A brief history of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr social movements

Contents:

• WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
• Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
• IRANIAN GAY/QUEER ACTIVISTS AND ACTIVISM

WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN

When Iranian Print Mahmoud Ahmadejad ma his famo claim at a September 2007 Columbia Universy appearance that ""In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like your untry, " the world lghed at the absurdy of this pretense.

Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN

Now, a forthg book by a leadg Iranian scholar exile, which tails both the long history of homosexualy that natn and the origs of the mpaign to erase s trac, not only provis a superlative reply to Ahmadejad, but monstrat forcefully that polil homophobia was a Wtern import to a culture which same-sex relatns were wily tolerated and equently celebrated for well over a thoand years. Its thor, Ja Afary, print of the Internatnal Society of Iranian Scholars, is a profsor of history and women's studi at Purdue Universy who has already published several thorative works on Iranian sexual polics, notably the revealg and award-wng "Fouult and the Iranian Revolutn: Genr and the Sctns of Islam" (2005), which she already monstrated a remarkable sympathy for gay and lbian people.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

In her new book, Afary's extensive sectn on pre-morn Iran, documented by a close readg of ancient texts, portrays the domant form of same-sex relatns as a highly-dified "stat-fed homosexualy, " which an olr man - prumably the active partner sex - acquired a younger partner, or amrad. Afary monstrat how, this perd, "male homoerotic relatns Iran were bound by l of urtship such as the btowal of prents, the teachg of lerary texts, bodybuildg and ary trag, mentorship, and the velopment of social ntacts that would help the junr partner's reer. Afary also wr that "homosexualy and homoerotic exprsns were embraced numero other public spac beyond the royal urt, om monasteri and semari to taverns, ary mps, gymnasiums, bathho, and ffeeho...

One of her most stunng revelatns is how an Azeri-language newspaper eded and published the Rsian Cc, Molla Nasredd (or MN, which appeared om 1906 to 1931) fluenced this Iranian Revolutn wh a "signifint new disurse on genr and sexualy, " sharg Marx's well-documented ntempt for homosexuals. Wh an edorial board that embraced Rsian social mocratic ncepts, cludg women's rights, MN was also "the first paper the Shi'i Mlim world to endorse normative heterosexualy, " echog Marx's well-documented ntempt for homosexualy. MN nflated homosexualy and pedophilia, and attacked cleril teachers and lears for "moltg young boys, " played upon feelgs of "ntempt" for passive homosexuals, suggted that ele men who kept amrad ncub "had a vted terted matag the (male) homosocial public spac where semi-vert perasty was tolerated, " and "mocked the r of exchangg brotherhood vows before a mollah and pared to a weddg ceremony.

MN's attacks on homosexualy "would shape Iranian bat on sexualy for the next century, " and "beme a mol for several Iranian newspapers of the era, " which echoed s attacks on the nservative clergy and learship for homosexual practic. In the years that followed, "Iranian revolutnari monly berated major polil figur for their sexual transgrsns, " and "revolutnary leaflets acced adult men of havg homosexual sex wh other adult men, 'of thirty-year-olds proposng fifty-year-olds and twenty-year-olds proposng forty-year-olds, right ont of the Shah. Subsequently, "leadg nstutnalists enthiastilly joed the mpaign agast homosexualy, " wr Afary, notg that "the fluential journal Kaveh (1916-1921), published exile Berl and eded by the famo nstutnalist Hasan Taqizah, had led the movement of opn agast homosexualy...

IRANIAN GAY/QUEER ACTIVISTS AND ACTIVISM

When Reza Kahn overthrew the monarchy's Qajar dynasty and ma himself shah 1925, he hered a new wave of reforms and mornizatn that clud attempts to outlaw homosexualy entirely and a feroc - ultimately succsful - asslt on classil Persian poetry. An admirer of MN, Kasravi preached that "homosexualy was a measure of cultural backwardns, " that Sufi poets of homoeroticism led "parasic" liv, and that their queer poetry "was dangero and had to be elimated.

"Classil poems were now illtrated by miature patgs celebratg heterosexual, rather than homosexual, love and stunts were led to believe that the love object was always a woman, even when the text directly ntradicted that assumptn, " Arafy wr. In the ntext of a triumphant censorship that erased om the popular llective memory the enormo lerary and cultural herage of what Afary terms "the ethics of male love" the classil Persian perd, is hardly surprisg as Afary earlier noted "Fouult and the Iranian Revolutn" that the vilence of the current Iranian regime's anti-homosexual reprsn stems part om the role homosexualy played the 1979 revolutn that brought the Ayatollah Khomei and his followers to power. In "Sexual Polics Morn Iran, " Afary sums up the suatn for homosexuals unr the Ahmadejad regime this way: "While the shari'a [Islamic law] requir eher the actual nfsn of the acced or four wns who observed them flagrante licto, today's thori look only for medil evince of peratn homosexual relatnships.

In this necsarily tnted summary of some of Afary's most signifint and nuanced fdgs and revelatns wh rpect to homosexualy, is impossible to do jtice to the full sweep and spe of "Sexual Polics Iran, " the larger part of which is voted to the role of Iranian women, and to their stggl for eedom which began the 19th century. Government polici persecute both homosexuals and transgenr dividuals alike for their sexualy and genr intifitn, crimalizg same-sex relatns and genr reassignment Iran has mataed and pursued polici which nmn and harshly punish homosexualy, a practice wily, and appropriately, cricized as a human rights vlatn. Zarif argued that the moral prcipl that gui Iranian ernance nmn homosexual behavr jt as they nmn other personal actns and life choic; therefore punishment for such choic, cludg punishment by executn, is lawful and substantiated.