How are Iranian Gay Men Copg wh Systematic Supprsn Unr Islamic Law? A Qualative Study | Sexualy & Culture

Contents:

• WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
• ARAB LGBT : MOVI, DOCUMENTARI AND SHORT FILMS OF TERT FOR A GAY AND LBIAN DIENCE OM ALGERIA AFGHANISTAN EGYPT IRAN IRAQ LEBANON MOROC TUNISIA + PAKISTAN AND TURKEY
• WATCH: DOCUMENTARY UNVERS HORRORS FACED BY TWO GAY IRANIAN REFUGE
• HBO'S VICE UNVERS GAY IRANIANS FORCED TO SURGILLY CHANGE GENR
• Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
• IRANIAN, GAY & SEEKG ASYLUM
• 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.
• GAY MULLAH FLE IRAN OVER SECRET SAME-SEX WEDDGS
• GAY IRANIAN MAN AD ALLEGED 'HONOR KILLG,' RIGHTS GROUP SAYS
• BOLD GRAPHIC NOVEL HIGHLIGHTS THE STGGLE OF GAY LOVE IRAN
• HOW ARE IRANIAN GAY MEN COPG WH SYSTEMATIC SUPPRSN UNR ISLAMIC LAW? A QUALATIVE STUDY

WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY 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. | (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.

ARAB LGBT : MOVI, DOCUMENTARI AND SHORT FILMS OF TERT FOR A GAY AND LBIAN DIENCE OM ALGERIA AFGHANISTAN EGYPT IRAN IRAQ LEBANON MOROC TUNISIA + PAKISTAN AND TURKEY

"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.

WATCH: DOCUMENTARY UNVERS HORRORS FACED BY TWO GAY IRANIAN REFUGE

Filmmaker Rick Flynn bills Golf Alpha Yankee, which spells "gay" ary ll letters, as the first film of s kd to document human rights atroci mted agast LGBT Iranians by a regime whose former print once claimed Iran didn't have any gay years the makg, the film featur terviews wh LGBT Iranian refuge livg Turkey, awag cisns om Uned Natns officials about if, when, and where their applitns for asylum might be accepted. For many if not all of the men, 's a matter of livg as someone they are not for the rt of their liv followg surgery -- or facg a relatively progrsive untry, Iran beme a fundamentalist Islamic state where homosexualy is punishable by ath after the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi 1979. 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:.

HBO'S VICE UNVERS GAY IRANIANS FORCED TO SURGILLY CHANGE GENR

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.

Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN

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.

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.

IRANIAN, GAY & SEEKG ASYLUM

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. There is no official dissematn of rmatn for homosexuals and the only way to reach awarens about such issu is dog personal rearch, talkg to other homosexuals, and ocsnally gettg profsnal unselg. 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.

Read allSee productn, box office & pany PhotosBe the first to reviewContribute to this pageSuggt an ed or add missg ntentBy what name was Iranian, Gay & Seekg Asylum (2009) officially released Canada English? 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.

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.

Ali Fazeli Monfared, a 20-year-old gay Iranian man, was allegedly killed an “honor killg” by some of his male fay members after they found out he was gay, acrdg to an LGBTQ rights group Iran and Monfared, who was known as Alireza by iends and fay, lived a cy southwt Iran.

GAY MULLAH FLE IRAN OVER SECRET SAME-SEX WEDDGS

He had applied for an exemptn om pulsory ary service so he uld leave the untry and move to Turkey to live wh his close iend, Aghil Bayat, acrdg to 6Rang, the Iranian Lbian and Transgenr homosexual nduct is crimalized Iran, part of the ary exemptn law allows gay and transgenr people to receive a medil exemptn om service for their inty.

”Fazeli Monfared received an exemptn rd the mail om the Islamic Revolutnary Guard Corps after disclosg his homosexualy, but one of his male relativ found and disvered he was gay, acrdg to 6Rang.

If Fazeli Monfared’s alleged killers had ught him havg sex wh a man, then they might receive lser punishments for his is one of an timated 11 untri where same-sex sexual acts are punishable by ath, acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, and one of almost 70 untri where is crimalized, acrdg to Human Rights Watch, an ternatnal human rights group based New York. "The are moral prcipl regardg the behavr of people general, ” he said at the time, acrdg to German broadster Dtsche are no statistics or rerds of the number of anti-LGBTQ “honor killgs” — which are perpetrated by relativ who feel the LGBTQ person has brought “dishonor” to the fay — that happen Iran or other untri that crimalize homosexualy, Tara Sepehri Far, who vtigat human rights ab Iran and Kuwa for Human Rights Watch, told NBC said Fazeli Monfared’s se highlights the importance of the role of the fay LGBTQ people’s liv when the state crimaliz who they are.

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

“Exposg that to the very same thori who, theory, have the thory to arrt and prosecute you is very risky, ” she said other untri should prsure Iran to remove the law crimalizg homosexualy and the ath penalty “bee this is the reason why the fai, they allow themselv to have the right to vlate their children. Though many ways a classic love story wh all of s poetry, challeng and triumphs, the relatnship between two gay men Iran is rarely a simple read: - "Yoef and Farhad" -- Part 2- "Yoef and Farhad" -- Part 3- "Yoef and Farhad" -- Part 4- OutRight Actn's blog about the spiratn behd "Yoef and Farhad"- Reflectns on the format and topic om wrer Amir Soltani and rtoonist Khalil BendibRelatedkhalil bendibworldpost culturelgbt love amir soltani gay lovePopular the CommunyYou May Like.

BOLD GRAPHIC NOVEL HIGHLIGHTS THE STGGLE OF GAY LOVE IRAN

LGBT dividuals Iran have been sufferg om systematic supprsn and discrimatn for s and, orr for them to survive, like any other mori and isolated groups, they have formed a unique some may nsir homosexualy to be a relatively new Wtern phenomenon, a brief look at the history of same-sex relatnships Iran reveals that is, fact, prevalent throughout Iran’s historil culture. Dpe this long history of homosexualy Iran, many of the untry’s current homosexuals, particularly the younger generatn, tend to intify more wh a morn perspective rather than a historil or even cultural one (Mahdavi 2012; Yagarfard and Bahramabadian 2014).

However, a signifint number of those who unrgo the surgery do so not bee they are transgenr but bee they are gay, lbian or bisexual and see sex change surgery as the only optn for them to “erase the ‘sta’ of homosexualy and bee ‘legal’ unr Iranian law” (Human Rights Watch 2010, p. Backed by state law, this belief has rulted the formulatn of a normative bary amework of attus, behavurs and actns which exclus all those who do not nform, cludg gay mal (Jtice for Iran 2014).

HOW ARE IRANIAN GAY MEN COPG WH SYSTEMATIC SUPPRSN UNR ISLAMIC LAW? A QUALATIVE STUDY

While a major factor this issue is how the Iranian thori’ policy and law have created an environment of social isolatn, is further pound by profsnal practners and psychologists Iran and their attempts at ‘treatg’ the sexual ‘viancy’ of homosexuals and lbians (see Am 2015). Then through snowball samplg 57 gay men were ntacted through email and only 38 people replied to the ial email, then rm nsent were sent to 38 prospective participants that of them only 29 showed tert to participate the study, the rt dropped out due to the sensivy of the subject, fear of discloser, fear of alg wh strs durg the terview, not knowg the terviewer and lack of tst and not feelg fortable to do the terview trough vio ll.

At the same time, however, they exprsed their willgns to participate bee they felt any rearch of Iranian gay men might ntribute to the velopment of knowledge and unrstandg of gay men and their current suatn Iran. Ined, some of the ma reasons given by participants for agreeg to participate the current rearch were that, through this rearch, the thori might hear their voice sayg “we exist”; they were fightg stigmatisatn and discrimatn; and they were raisg awarens society about gay men Iran. Thirteen participants mentned that spe all the rtrictns and limatns, even though same-sex relatnships are nmned as a crime that rri the ath penalty, one thg that helps gay people to “pe” was havg sex.