Jacksonville Jaguars ach Kev Maxen has e out as gay, makg him the first out male ach a pro men's league. NBC Sports' Corey Robson explas why this is a big step for football.
Contents:
- WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
- Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
- INSI THE SECRET GAY NEIGHBORHOOD IN TEHRAN, IRAN WHERE PEOPLE ARE RISKG THEIR LIV FOR THEIR EXPRSN
- IRAN CHARG FAMO KURDISH SGER WH BEG GAY, FAC EXECUTN
- KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
- JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY
WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
It is possible to be gay and live unr a reprsive regime that is always threateng to out you, or worse. But 's a lot like walkg a tightrope: sry and ght wh risks. * gay men in iran *
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.
Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
Iran is among the few untri the world where gays still risk executn for their sexual orientatn. But Iran's gay muni ... * gay men in iran *
| (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.
INSI THE SECRET GAY NEIGHBORHOOD IN TEHRAN, IRAN WHERE PEOPLE ARE RISKG THEIR LIV FOR THEIR EXPRSN
Gay men Iran create their own avenu of ways to meet and have fun wh each other. * gay men in iran *
Most Iranian gay adults are heterosexual marriag, and prostutn is the preferred way to have same-sex affairs.
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. | (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.
IRAN CHARG FAMO KURDISH SGER WH BEG GAY, FAC EXECUTN
Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. * gay men in 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. 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.
KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
It is unclear if Ahmadejad believed this himself, but his ments mirrored the regime's preference of simply ignorg homosexuals. 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. But Iran's gay muny has succeed rvg out greater space for self recent years and gag some important social regnn. 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.
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY
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:. 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).