Death
To Gays In
Iran
While
we debate gay marriage here in the U.S., homosexuals in Iran
just want to live another day. Even with all the changes in
Iran, the punishment for acts of homosexuality is harsh and
still quite active. For two men caught engaged in sodomy, the
punishment is death. For women convicted of being lesbian, it
is 100 lashes.
The
Iranian government articulates it this way: “Homosexuality in
Iran, treated according to the Islamic law, is a sin in the
eyes of God and a crime for society.” In Islam, homosexuality
is among the worst possible sins. For that reason, even the
electric chair seems tame when compared to the methods used
to put homosexuals to death in Iran.
A
convicted homosexual could be stoned to death, drawn and quartered,
beheaded, thrown off a cliff, burned alive or cut in two pieces
with the remains burned. Against this chilling tradition and
emotional threat, there are some groups focused on support for
gay Iranians.
One
such group is Homan, based in Los Angeles. Many gay exiled Iranians
are homosexuals. One gay Iranian mentioned a man who lived in
Japan and had been seeking asylum. He worried that if he returned
to Iran, he would be killed, if not by his government then by
a member of his own family. Japan denied his application for
asylum and he was deported.
A woman who moved from Iran to Belgium with her family, then
to the United States is afraid to return to Iran or to be in
contact with the Iranian Embassy.
In Iran there are underground groups in Tehran where gays can
be open, and even hang outs. Hundreds of people meet privately
at houses to have social gatherings and to feel accepted by
their own, something that doesn’t happen often in Iran. They
do so at great peril.
Even
in the United States, things aren’t much easier for gay Iranians.
Many gay Iranians fear coming out completely because of the
ridicule they may get from family and friends. In Los Angeles,
Homan, members do not want their photos taken, and the person
holding the Iranian flag in the Gay Pride Parade wasn’t even
Iranian.
"Fundamentalism,
whether it's Islamic, Christian, Jewish or any other belief
system, tries to create a morally perfect society. It's basic
flaw is that it fails to acknowledge the right of other ideologies
to exist. And it fails to see that nature, in its perfection,
creates 2 or 3 homosexuals for every 100 people born. And those
reasons are why fundamentalisms of all kinds are fundamentally
ignorant, illiberal and inhumane."
-Jeff Laurie
