and an all-female unit is also fighting against the insurgents.