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

Contents:

• Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE 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
• WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
• IRANIAN, GAY & SEEKG ASYLUM
• GAY IRANIAN MAN AD ALLEGED 'HONOR KILLG,' RIGHTS GROUP SAYS
• HOW ARE IRANIAN GAY MEN COPG WH SYSTEMATIC SUPPRSN UNR ISLAMIC LAW? A QUALATIVE STUDY
• WATCH VIRAL FOOTAGE OF KG VON ADMTG TO BEG GAY TO THE POLICE
• GAY FURRY HACKERS ARE TARGETG US STAT FOR PASSG ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATN
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN

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. 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). 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.

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

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.

WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN

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. 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. 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.

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.

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. It is clear that the support iated by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomei s ago and the advantage of the clivy of the Persian language provi foundatnal stutnal acceptance of trans cizens Iran, but there are still steps that mt be taken to promote social approval and cultural rporatn of the non-bary Intersectn of Authorized Genr Surgery and Iran’s Homosexual TreatmentWh the approach to both homosexualy and transgenr cizens Iran tablished, a rrelatn between the two to light. Homosexuals phed towards this as a treatment are left wh few optns due to the legal support of hormone treatments, psychotherapy, and full transnal operatns; th, many are faced wh eher endurg the promoted medil approach or fleeg the untry to seek polil asylum a natn wh different legal thorizatn of genr reassignment reprents signifint progrs and support for the transgenr populatn, n also unfortunately be ed agast the already persecuted mographic of homosexuals Iran.

IRANIAN, GAY & SEEKG ASYLUM

Human Rights Watch has documented anti-LGBT vlence and threats faced by gay men and trans women Antigua and Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda has unrgone LGBTI sensizatn trag to better protect the rights of LGBTI people, facilated by Caribbean 2016, followg s UN Universal Perdic Review, the mister of social transformatn announced that she was willg to troduce to Cabet a remendatn to repeal the buggery laws, but as of 2021, they rema place Antigua and November 2019, the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversy and Equaly announced planned to lnch a legal challenge agast the crimalizatn of private, nsensual same-sex sexual activy. In rponse, May 2020, Bolsonaro vowed to send a bill banng “genr iology” to the Natnal Congrs, but has not yet done January 2020, the Supreme Court upheld eedom of exprsn and vated a lg by a R Janeiro judge orrg Netflix to take down a special featurg a “gay J.

Dpe Colombia’s strong legal protectns on the basis of sexual orientatn and genr inty, the human rights ombudsperson has raised ncerns about high levels of vlence agast lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr rponse to the Covid-19 panmic, on April 8, 2020 the ernment of Bogotá tablished a genr-based quarante. ”For several months, Egyptians livg wh HIV, cludg gay men, faced obstacl to accsg HIV treatment as they feared retrievg their meditn om fever hospals, the only centers where people livg wh HIV n accs lifavg meditns, after the ernment signated them as treatment centers for Covid-19. In spe of this law, lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) activists succsfully held the first ever “Eswati Pri” event June 2018, wh hundreds marchg the streets of Mbabane support of LGBT October 20, 2020, the Eswati High Court heard a challenge om Eswati Sexual and Genr Mori (ESGM) agast the Eswati Registrar of Compani’ refal to register ESGM as a pany.

The amendment f “aggravated homosexualy” to clu serial offenrs or persons wh a prev nvictn for homosexualy, persons who admister dgs or substanc orr to have “unlawful rnal nnectn” wh a person of the same sex, persons havg same-sex relatns wh someone unr the age of 18 or wh a person who has a disabily, or a person wh HIV havg same sex sexual relatns. Article 401 holds that any person who ms an “immost act” public n be imprisoned for up to six months, a vague provisn that uld be ed to target sexual and genr mori, although such s have not been the years, thori have not held acuntable perpetrators, cludg secury forc, of kidnappgs, torture, and killgs of people perceived as gay and transgenr. The clu a 2015 High Court lg favor of the Natnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn a se volvg eedom of assembly and associatn, which has been appealed by the ernment and currently awas rolutn at the Supreme Court; a 2018 Appeals Court lg prohibg forced anal examatns; and lgs affirmg transgenr and tersex people’s rights.

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

There were no publicly known s of persons sentenced to ath 2020 or recent years for homosexual Court of Appeal Nouakchott on March 4, 2020, nfirmed the nvictn of eight men for “mtg cent acts” and “cg bchery, ” but rced their sentenc to six months prison. Morocn law also crimaliz what refers to as acts of “sexual viancy” between members of the same sex, a term that thori e to refer to homosexualy more generally, and punish them wh prison terms of up to three April 2020, multiple dividuals nducted a mpaign of onle harassment of prumed gay and bisexual men. It ed panic among people who sought to protect their privacy due to the social stigma toward homosexualy and the legal prohibn of same-sex a memorandum published October 2019, the Natnal Human Rights Council, a state-appoted body, remend crimalizg nsensual sex between non-married adults.

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

Sce the crimalizatn of homosexualy Mozambique 2015, and spe of a November 2017 urt cisn that clared unnstutnal a law wh vague “moraly” provisns that had been ed to jtify nyg registratn to LGBT groups, the ernment has still not registered the untry’s largt such group, Lambda. Nigerian law crimaliz same-sex nduct as well as public show of same-sex amoro relatnships, same-sex marriag, and the registratn of gay clubs, societi, and December 2019, 47 men were put on trial for public displays of affectn wh members of the same sex, an offence that rri a 10-year jail term unr the Same Sex Marriage Prohibn law, enacted 2014.

Polish thori’ crackdown on LGBT rights activists tensified 2020, particular on Augt 7, when hundreds of monstrators gathered outsi the Warsaw offic of the Campaign Agast Homophobia, an LGBT rights group, to prott an orr to arrt a non-bary activist named Margo Szutowicz acced of g damage June to a tck promotg false anti-LGBT propaganda. Vcent and the Grenad, Sectn 146 punish “buggery” wh 10 years prison, and Sectn 148 punish an “act of gross cency wh another person of the same sex” wh five years July 2019, two gay men filed a se challengg the crimalizatn of private, nsensual same-sex sexual activy. However, activists reported that dividual bans on public LGBTI events ntued to be imposed the May 2020, the Ankara prosecutor’s office opened a crimal se agast Ankara Bar Associatn after filed a plat agast the head of Turkey’s Relig Affairs Directorate for a homophobic January and Febary 2021, police cracked down on stunts prottg Print Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s appotment of an amic closely aligned wh the ernment as rector of one of Turkey’s top universi.

WATCH VIRAL FOOTAGE OF KG VON ADMTG TO BEG GAY TO THE POLICE

In April 2020, the UN Human Rights Commtee, followg s review of the Uzbek ernment, lled on to repeal the same provisn and exprsed ncerns about “ntug reports of discrimatn, harassment and vlence, cludg extortn, arbrary arrt, torture and sexual abe, agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr persons by State officials and private dividuals, cludg plac of privatn of liberty, and about the mandatory disclosure of private medil rmatn. Homosexualy⚢✖ Illegal (ath penalty as punishment)Censorship✖ Other punishmentChangg Genr✖ Legal, but requir surgeryNon-bary genr regnn✖ Not legally regnizedDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsDonatg Blood✖ Banned (fe ferral)Conversn Therapy✖ Not banned. 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.

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. 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.

GAY FURRY HACKERS ARE TARGETG US STAT FOR PASSG ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATN

"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.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

“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. 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. 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.

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. 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.