1 out of 3 young Iranian men "gay"? | Disver Magaze

Contents:

• Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IRAN
• THE GAY PEOPLE PHED TO CHANGE THEIR GENR
• WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN
• INSI THE SECRET GAY NEIGHBORHOOD IN TEHRAN, IRAN WHERE PEOPLE ARE RISKG THEIR LIV FOR THEIR EXPRSN
• 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.
• IRAN IS FORCG THOANDS OF GAY PEOPLE TO HAVE GENR REASSIGNMENT SURGERY AGAST THEIR WILL OR FACE EXECUTN
• IRAN CHARG FAMO KURDISH SGER WH BEG GAY, FAC EXECUTN
• 1 OUT OF 3 YOUNG IRANIAN MEN "GAY"?
• GAY IRAN: NO PLACE TO CALL HOME
• HOW ARE IRANIAN GAY MEN COPG WH SYSTEMATIC SUPPRSN UNR ISLAMIC LAW? A QUALATIVE STUDY

Y, THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE 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 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.

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.

THE GAY PEOPLE PHED TO CHANGE THEIR GENR

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. While they wa - sometim for years - they may be settled socially nservative provcial ci, where prejudice and discrimatn are Parsi, who crossed om Iran to Turkey by tra 2005, says that while livg the cy of Kayseri, central Turkey, he was beaten up, and then refed hospal treatment for a disloted shoulr, simply bee he was gay.

WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY IRAN

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. 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.

INSI THE SECRET GAY NEIGHBORHOOD IN TEHRAN, IRAN WHERE PEOPLE ARE RISKG THEIR LIV FOR THEIR EXPRSN

Iran has alleged that a proment sger is gay and unr the Islamic Republic’s anti-homosexual laws he uld face the ath journalist Ali Hamedani tweeted on Sunday that “A famo Iranian sger om the Kurdish provce of Kermanshah has been ‘acced’ of beg a homosexual and uld face executn.

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.

Acrdg to a 2008 Brish WikiLeaks dispatch, Iran’s mullah regime has executed “between 4, 000 and 6, 000 gays and lbians” sce the Islamic Revolutn 2016, The Jesalem Post reported that 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 homosexualy. But today PLoS Medice me out wh a paper wh a rult which suggts that the anecdot of relatively wispread homosexual behavr the Middle East are not totally unfound or unreprentative (the journalist Hugh Pope has dited that Middle Eastern men have sometim assumed he would naturally be open to sexual proposns bee he was a Wterner. It ced her as sayg that she was forcibly disappeared for 53 days, durg which an IRGC agent allegedly subjected her to "tense terrogatns acpanied by verbal abe" and "threatened to execute or otherwise harm her and take away the ctody of her two young children" January, Seddiqi Hamedani was brought before a prosecutor Urmia, the largt cy Wt Azerbaijan, and told that she was acced of "spreadg rptn on Earth", cludg through promotg homosexualy, munitg wh hostile media and promotg Christiany, acrdg to group said the first two accatns stemmed om her public fence of LGBT rights on social media and her appearance a May 2021 BBC documentary about ab that LGBT people were sufferg Iraq's semi-tonomo Kurdistan Regn, where she had been Iranian law, same-sex sexual nduct is a crimal offence, wh punishments rangg om floggg to the ath penalty.

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

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.

IRAN CHARG FAMO KURDISH SGER WH BEG GAY, FAC EXECUTN

” 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. 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. 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.

Thirdly, sex helps them to nnect to other gay men and engage social workg as a pg strategy for social isolatn and narratns of the participants’ sex experienc were very varied; for stance, two participants mentned that bee they had their own home, they uld have sex 3–4 tim a week.

1 OUT OF 3 YOUNG IRANIAN MEN "GAY"?

Psychologilly, the act of engagg risky sexual practic may provi some members of the gay muny wh a fulfillg sense of prottg and rebellg agast the domant social valu which they feel opprs their eedom and pennce (Crossley 2004) addn, two participants mentned that they even stood the street, pecially the eveng and at nights, to get picked up by rs.

GAY IRAN: NO PLACE TO CALL HOME

In spe of the legal and health-related risks associated wh alhol and dg e Iran, gay men are still misg the substanc as part of their pg mechanism for alg wh the strs and anxiety ed by their social isolatn, discrimatn and systematic has been observed that many members of the gay populatn e alhol and dgs to overe the pa of rejectn, isolatn, and discrimatn (e. Eleven participants mentned that they found challengg believg Islam and beg gay simultaneoly; five participants also mentned that they had left their relign and they now nsired themselv as Iran is an Islamic untry and relig tn is mandatory for everyone at school om a very early age, hypothetilly might have some level of impact on an dividual’s sexual behavurs general. (2007) reported how they adopted var methods of gnive behavur therapy (CBT) such as vert aversn (aversn therapy, g electro shock and vom-ducg dgs) to succsfully “treat” three homosexual and two transsexual “patients”, who exhibed heterosexual behavur after receivg the therapy.

The ma reasons for g social media acrdg to the participants were nnectg to other gay dividuals, feelg that they were a safe place, makg nversatn about homosexualy Iran and LGBTQ rights, sex and fdg a sex partner, lookg for a more ser relatnship, chattg wh others which helped them regardg their isolatn and lonels, and also accsg rmatn (see also Karimi 2016). There is no doubt that gay dividuals Iran experience ‘mory strs’, fed as a state rultg om “…culturally sanctned, tegorilly ascribed ferr stat, social prejudice and discrimatn, the impact of the environmental forc on psychologil well-beg, and nsequent readjtment or adaptatn” (Brooks 1981, p. In addn, participant 4, who was 41 years old, a relatnship, and self-employed, mentned that he was om a workg-class fay livg the south of Tehran and that the suatn for gay men there was more difficult than for people the north of Tehran, as people the south were more tradnal and nservative than people om the north.

The creased probabily of openly admtg to beg gay, the length of time between mencg same-sex relatnships and g out to others, and the high probabily of havg sexual relatns wh women spe a lack of sire to do so are all ditive that the standards of masculy related to social class have a ntrollg effect on the social liv of workg-class gay men (Barrett and Pollack 2005). Dpe the suggtns, is the opn of the rearcher that a purely thematic approach nstut the most appropriate method of analysis the prent study on the reasong that the gay muny Iran is a small and vulnerable group and, therefore, the person-centred approach uld promise the participants’ anonymy. Moreover, as the qualative rearch is highly subjective and the rearcher’s personaly and experience might affect the validy and reliabily of the rearch (Crwell 2014), is important to mentn that the rearcher is fully aware of his own possible bias and prenceptns due to his few years of practice as a psychologil therapist wh LGBT dividuals and LGBT anisatns as well as his prev rearch experience this field, pecially among gay men and male-to-female transgenr dividuals.

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

Origally veloped as survival techniqu, the pg strategi have bee, over time, part of what we know today as “gay culture” and seems that one of s more effective benefs has been providg the ordatn and anisatn that enable s members to mata a sense of orr their liv as they navigate om one social suatn to the next, mimisg anxiety as a rult. 1 This note provis an asssment of the general suatn of persons who are known to be, or are likely known to be, gay men, lbian, bisexual, trans or tersex – that is those who are open, or are likely to be pelled to be open, about their sexual orientatn and/or genr inty or exprsn (SOGIE) – as well as those perceived as such bee of their appearance, attus and/or behavur. Milary exemptn rds, an accepted form of intifitn issued to gay and trans dividuals, directly disclose the persons sexual orientatn or genr inty and may put them at further risk of vlence and discrimatn for ‘outg’ them and / or bee beg gay or trans is classed as a mental illns (see Milary exemptn, Genr reassignment surgery, Threats, harassment and vlence and Treatment by fay members).

‘While this provisn is discrimatory and gradg towards gay, transgenr and other genr non-nformg persons, and treats homosexualy as a form of mental illns or psychopathology spe of clear statements to the ntrary om var psychiatry bodi across the world and the World Health Organizatn, is monly ed by gay, transgenr and genr non-nformg persons Iran to seek an exemptn om pulsory ary service to protect themselv om homophobic and transphobic ab prevalent ary settgs. ‘Acrdg to rmatn received om Iranian gay men and reports by human rights groups, seekg exemptn om ary service on the basis of their sexual orientatn or genr inty, gay, transgenr and genr non-nformg dividuals are generally forced to unrgo huiatg and gradg physil and psychologil tts, cludg anal examatns, which amount to torture, as well as terrogatns by officials durg which they are forced to answer timate qutns about their genr and sexualy such as their preferenc for sexual posns.

As one example, the former Print of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadezhad, rponse to qutns about “homosexuals” or “gays” the USA most notorly stated “we do not have the hamjensbāz (translated to dience as “homosexuals”) like you have your untry” and that “absolutely such a thg do not exist as a phenomenon” Iran. The aim is to firstly raise awarens that this is the flag of “Sodomians” and puttg gay men and women potential dangers of gettg reported if they are anyway g this sign for social purpos (In Iran a large number of gay people e the flag sign orr to fd each other and socialize). 5 Acrdg to Amnty Internatnal, wrg 2021 followg the murr of Alireza Fazeli Monfared, a gay man, ‘LGBTI people Iran face pervasive discrimatn, live the nstant fear of harassment, arrt and crimal prosecutn, and rema vulnerable to vlence and persecutn based on their real or perceived sexual orientatn and genr inty.