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rfmcdonaldVia the Gay City News, the article "Next Time, You'll Be Executed" about gay life in Iran.
I've written elsewhere about how an invasion of Iran at this moment would be a catastrophic mistake, something certain to bolster the forces of reaction in the Middle East and doom Iran's chances for a peaceful transition to modernity. I've also written about the homophobic malice behind the Mashhad hangings (1, 2). The second does not justify the first, in my opinion, but the second has to be confronted. Iran might be a constitutional state, but it's a rather nasty constitutional state.
When asked what message he wants to send to the world about what's happening in Iran, and what he thinks about his own future, Amir paused, then said: “The situation of gays in Iran is dreadful. We have no rights at all. They would beat me up and tell me to confess to things I hadn't done, and I would do it. The gays and lesbians in Iran are under unbelievable pressure-they need help, they need outside intervention. Things are really bad. Really bad. We are constantly harassed in public, walking down the street, going to the store, going home… anywhere and anywhere, everyone, everyone! One of my dear friends, Nima, commited suicide a month ago in Shiraz. He just couldn't take it anymore.
“I don't know what's going to happen to me. I've run out of money. I don't know what to do. I just hope they don't send me back to Iran. They'll kill me there.”
I've written elsewhere about how an invasion of Iran at this moment would be a catastrophic mistake, something certain to bolster the forces of reaction in the Middle East and doom Iran's chances for a peaceful transition to modernity. I've also written about the homophobic malice behind the Mashhad hangings (1, 2). The second does not justify the first, in my opinion, but the second has to be confronted. Iran might be a constitutional state, but it's a rather nasty constitutional state.
