Gay men Iran create their own avenu of ways to meet and have fun wh each other.
Contents:
- WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
- INSI THE SECRET GAY NEIGHBORHOOD IN TEHRAN, IRAN WHERE PEOPLE ARE RISKG THEIR LIV FOR THEIR EXPRSN
- Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
- GROWG UP GAY IRAN
WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
It is possible to be gay and live unr a reprsive regime that is always threateng to out you, or worse. But 's a lot like walkg a tightrope: sry and ght wh risks. * gay in tehran *
Saeed was 20 years old when he sat his father down and told him he was gay. Sexual teractn between two women is punishable by vast majory of media reports about homosexualy Iran are based on acunts of torment and opprsn om gays and lbians who have fled the untry.
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.
INSI THE SECRET GAY NEIGHBORHOOD IN TEHRAN, IRAN WHERE PEOPLE ARE RISKG THEIR LIV FOR THEIR EXPRSN
* gay in tehran *
There is generally ltle acceptance of homosexualy, but some middle- and upper-class Iranians have the means to create parallel liv, out of sight of their relativ or iends. "Nety-five percent of gays Iran will never e out, " Saeed says over pasta at one of northern Tehran's ffee shops, where the atmosphere is relatively permissive. | (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.
Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
Many gays endure beatgs and even sexual asslts om fay members, he adds. "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.
GROWG UP GAY IRAN
Often, this kd of promisg rmatn is ed to ph gay people to rm on their fellow cizens. "The problem is that somewhere down the road, someone fds out you are gay and then starts blackmailg you. It don't have to be a straight [person], n be a gay who sleeps wh you and fds out you have money.
"Private parti are some of the easit plac for middle-class Iranian gays to hook up for one-night stands.