Insi The Secret Gay Neighborhood In Tehran, Iran | YourTango

Contents:

• GAYTHER ROURC
• WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
• Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
• IRAN: 8 YEARS PRISON FOR “PROMOTG HOMOSEXUALY”
• GUI GAY L'IRAN
• INSI THE SECRET GAY NEIGHBORHOOD IN TEHRAN, IRAN WHERE PEOPLE ARE RISKG THEIR LIV FOR THEIR EXPRSN
• GAY VISORS NOT WELE IRAN - IRAN FOM
• WHERE TO FD HOT GAY SEX IN IRAN
• WHAT PART OF THE MIDDLE EAST IS A GREAT GAY DTATN?
• LIVG AS A LBIAN IRAN, WHERE BEG GAY IS ILLEGAL

GAYTHER ROURC

Homosexualy⚢✖ Illegal (ath penalty as punishment)Censorship✖ Other punishmentChangg Genr✖ Legal, but requir surgeryNon-bary genr regnn✖ Not legally regnizedDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsDonatg Blood✖ Banned (fe ferral)Conversn Therapy✖ Not banned.

UnregnizedUnr the Shah's le, the last monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty, homosexualy was crimalised, though was mostly tolerated even to the pot of allowg news verage of a mock same-sex weddg between two men.

And while their experienc are reprentative for some of Iran's homosexuals, they are hugely different om those of the people who choose to stay the untry, or don't have the opportuny to om lower class and ral areas, where stigmatizatn is often most severe, rarely have the abily to move out of the hoe before marriage, let alone leave the untry. | (VOCATIV/SUNE ENGEL RASMUSSEN)"The number one threat to gays and lbians Iran is the fay, " agre Hosse Alizah of the Internatnal Gay & Lbian Human Rights Commissn (IGLHRC), and himself an Iranian.

WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN

"The Iranian thori ually turn a bld eye to the gay muny's pas, but much like the telligence servic the former Soviet Unn, Iranian telligence is believed to pile large fil on many cizens, which they n e to build a legal se agast people who might be ught engagg polil activi. The park is also one of the most popular pickup spots for Tehran's gay dk, Maseratis, BMWs and the ocsnal Porsche circle the park; you don't have to wa long to spot one of them slow to a halt and pick up a sgle man cisg the g.

Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN

He was jt strangled to ath, " says Saeed, who has bee more ut about meetg up wh strangers bee of siar 's parks are always crowd, and particularly around dk, many of them bee popular cisg spots for gay men. Seven months later, they rented an apartment wtern Tehran; they both still live at home and when Naeem here, he tells his parents he is gog out of town wh challenge of fdg a steady partner weighs heavily on Iranian gays; many speak of prsn, lonels and paranoia as almost permanent mental stat.

"I thk she tri to not watch the clip so she always chang the channel or pretends that she don't watch the TV, " he of the stigma agast homosexuals is trsic to the Persian language, which has two different words for homosexualy. While the new centrist ernment unr Print Hassan Rouhani matas a siar rea as s precsor, foreign-based media outlets like BBC Persian, Rad Zaman and Voice of Ameri e non-rogatory language about homosexuals, and is slowly tricklg down to reformist outlets si the untry, and to young Iranians, says spe s often venomo rhetoric, the Iranian regime silently accepts that gays do exist, and tak a few pragmatic steps to acunt for that Quran, the foundatn of Iranian law, explicly bans homosexualy.

IRAN: 8 YEARS PRISON FOR “PROMOTG HOMOSEXUALY”

The worldwi directory wh lks to webs about gay bars, clubs, dance clubs, f, rtrants, snas, bath, gyms, hotels, gut ho, bed and breakfasts, apartments, rooms, acmodatn, tour guis, travel agenci, cisg, book shops, groups, anizatns, media, events, gay pris. Through onle activism, publishg poetry, lerature and artwork onle, and engagg wh global gay culture through televisn and the ter, gay Iranians are g of age, spe the myriad of rtrictns they still face Iranian society and at the hands of the state.

We spoke to him about what life is like the days for gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenred Iranians, and whether is even possible to live a fulfilled, secure life as a gay person a untry such as Iran:. Unr the current circumstanc, Iranian youth, whether gay or straight, face many different obstacl, some of which have to do wh the regime (social rtrictns and iologil and polil prsure or the enomic suatn), and some to do wh public culture (a lack of acceptance of different liftyl and closed, tradnal thkg).

GUI GAY L'IRAN

There will always be teractns among -workers, people on the street and the bazaar, and gathergs that will have trac of homophobia them, and which will create an unwanted distance between a homosexual and his environment.

Wh all the media attentn around this subject (pecially onle, satelle televisn programs, and foreign films and seri), homosexuals make peace wh themselv rather quickly and relatively easily, but there are problems, too.

Homosexuals who live small towns, more sular environments, and those who e om lower social levels and don’t have sufficient avenu for accsg rmatn and fdg others wh siar characteristics, or fdg a more accurate unrstandg about themselv, face other problems.

INSI THE SECRET GAY NEIGHBORHOOD IN TEHRAN, IRAN WHERE PEOPLE ARE RISKG THEIR LIV FOR THEIR EXPRSN

In alg wh myself, I have fully accepted my homosexualy, but alg wh the outsi world, wh people and the society, I am always led to circumstanc where I am willgly or unwillgly remd of my homosexualy. There are those like [Islamic philosopher Abdolkarim] Soroh, who haven’t yet thought about homosexualy; there are those like the [progrsive theologian-cleric Mohsen] Kadivar who, if we nsir him an tellectual, support Islamic punishment agast homosexualy, and others like Akbar Ganji, Ram Jahanbegloo, Arash Naraghi, and others who fend the rights of homosexuals. Discrimatn between the active and the passive partners, opposg transsexuals, misogyny, ternalized homophobia, a tradnal and biased view towards two people’s relatnship, lack of sufficient emotnal matury, and over-emotnalism are some of the thgs that n more or ls be seen among homosexuals.

Sometim the tense prsure the homosexual experienc over time ph him on a path where he may lack sufficient strength and patience to ntually evaluate himself and to ratnally manage his relatnships. At the same time there is more social acceptance and rpect for other mori the untri and most of them there are varyg gre of legal mechanisms for support of homosexuals and observatn of their rights.

GAY VISORS NOT WELE IRAN - IRAN FOM

He is acced of llaboratg wh European embassi to “promote homosexualy”, munitg wh “foreign and hostile media”, filtratn wh the aim of changg the law Iran, and sendg false reports on human rights to the UN. Some folks might qutn the necsy for a space specifilly for gay men, but is clear om the recent sentencg of two Iranian activists that there is still a lot of ntempt for anyone who is not straight and/or cisgenr. Iranian thor of "There Are No Homosexuals Iran", Lrence Rasti, told Dazed magaze, “Sce the revolutn 1979, homosexualy is nsired as a crime based on the Iranian penal and lots of homosexuals have been executed sce.

”He also said that Pahlavi Park, now known as Danhjoo Park “has historilly been the most well-known gay area of Tehran, ” but wh the ventn of datg apps, he noted that the younger crowd of gay men tend not the e the “tradnal methods” of seekg “hiouts. Three days later, she died om a reason that Ami was arrted was bee she vlated Iran’s hijab law, which forc all women to wear folks Iran face severe legal punishment, even ath, if they are ught the act of “homosexual behavr”.

”Beg gay is also nsired a “psychologil disease Iran, and the ary's ary board n exempt a gay man om service if they are emed homosexual after an examatn, " Jasm Ramsey, the munitns director for the Center for Human Rights Iran, told Insir. By the way many gays live Iran, pecially major ci like Tehran and of urse sce 's unr Islamic ernment's le, they are not openly gay and I don't thk 's a big al sce nobody walks around here shouts and screams public " Hey fellow I'm gay or straight or Ao or Whe or Christian or Mlim. Forster went to Alexandria, Egypt, to have his first experience of gay love, and one of the most famo gay poets of the twentieth century, Constante Cavafy, also hailed om that sprawlg metropolis on the sea.

WHERE TO FD HOT GAY SEX IN IRAN

Even hotspot Beit, long known for s excg nightlife and hunky men, has bee ls attractive as Helem, the area's only LGBT anizatn reports that Article 534 of the Lebane Penal Co ("sexual terurse ntrary to nature" is punishable for up to 1 year prison) has been ed recently to harass gay and bisexual sce the famo Nile Queen cint ( which 52 gay Egyptian men were arrted and "examed" for dancg whout women partners on a floatg dis), Egypt is not nearly as open as ed to be. "Amman, the pal, has some worthy attractns, most notably Roman s, pecially the Roman Theater (at night the cy's ma cisg area for gay men) and Jebel al-Qal'a, the ancient cal which clus s of a temple to Hercul, a mm, and the remas of an Umayyad palace, along wh stunng views of the morn urban sprawl of Amman. You n fd them on any number of gay s, cludg Books@fe, a lightfully stylish fe that uld jt as well be Wt Hollywood, is full of betiful, mcular Jordanian men puffg away on their nargil (water pip).

Many of them directly seek out teractns wh foreigners, partially out of genue cursy and tert -- be prepared for a barrage of random personal qutns about your life back home -- and also bee many gay Jordanian men feel safer proposng Not MissAs far as sightseeg, the real treasur of the untry are beyond Amman. 1 This note provis an asssment of the general suatn of persons who are known to be, or are likely known to be, gay men, lbian, bisexual, trans or tersex – that is those who are open, or are likely to be pelled to be open, about their sexual orientatn and/or genr inty or exprsn (SOGIE) – as well as those perceived as such bee of their appearance, attus and/or behavur. Milary exemptn rds, an accepted form of intifitn issued to gay and trans dividuals, directly disclose the persons sexual orientatn or genr inty and may put them at further risk of vlence and discrimatn for ‘outg’ them and / or bee beg gay or trans is classed as a mental illns (see Milary exemptn, Genr reassignment surgery, Threats, harassment and vlence and Treatment by fay members).

WHAT PART OF THE MIDDLE EAST IS A GREAT GAY DTATN?

3 The same source noted that Article 7 of the regulatns, which addrs the issue of exemptn for gay men, stat, ‘“perversns that vlate the social and ary of nduct (such as sexual perversn and homosexualy) [warrant] a six-month ferment. ‘While this provisn is discrimatory and gradg towards gay, transgenr and other genr non-nformg persons, and treats homosexualy as a form of mental illns or psychopathology spe of clear statements to the ntrary om var psychiatry bodi across the world and the World Health Organizatn, is monly ed by gay, transgenr and genr non-nformg persons Iran to seek an exemptn om pulsory ary service to protect themselv om homophobic and transphobic ab prevalent ary settgs.

6 In s annual report for 2021, Amnty Internatnal noted that, ‘Milary exemptn rds issued to gay and transgenr dividuals directly disclosed their sexual orientatn or genr inty whout their nsent, puttg them at risk of vlence.

‘Acrdg to rmatn received om Iranian gay men and reports by human rights groups, seekg exemptn om ary service on the basis of their sexual orientatn or genr inty, gay, transgenr and genr non-nformg dividuals are generally forced to unrgo huiatg and gradg physil and psychologil tts, cludg anal examatns, which amount to torture, as well as terrogatns by officials durg which they are forced to answer timate qutns about their genr and sexualy such as their preferenc for sexual posns. 12 6Rang stated that the exemptn regulatn ‘… allows gay dividuals to be intified by the police, judicial thori, employers and those rponsible for tnal centr who n simply look at their ary exemptn rds, which functns as one of the few forms of acceptable IDs Iran.

LIVG AS A LBIAN IRAN, WHERE BEG GAY IS ILLEGAL

1 Acrdg to 6Rang, ‘Sce the tablishment [of] the Islamic Republic 1979, state officials Iran have nsistently portrayed homosexualy as a “viant” sexual proclivy that has a rptg effect on society. As one example, the former Print of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadezhad, rponse to qutns about “homosexuals” or “gays” the USA most notorly stated “we do not have the hamjensbāz (translated to dience as “homosexuals”) like you have your untry” and that “absolutely such a thg do not exist as a phenomenon” Iran.

The aim is to firstly raise awarens that this is the flag of “Sodomians” and puttg gay men and women potential dangers of gettg reported if they are anyway g this sign for social purpos (In Iran a large number of gay people e the flag sign orr to fd each other and socialize). This time, the fai cludg children have participated this event and were holdg signs such as “Two people of the same sex do not make a uple”, “We are the fenrs of prophet Lut” and “homosexualy, the morn barbarism”, as well as tramplg the flag (Halalzaha, 2021).

5 Acrdg to Amnty Internatnal, wrg 2021 followg the murr of Alireza Fazeli Monfared, a gay man, ‘LGBTI people Iran face pervasive discrimatn, live the nstant fear of harassment, arrt and crimal prosecutn, and rema vulnerable to vlence and persecutn based on their real or perceived sexual orientatn and genr inty. 6 In January 2021 the Special Rapportr on the suatn of human rights Iran siarly stated that, ‘… dividuals who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr experience human rights vlatns and wispread discrimatn…. ‘The crimalizatn of same-sex nsensual acts legimiz vlence by State actors and private dividuals, cludg the e of torture, beatgs and rape by law enforcement and vigilant… Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr persons face regular harassment and, if arrted, are nied the right to a fair trial… The acts rema largely unrreported due to the victims’ fear of persecutn.