Iran and her Gays

By now the current uprising swiftly unfolding in Iran is all over the media. For me, I have been glued to CNN because what we are witnessing are the birth pangs of a potential revolution to overthrow a theocratic system that has suppressed its people for 30 years. It is possible, as the pundits have put it, that this uprising could move in two ways: it can become a success like the fall of the Berlin Wall or it can be crushed horribly like Tiananmen Square. I am hoping fervently for the former outcome to triumph.

Ayatollah Khamenei's theocratic regime is repressive toward women and, since the fraudulent elections two weeks ago and subsequent uprising, the issue of gender inequality in Iran has gained the media's ardent attention. However, they have ignored another marginalized group, whose narrative has only lately surfaced. I am saddened that no one in the media has mentioned Iran's harassed gay community during this time of unrest. Like Iran's women, the LGBT community there too are subject to the despotism that Iranian women suffer, if not in more peril. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has gone even as far as to say that no homosexuals live in Iran. This is absurd, of course, because I have documentary evidence that homosexuals do live in Iran. And it is biologically sound that every society has its handful of gays and lesbians.

Homosexuality is outlawed in Iran because of the government's conservative interpretation of sharia, Islamic law, and it is punishable by death. For example, according to Amnesty International three men and two women were convicted of "homosexual tendencies" were executed in 1990. Also, in 2005 16 year old Mahmoud Asgari and 18 year old Ayaz Marhoni were hung in public to death in 2005 on charges that they had engaged in homosexual acts with each other.

I found these two videos below on youtube.com which give a heartfelt account of the secret lives of gay men in Iran. It is a two-part documentary series about gay and lesbian Iranians. Surprisingly many of the men interviewed are not in silhouette, nor are their faces pixelized, but most of the interviewees are in plain sight and for anonymity some do wear sunglasses. For these men and women to do that is extremely risky and can put their very lifes in jeopardy. They want to be out, and they have a human right to be open about their sexuality.

I hope that at this juncture of political and social uncertainty in Iran, that the gays and lesbians of that country share in the protests with the women, and students, and defiant clerics and are able to contribute to the uprising. I want to know their story in this historic moment. I want to know what will become of them if the theocracy is to fall. I want to know and hope that they can pursue rights like the ones that we gays are being afforded in the West. This uprising is not just about women's liberation, but the implications of a potentially successful uprising (or shift towards political reformism at least) in Iran can bring about the beginnings of Iran's gay liberation movement.

I don't know how to post videos yet, but here is the link for the part 1 of the series. You can find part 2 on that page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu_tiFZjNQY