Ahmadejad: No Gays Iran

Contents:

• AHMADEJAD: NO GAYS, NO OPPRSN OF WOMEN IRAN
• MAHMOUD AHMADEJAD: OK, WE MAY HAVE A FEW GAYS BUT WE STILL HATE ISRAEL
• INTERVIEW: ON BEG GAY IRAN
• PRINT MISQUOTED OVER GAYS IRAN: AI

AHMADEJAD: NO GAYS, NO OPPRSN OF WOMEN IRAN

Dpe fears om some that the ntroversial lear would go unchallenged his ments, Columbia Print Lee Bollger quickly took the Iranian print to task his openg statements, llg him "a petty and cel dictator" and potg to a number of well-documented stanc which the Iranian regime has executed children, opprsed women and imprisoned and tortured homosexuals, amics and journalists. "Ahmadejad parried many of the qutns put to him directly, discsg the plight of the Paltians rather than directly answerg a qutn about his prev lls for the stctn of the state of asked about the ath penalty Iran imposed on homosexuals, Ahmadejad discsed the ath sentence for dg smugglers.

When phed by morator and actg an of the School of Internatnal and Public Affairs John Coatsworth, the Iranian print said: "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like your untry. Stunts said their opns of the Iranian print changed ltle after hearg him speak, wh those opposed to his prence and those support of his polici each pickg selective quot om his addrs to buttrs already tablished most circl Ahmadejad is cricized chiefly for his posns on the Holot, Israel, nuclear weapons and spected support of terror, his nial of the existence and mistreatment of gays Iran was the one that left stunts stunts buzzg.

"Mahmoud Ahmadejad hid behd rhetoric and philosophil mgs about wisdom and knowledge, " said Esther Lifshz, a sophomore majorg polil science. Posters that purportedly showed two gay men that had been beaten at the hands of the Iranian police hung next to signs that read "Iran had the send most Jewish cizens the Middle East next to Israel" and that s parliament had Jewish and Zoroastrian of the stunts prottg Ahmadejad's vis sisted that spe earlier media reports, the tenor of the prott was ls about banng the print om mp and more about prottg his polici clu beg "anti-ee speech, anti-women's rights, anti-gay rights and llg for the annihilatn of a U.

MAHMOUD AHMADEJAD: OK, WE MAY HAVE A FEW GAYS BUT WE STILL HATE ISRAEL

CNN's Piers Man engaged a heated bate wh Mahmoud Ahmadejad over homosexualy, which the Iranian print slammed the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muny as engagg "an ugly behavr. Ahmadejad's views aren't particularly surprisg, given that homosexualy is a crime punishable by imprisonment and, more extreme s, executn Iran. That news me jt days before the release of a new report on LGBT people Iran, which highlighted the problems they face their own untry and when they flee to exile, acrdg to Gay Star News.

'"In 2007, Ahmadejad reportedly told a crowd at Columbia Universy, "In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like your untry.

INTERVIEW: ON BEG GAY IRAN

Check out natns wh more progrsive views on same-sex marriage and gay rights below: Gay Marriage Around The WorldBefore You Go. At a prs event two weeks ago, CNN’s Wolf Blzer asked Iranian Print Mahmoud Ahmadejad to elaborate on his notor assertn om 2007 that there were no homosexuals Iran.

For anyone wh even a most scientific background, the answer seems obv —hence the wispread disbelief of Ahmadejad’s ial claim of a gay-ee Iran. A hband-and-wife team of anthropologists at Washgton State Universy named Barry and Bonnie Hewlett believe that they’ve found a society whout gay sex—and that there other societi, too, which some prumably universal behavrs, such as homosexualy and masturbatn, are nonexistent at all levels of analysis.

PRINT MISQUOTED OVER GAYS IRAN: AI

” In other words, although wispread Wternizatn creat the imprsn of a speci-wi sexual homogeney, when one tak the sheer number of livg and extct cultur to perspective, ’s —not them—who are weird. ) This is hardly an opprsive environment, which is why the apparent absence of homosexualy and masturbatn the societi me as a surprise to the Hewletts. In 1976, another team of anthropologists sifted through the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample data for attus toward homosexualy and found that people five of 42 cultur listed had no ncept of same-sex sire or behavrs.

The absence of homosexualy the Aka and Ngandu is hard enough to fathom, yet nsir their unfaiary wh another “natural” sexual behavr, masturbatn. In any event, the pot is not to suggt that homosexualy and masturbatn are unnatural and therefore wrong, but that “viance” is a relative term.

Still, I’m sure there are more than a few Iranians who wouldn’t md droppg Ahmadejad to the jungl of the Central Ain Republic, so he might live out his days the perfect, gay-ee world of his dreams. NEW YORK (CNN) -- Iranian Print Mahmoud Ahmadejad on Monday challenged a universy dience to look to "who was tly volved" the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, fend his right to qutn tablished Holot history and nied there were gay Iranians.

When prsed about the harsh treatment of women, homosexuals and amics who challenge Iran's ernment, Ahmadejad pated a rosy picture, sayg, "Women Iran enjoy the hight levels of eedom, " he said. He eliced lghter and boos om the dience at Columbia Universy when he said, "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like your untry. Man persisted wh the le of qutng, askg Ahmadejad how he’d react if he found that one of his three children happened to be gay.

The lear dodged that one, sistg that homosexualy was a rult of a flty society that needs s tn and social mor re-evaluated. Here is some shockg news: There are, fact, gays report directly om Iranian Print Mahmoud Ahmadejad, who last year famoly claimed there are no homosexuals his untry.

Qutned back then about his ernment's executn of gays, Ahmadejad, the Holot nier and sworn enemy of Israel, nied homosexually even exists Iran. Then he went on to blast homosexualy as an "unlikable and foreign act" that is illegal bee "shak the foundatns of society, " "robs humany" and "brgs about disease. Print Ahmadejad may be tellg the tth about his nuclear program, but his rerd of prev nials, along wh iron-fisted polici toward his people, hardly spir at least we fally got that gay qutn out of the.

Not particularly blsed wh the dashg good looks I associate wh so many Iranian men, the print's refal to wear the illegal tie (that great symbol of Wtern imperialism) wh his sus giv him at least that "air of bonair, " as an Iranian homosexual iend of me poted out (Beg particularly randy, my iend adms to havg a secret csh on the print.

If I were not Brazil at the moment, speakg to packed dienc who have been appldg and cryg wh the four Iranian homosexual men I filmed fleeg Mr. Ahmadi Nejad's natn, I would have ma sure I was at Columbia to hand-liver to the former mayor an tographed py of the DVD (nformg to all Iranian pyright laws) of A Jihad for Love, my recently fished, six-year documentary project on Islam and homosexualy (currently playg to the aforementned packed ho at the R Internatnal Film Ftival). Clearly the homosexualy he seeks to ny is alive and (sometim) thrivg om Shiraz to Tehran to Isfahan and wherever else he may choose to look.

Homosexualy, a "ndn" as natural as heterosexualy, has thrived as long as Islam has, and has often spread rapidly through Islamic lands wh the blsgs of lers, artists, poets, micians, Sufi mystics and many others. Ahmadi Nejad, so occupied wh tryg to make sure that Ameri's overextend Mar do not enter fairt Persia, clearly has had ltle reurse to his own natn's remarkable history, om around 559 BCE onward, makg his claim that Iran is homosexual-ee. He would also need to re-vis the portns of his nstutn that make homosexualy 'punishable by ath' and that are equently ed to torture those whose existence he Mr.

A py of A Jihad for Love should be ma available now to both the Prints -- one elected, the other not -- as s very Mlim, very homosexual and very real subjects will teach them both a great al about love, about civily and, ed, Islam. Clearly both Ahmadi Nejad and Bollger are strangely siar and need of lsons on my relign and my fellow homosexuals, as we attempt to tell the story of Islam, knowg full well that we are s unlikelit storytellers.