Growg up gay Iran | Iran | The Guardian

Contents:

• TWO GAY MEN ARE HANGED IRAN SIX YEARS AFTER THEY WERE JAILED ON 'SODOMY' CHARG
• ALIREZA FAZELI MONFARED WANTED TO LIVE AS A EE GAY MAN THE WT. HIS FAY IRAN BEHEAD HIM DAYS BEFORE HIS DREAM ME TE, SAY ACTIVISTS.
• WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
• THE GAY PEOPLE PHED TO CHANGE THEIR GENR
• Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
• GAY IRANIAN MAN ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY FAY DAYS BEFORE SEEKG ASYLUM
• HORRIFIC KILLG OF YOUNG GAY MAN PUTS PLIGHT OF IRAN'S LGBT COMMUNY IN SPOTLIGHT
• GAY IRAN: NO PLACE TO CALL HOME
• GAY IRANIAN MAN AD ALLEGED 'HONOR KILLG,' RIGHTS GROUP SAYS
• GROWG UP GAY IRAN
• 1 OUT OF 3 YOUNG IRANIAN MEN "GAY"?

TWO GAY MEN ARE HANGED IRAN SIX YEARS AFTER THEY WERE JAILED ON 'SODOMY' CHARG

The two men were sentenced to ath for 'forced sexual terurse between two men' and died the northwtern cy of MaraghehIran is nsired one of the most reprsive plac the world for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr men's inti were nfirmed a report by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on add state-n outlets Iran had yet to announce the Vojoudi, who fled Iran and ped to Germany, told The Jesalem Post that the untry's prisons are 'full of people who have mted no crime'.

ALIREZA FAZELI MONFARED WANTED TO LIVE AS A EE GAY MAN THE WT. HIS FAY IRAN BEHEAD HIM DAYS BEFORE HIS DREAM ME TE, SAY ACTIVISTS.

LGBTQ+ rights mpaigner Peter Tatchell also told the publitn the executn follows 'a long-standg regime policy of the state-sanctned murr of gay men, often on disputed charg after unfair trials that have been nmned by Amnty Internatnal and Human Rights Watch' add: 'The ternatnal muny mt impose Magnsky sanctns on the regime officials, judg and prison staff who thorized the executns - and on those rponsible for the many other human rights s of abe Iran'.

WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN

'Unr Iranian law, sodomy, rape, adultery, armed robbery and murr are among crim that n lead to the ath year a UN report found that Iran 'gay, bisexual and transgenr children were subjected to electric shocks and the admistratn of hormon and strong psychoactive meditns', Pk News reported.

THE GAY PEOPLE PHED TO CHANGE THEIR GENR

Alireza Fazeli Monfared, 20, (pictured) was allegedly taken by the three male fay members and murredIn Febary 2021, an Iranian cleric Ayatollah Abbas Tabrizian claimed that the Covid-19 vacce turns people gay, on msagg platform Telegram, to almost 210, 000 followers.

Augt 26, 2021—In a new LGBTQ Fact Sheet published today by the Center for Human Rights Iran (CHRI), the extreme rights vlatns and adly vlence perpetrated by both the state and society agast the LGBTQ muny (lbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer) Iran are highlighted a ncise, accsible format for rearchers, journalists, and policymakers. The activist hop the vios rm people of queer people's liv Iran, where punishments for beg gay range om 100 lash of the whip to, the munitns director for the Center for Human Rights Iran, said homophobia was wispread the untry.

Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN

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. "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. 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. Donya, now 33, fled to Turkey wh her son om a brief marriage, and then to Canada, where they were granted 's not official ernment policy to force gay men or women to unrgo genr reassignment but the prsure n be tense.

GAY IRANIAN MAN ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY FAY DAYS BEFORE SEEKG ASYLUM

"If I'd gone to the police and told them that I was a homosexual, my life would have been even more danger than was om my fay, " he is no reliable rmatn on the number of genr reassignment operatns rried out Iran. While they wa - sometim for years - they may be settled socially nservative provcial ci, where prejudice and discrimatn are Parsi, who crossed om Iran to Turkey by tra 2005, says that while livg the cy of Kayseri, central Turkey, he was beaten up, and then refed hospal treatment for a disloted shoulr, simply bee he was gay.

HORRIFIC KILLG OF YOUNG GAY MAN PUTS PLIGHT OF IRAN'S LGBT COMMUNY IN SPOTLIGHT

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). 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.

GAY IRAN: NO PLACE TO CALL HOME

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.

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.

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.

GAY IRANIAN MAN AD ALLEGED 'HONOR KILLG,' RIGHTS GROUP SAYS

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.

Ambassador to Germany at the time of Zarif’s remarks, joed Roth his opposn to the treatment and argued that the executns go agast the UN Universal Declaratn of Human Rights, which clearly tails crimalizatn of homosexualy as a vlatn. Grenell’s sentiments were a ntuatn of the Tmp admistratn’s mpaign which lnched Febary of 2019 to crimnalize homosexualy var natns cludg Iran and lled on global anizatns like the UN and EU ntribute to the rights have been opposn to the Iranian Penal Co sce the 1930s when Parliament passed legislatn crimalizg such relatnships, and disapproval of this discrimatn has tensified over time. Genr Assignment IranGiven the severe and dranian ernment polici towards homosexualy Iran, is perhaps suprisg that genr reassignment and the existence of of transgenr dividuals Iran is legally supported.

GROWG UP GAY IRAN

Though personal and societal judgement agast transgenr people Iran is - as many untri - persistant and pervasive, the broar ia of beg transgenr is not nsired a vlatn of Iranian theocratic prcipl, and the ernment do not view such dividuals as they do homosexuals. Most relig lears only accept those non-bary dividuals who fully plete the transn operatn, while those who do not are perceived as “sick” and n still be arrted for cross-drsg and other stereotypilly homosexual practic.

1 OUT OF 3 YOUNG IRANIAN MEN "GAY"?

Dpe formal support of transgenr people by the ernment, dividuals are still faced wh discrimatn and persecutn by private cizens and dividuals their personal liv, an experience siar to that of homosexuals Iran.