Gay Iran

Contents:

• WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
• Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
• PERSIAN GAY | ایران گی
• GAY IRAN: NO PLACE TO CALL HOME
• IRANIAN GAY MAN, 20, MURRED AND BEHEAD BY HIS FAY
• GAY IRANIAN MAN AD ALLEGED 'HONOR KILLG,' RIGHTS GROUP SAYS
• IRANIAN, GAY & SEEKG ASYLUM
• GAY IRANIAN MAN ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY FAY DAYS BEFORE SEEKG ASYLUM
• 1 OUT OF 3 YOUNG IRANIAN MEN "GAY"?

WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN

From the dawn of Persian poetry the nth century all through to the twentieth century, not only was homosexualy ndoned Persian poetry, but fact homoeroticism formed almost the only amatory subject of Persian ghazals (short son-like lyrics) and the ma topic of much of Persian love poetry. Novic workg unr master craftsmen, errand boys (šāgerds) shops, and youths workg at different tras were now mostly the targets of homoerotic love poems, although ls equently qasidas than ghazals, quatras, and ocsnal piec (qetʿas).

The ḵaṭṭ is scribed varly as green (ḵaṭṭ-e sabz), st-lored (ḵaṭṭ-e zangāri), mk-lored (ḵaṭṭ-e moš-k), buddg ḵaṭṭ (ḵaṭṭ-e now-damida), etc., but most often upled wh ḵāl (bety spot) on acunt of their homonymy.

Not only Mlim boys were the subject of homoerotic sir, but so were boys om mory groups, more particularly Zoroastrians boys (mōḡ-bača) servg taverns and Christian on (tarsā-bača), sometim belongg to nvents; for example:. The social acceptance of homoeroticism, spe of relig prohibn, was such that ʿOnṣor-al-Maʿāli Kay-Kāv, a prce of Ṭabartān, his well-known mirror for prc, monly known as Qāb-nāma, wrten as a pendium of advice for his son Gilānšāh, not only approv of male homosexualy, but suggts the bt way of practicg , even though he is by all acunts a man of piety, bound by the dictat of relign. The public acceptance of homoerotic love Persian lerature, more particularly Khorasan and Transoxiana durg the 10th-12th centuri, spe of strong relig prohibn both pre-Islamic and Islamic Persia, however, requir an explanatn.

Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN

” The romanc classil Persian lerature based on Parthian and Middle Persian origals such as Faḵr-al-D Gāni’s Vis o Rām, ʿAyyuqi’s Waraqa o Golšāh, ʿOnsori’s Vāmeq o ʿAḏrā, Neẓāmi’s Ḵosrow o Šir and Haft Peykar, and possibly Attar’s Ḵosrow-nāma all treat of heterosexual love wh no ht of homosexualy. There is a possibily that Greek loni northeastern Persia durg the Hellenistic perd had a share removg or rcg the stigma of homosexual love and makg socially acceptable, whereas southern Persia, a bastn of Zoroastrianism, and where a good al of Zoroastrian wrgs origated, the suatn was different.

PERSIAN GAY | ایران گی

That emotnal ti should velop between Sufi mentors (pirs) and their young discipl the Sufi hospic (ḵānaqāhs) is only natural, given the wispread tenncy toward homoeroticism and s social acceptance on the one hand, and the excln of women om ḵānaqāhs, on the other. In spe of the transparency of homoerotic love the lyril prelus of the qasidas the 10th-12th centuri, the ghazals and robāʿis of the ʿErāqi school, notably Saʿdi and Hafez, and later the poems of the Safavid school and Indian style, as many ocsnal poems (qatáaʿāt), is surprisg that among historians of Persian lerature, om Hermann Ethé (q. 1946) had been published; and his diatrib agast major figur of Persian lerature (wh the exceptn of Ferdowsi) went hand hand wh his homophobia and gave rise to vehement attacks on poets, Sufis, homosexuals, and morn advot of classil Persian poetry, cludg Moḥammad-ʿAli Fo-ḡi, ʿAli Aṣḡar Ḥekmat, Qāsem Ḡani (qq.

Recently, however, Šamisā, a lerary scholar, has dited a volume to the subject: Šāhed-bāzi dar adabiyāt-e fārsi (Homosexual love Persian lerature, 2002) which he discs var aspects of the subject and which he has assiduoly brought together ample exampl om Persian poetry and prose. The neglect of, or rather, the omissn of and silence about, the subject has been apparently due to a number of , cludg general currents of homophobia both the Wt and morn Persia, aggravated perhaps by the translatn and discsn of acunts of earlier European travelers and wrers on Persia and the Middle East, who had emphasized the strong element of homoeroticism the East. Recently, however, the growg refal of gays and lbians to accept a clanste existence and the rultant visibily of gay culture has led some wrers the Wt to pay attentn also to the wispread currency of perasty the Middle East.

GAY IRAN: NO PLACE TO CALL HOME

It is possible, though, that wh the emergence of important gay and lbian wrers and poets and their translatn to Persian, addn to the spread of more liberal attus toward homosexualy the Wt, exemplified by the drive towards gay marriag the U. 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.

"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.

IRANIAN GAY MAN, 20, MURRED AND BEHEAD BY HIS FAY

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.

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.

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

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. 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.

IRANIAN, GAY & SEEKG ASYLUM

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.

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. The Islamic Republic of Iran publicly hanged a 31-year-old Iranian man after he was found guilty of charg related to vlatns of Iran’s anti-gay laws, acrdg to the state-ntrolled Iranian Stunts’ News unintified man was hanged on January 10 the southwtern cy of Kazeroon based on crimal vlatns of “lavat-e be onf” – sexual terurse between two men, as well as kidnappg charg, acrdg to ISNA. “Iran is not only the most dangero threat to Israel’s secury, is also a champn the state murr of actual or perceived homosexuals, ” said Volker Beck, a German Party Green Party polician and a lecturer at the Center for Studi Relig Scienc (CERES) at the Ruhr Universy Bochum.

” The statement about cizens of Kazeroon uld not be penntly 2016, The Jesalem Post reported Iran’s regime had executed a gay adolcent that year – the first nfirmed executn of someone nvicted as a juvenile the Islamic Afshar, 19, was hanged Arak Prison Iran’s Markazi Provce on July 18, 2016, after he was nvicted of “forced male-to-male anal terurse” early 2011, Iran’s regime executed three Iranian men after beg found guilty of charg related to M.

GAY IRANIAN MAN ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY FAY DAYS BEFORE SEEKG ASYLUM

Hochre, a spokman for the Hirschfeld-Eddy-Stiftung Foundatn, which fights to advance the rights of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people, told the Post:“Iran is one of the worst stat for the persecutn of LGBTI. When Iranian Print Mahmoud Ahmadejad ma his famo claim at a September 2007 Columbia Universy appearance that ""In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like your untry, " the world lghed at the absurdy of this pretense.

Now, a forthg book by a leadg Iranian scholar exile, which tails both the long history of homosexualy that natn and the origs of the mpaign to erase s trac, not only provis a superlative reply to Ahmadejad, but monstrat forcefully that polil homophobia was a Wtern import to a culture which same-sex relatns were wily tolerated and equently celebrated for well over a thoand years. Its thor, Ja Afary, print of the Internatnal Society of Iranian Scholars, is a profsor of history and women's studi at Purdue Universy who has already published several thorative works on Iranian sexual polics, notably the revealg and award-wng "Fouult and the Iranian Revolutn: Genr and the Sctns of Islam" (2005), which she already monstrated a remarkable sympathy for gay and lbian people. In her new book, Afary's extensive sectn on pre-morn Iran, documented by a close readg of ancient texts, portrays the domant form of same-sex relatns as a highly-dified "stat-fed homosexualy, " which an olr man - prumably the active partner sex - acquired a younger partner, or amrad.

Afary monstrat how, this perd, "male homoerotic relatns Iran were bound by l of urtship such as the btowal of prents, the teachg of lerary texts, bodybuildg and ary trag, mentorship, and the velopment of social ntacts that would help the junr partner's reer.

1 OUT OF 3 YOUNG IRANIAN MEN "GAY"?

One of her most stunng revelatns is how an Azeri-language newspaper eded and published the Rsian Cc, Molla Nasredd (or MN, which appeared om 1906 to 1931) fluenced this Iranian Revolutn wh a "signifint new disurse on genr and sexualy, " sharg Marx's well-documented ntempt for homosexuals. Wh an edorial board that embraced Rsian social mocratic ncepts, cludg women's rights, MN was also "the first paper the Shi'i Mlim world to endorse normative heterosexualy, " echog Marx's well-documented ntempt for homosexualy. MN nflated homosexualy and pedophilia, and attacked cleril teachers and lears for "moltg young boys, " played upon feelgs of "ntempt" for passive homosexuals, suggted that ele men who kept amrad ncub "had a vted terted matag the (male) homosocial public spac where semi-vert perasty was tolerated, " and "mocked the r of exchangg brotherhood vows before a mollah and pared to a weddg ceremony.

MN's attacks on homosexualy "would shape Iranian bat on sexualy for the next century, " and "beme a mol for several Iranian newspapers of the era, " which echoed s attacks on the nservative clergy and learship for homosexual practic. In the years that followed, "Iranian revolutnari monly berated major polil figur for their sexual transgrsns, " and "revolutnary leaflets acced adult men of havg homosexual sex wh other adult men, 'of thirty-year-olds proposng fifty-year-olds and twenty-year-olds proposng forty-year-olds, right ont of the Shah.

Subsequently, "leadg nstutnalists enthiastilly joed the mpaign agast homosexualy, " wr Afary, notg that "the fluential journal Kaveh (1916-1921), published exile Berl and eded by the famo nstutnalist Hasan Taqizah, had led the movement of opn agast homosexualy... When Reza Kahn overthrew the monarchy's Qajar dynasty and ma himself shah 1925, he hered a new wave of reforms and mornizatn that clud attempts to outlaw homosexualy entirely and a feroc - ultimately succsful - asslt on classil Persian poetry. An admirer of MN, Kasravi preached that "homosexualy was a measure of cultural backwardns, " that Sufi poets of homoeroticism led "parasic" liv, and that their queer poetry "was dangero and had to be elimated.