Iranian gay man, 20, murred and behead by his fay

Contents:

• WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
• Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
• GAY IRAN: NO PLACE TO CALL HOME
• 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
• IRANIAN GAY MAN, 20, MURRED AND BEHEAD BY HIS FAY
• IRANIAN, GAY & SEEKG ASYLUM
• 1 OUT OF 3 YOUNG IRANIAN MEN "GAY"?
• GAY IRANIAN MAN AD ALLEGED 'HONOR KILLG,' RIGHTS GROUP SAYS
• IRAN PURPORTEDLY EXECUT 2 GAY MEN OVER SODOMY CHARG
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN

On May 17, the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia and Transphobia, a group of LGBT activists Tehran, Iran, risked their liv to take a stand for gay rights, the Atlantic Onle reports.

They were armed wh nothg but a sgle rabow flag and two small signs -- one of which read "No to homophobia and transphobia” Persian, a untry where beg gay n be punishable by the ath penalty, the rare public display of support for Iranian gay rights holds a powerful signifince.

Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN

Last year, the Guardian reported that a group of gay activists had set up a Facebook mpaign lled 'We Are Everywhere, ' enuragg LGBT Iranians to post vios of themselv tailg the discrimatn they face. If you are gay, or know someone who is, or jt want to help learn more about the wonrful work that IRQR is dog, please vis or check out their FaceBook page. 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.

GAY IRAN: NO PLACE TO CALL HOME

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.

| (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.

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.

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.

GAY MULLAH FLE IRAN OVER SECRET SAME-SEX WEDDGS

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. | (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. (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.

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

"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. 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. 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.

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. Mehdi Hamzad is young gay man his early thirti who has recently fished higher tn; he liv Tehran, and has braved g out to his iends, though not to his fay. 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:.

IRANIAN, GAY & SEEKG ASYLUM

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. One major problem is the tradnal and relig upbrgg of the society, and the patriarchal state propaganda that alienat homosexuals and acceptance of homosexualy to take a lot of time and energy.

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. [I see homophobia] jok, nversatns, socializg, or judgments, which often refer to homosexuals gradg, sultg, il, pathetic, disgtg, or immoral ways.

1 OUT OF 3 YOUNG IRANIAN MEN "GAY"?

In my opn, there are two ways to rce this homophobia: for people to see more and more homosexuals around themselv as cizens, and to fd more awarens about sexual orientatn. How do you answer those iends and acquatanc who mistakenly tell you that homosexualy is not natural, and that even animals don’t do this way bee do not lead to procreatn? 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.

Overall you n feel that the different issu of homosexuals have no space the mds of most tellectuals and they see no reason to pay attentn to . 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. 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.

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

When you live for many years wh Iranian homosexuals, you will learn that there is no shortage of prsn, dissatisfactn, psychologil tensn, and even attempted suici among them. 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. In the middle of the fierce nontatn of polil activists wh the regime, many believe that this is not the appropriate time to be raisg the mands of homosexuals.

It is not necsary for all of to talk or take actn about the rights of Baha’is or homosexuals; but if someone has somethg to say or wish to take a step, we should all support him or her. The Embassy of Iran The Hague wrote 1987 that “homosexualy Iran, treated acrdg to the Islamic law, is a s the ey of God and a crime for society. The send mentary is by an Iranian-Amerin therapist, Payam Ghassemlou, who offers his sights on tryg to blend his personal feelgs wh diverse cultur: gay-straight, Middle East-Wtern, Mlim-Christian.

IRAN PURPORTEDLY EXECUT 2 GAY MEN OVER SODOMY CHARG

I learned that Saviz had once livered— the early 1970s– what was no doubt the first gay liberatn speech on Iranian soil, speakg to a group of classmat at the universy Shiraz.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

S., he’d immersed himself soclogil studi, quickly beg an activist not only for gay and lbian liberatn, but for the men’s movement and other progrsive as well. Saviz lost no time troducg me to the fledglg Iranian gay liberatn movement, and he published the New Year’s poem I’d wrten the pag of Homan, the Iranian gay and lbian liberatn magaze.

But like the trooper he is, he’s meetg ath wh that same clary and fearlsns he’d shown when he (a published gay liberatnist) had temporarily returned to Iran spe of the fundamentalists’ threats—to vis his dyg grandmother.

I did not know gay liberatn should clu the ternal journey of tamg the mon of ternalized homophobia and nscly experiencg my reprsed feelgs of hurt and rage for growg up a vlent homophobic world. Ancient homosexual wisdom and tradn gog back before Plato and practiced by many Sufis has been about disverg what gayns offers through self-realizatn.