Very Gay, Very Iranian |

Contents:

• 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.
• TWO GAY MEN ARE HANGED IRAN SIX YEARS AFTER THEY WERE JAILED ON 'SODOMY' CHARG
• WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
• IRAN IS FORCG THOANDS OF GAY PEOPLE TO HAVE GENR REASSIGNMENT SURGERY AGAST THEIR WILL OR FACE EXECUTN
• IRAN EXECUT TEENAGE BOY FOR BEG GAY
• GAY IRANIAN MAN ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY FAY DAYS BEFORE SEEKG ASYLUM
• GAY IRAN: NO PLACE TO CALL HOME
• GAY IRANIAN MAN AD ALLEGED 'HONOR KILLG,' RIGHTS GROUP SAYS

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.

Alireza Fazeli Monfared, a 20-year old Iranian man, was behead what an Iranian human-rights group says was an "honor killg" by fay members after they learned he was gay. "The Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia' is g up on Monday (May 17), " Okan Sengun, the executive director and founr of the LGBT Asylum Project, said. Homosexualy is nsired a psychologil disease IranWhile beg gay is forbidn Iran and punishable by ath, the law allows gay men to fo ary service.

"Homosexualy is also nsired a psychologil disease Iran, and the ary's ary board n exempt a gay man om service if they are emed homosexual after an examatn, " she add. "I thk their hate of homosexualy was so huge that they cid to kill him, " she May 4, Monfared ma the fal preparatns for his parture. 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.

"In the days followg the killg, Okan Sengun of the LGBT Asylum Project said he received many emails om gay Iranians who were heartbroken by Monfared's ath.

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'. 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'. Two men Iran, where homosexualy is illegal, have been executed after spendg six years on ath rowHe said: 'The Ayatollah regime Iran jt executed two gay men for the crime of sodomy Iran.

' Last May Alireza Fazeli Monfared, 20, who intified as gay and non-bary, was abducted by several male relativ and murred Ahvaz, Khuztan provce 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.

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. 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.

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.

IRAN IS FORCG THOANDS OF GAY PEOPLE TO HAVE GENR REASSIGNMENT SURGERY AGAST THEIR WILL OR FACE EXECUTN

| (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. "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. It also provis a temptg e, for gays and straights alike, an enomy bet by flatn and though the typ of -person enunters are a way to elu virtual spi, they are still ght wh risk. 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.

IRAN EXECUT TEENAGE BOY FOR BEG GAY

| (VOCATIV/JANUS ENGEL RASMUSSEN)So naturally, when Naeem* met Behram* four years ago on gay datg se Manjan, which is also monored, he was ially hant. 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.

She's a big gay in, and Febary she me out explic support of gay rights wh a vio for the song "Behht, " pictg a lbian uple love. (In a male-domated society like Iran, homosexual women have even ls privacy than men, and often risk beg shunned by neighbors if they rent an apartment whout a hband. "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.

"Yet the problem for men like Naeem and Behram is there's no real outlet to bate semantics: Although homosexualy n be punished, 's not somethg that is officially regnized. In 2007, then-print Mahmoud Ahmadejad ludicroly claimed a speech New York, to loud jeers, that there were no gays Iran. It is unclear if Ahmadejad believed this himself, but his ments mirrored the regime's preference of simply ignorg homosexuals.

GAY IRANIAN MAN ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY FAY DAYS BEFORE SEEKG ASYLUM

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.

As a rult, sex reassignment surgery (SRS) has bee a ntroversial solutn for gay men tryg to rencile their fah wh their sexualy. If a man n get a doctor to ttify he is gay, he will be exempt om ary, the small ncsns hardly amount to any sort of tangible eedom for Iran's gays, many of whom ntue to fight their own sexualy. "Relign adds another layer of prsure, but for some relig Iranian gays, like Behram, Islam actually mak life easier.

Alizah says that though there is a small movement toward broar acceptance of homosexuals Iran, the improvements are feeble. IRAN is forcg thoands of gay people to unrgo genr reassignment surgeri a sick bid to “cleanse” the untry of homosexualy. However, proment LGTB activists have told Sun Onle that the procr are part of a disturbg programme fuelled by homophobia.

GAY IRAN: NO PLACE TO CALL HOME

Iranian-born activist Shadi Am says the Iranian regime, which is ntrolled by relig extremists, view beg gay as an “illns” and that the only cure is to change the person’s genr.

She said: “The ernment believ that if you are a gay man your soul is that of a woman and you should change your body. “We thk this is a way to fight the existence of homosexual people bee you change their body and you solve the problem.

“The regime giv gay people two choic - to be arrted as a homosexual and beg punished even executed or change your body. The LGBT rearcher says that Iranian ernment, cludg the Head of the Human Rights missn of Iran, has publicly said "we want to solve the problem, gay people are sick and they need the physil treatment. Peter Tatchell, a promemnt Brish human rights mpaigner, nmned the Iranian regime's sire to "eradite homosexualy.

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

He told Sun Onle: “The ayatollah’s are seekg to elimate homosexualy by prsurg or forcg gay men to unrgo genr reassignment surgery to make them ‘women’. However, Afshar mataed that the sexual acts were nsensual and that the alleged victim had willgly engaged same-sex sexual activi on numero prev ocsns, leadg LGBT activists to claim the teen was executed simply for beg gay. Earlier this year, a Mlim cleric told how he was forced to flee the untry after he was attacked for marryg gay upl.