ISIS, or Daesh, the extremist terrorist faction, is violently homophobic and condemns any deviance from heteronormative, religious conservative behaviour.

They carry out their dogma with beheadings, 'honour' killings, torture, stoning and more.

These killings happen within Islamic State occupied areas, as well as internationally, for example ISIS claimed responsibility for the mass shooting in Pulse, the gay nightclub in Orlando (though the link between the two appears unfounded).

The Independent now reports that the first LGBT unit has been created to fight ISIS in Syria.

After three years of direct persecution in the war-torn country, self-named 'LGBTQI+ comrades' seek 'to smash gender binary and advance the women's revolution as well as the broader gender and sexual revolution.'

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Their official name is The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army (TQILA, pronounced 'tequila') and it is a branch of the International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF).

The IRPGF is a Kurdish group that has been called 'the most enlightened revolutionary movement on the planet'.

They have wholeheartedly embraced feminist principles and encouraged Yazidi women to take up arms and fight, particularly since women are systematically assaulted and raped under ISIS as a weapon of cultural destruction.

It has been reported that the prevalence of female fighters apparently scares ISIS fighters since if they are killed by a woman, they believe they lose their place in heaven.

One female fighter told the Independent, 'I like that when we kill them they lose their heaven. I don't know how many of them I've killed...It's not enough. I won't be happy until they're all dead.'

Now there is a new unit for the militant group to be scared of. A unit who come complete with a pink flag emblazoned with a black AK-47.

The TQILA unit told the Independent, 'TQILA's members have watched in horror as fascists 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'.

'The images of gay men being thrown off roofs and stoned to death by Daesh was something we could not idly watch.'

And their fight is not solely with guns on the battlefield, it is in their openness and freedom too:

As Queers from and currently in the Middle East… one of the most radical acts we can do is to announce our existence to people and governments who have and continue to claim that we do not exist. We exist and we fight against tyranny, oppression and domination with the people, who seeing us, have come to love us for who we are and not as a stereotype or something to be feared.

Perhaps Donald Trump would do well to take note.

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Daisy Murray
Digital Fashion Editor

Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.