Petrelis Files

Gay Iranian Leader's Plea: Toronto Vigil Help Needed

This plea for help comes from our friend, the very brave gay Iranian leader Arsham Parsi, who recently moved to Toronto. He needs help organizing a vigil on July 19 in his new city. If you live in Toronto and can assist Arsham to get the ball rolling up there, please contact him directly. His email is at the end of his appeal. Let's all pitch in and do what we can for Arsham and gay Iranians on the day of global actions.

My name is Arsham Parsi -- I am a gay Iranian refugee, recently granted political asylum in Canada, and I am the human rights secretary of the Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization (PGLO), the largest gay Iranian group with some 29,000 people on our mailing list both inside and outside Iran.

I am writing to request your help on behalf of gay Iranians. July 19 is the first anniversary of the execution by public hanging of two gay Iranian teenagers, killed by the Islamic Republic of Iran because they were homosexual. Demonstrations and vigils are being organized all over the world on July 19 at the call of, and sponsored by, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), the Paris-based International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), the British gay rights group OutRage, and the PGLO.

These demonstrations are intended to help call attention to the homophobic reign of terror which the fanatical religious regime in Iran is inflicting on its lesbian and gay citizens, and as testimony of the solidarity of Western gays with their persecuted Iranian sisters and brothers.

You can read about these planned July 19 demonstrations by clicking here.

I need your organization's help, or any individual's help in organizing demonstrations and vigils here in Canada. Because I am only a new resident of your beautiful and free country (I've only been here two months), I do not have the knowledge or the contacts necessary for me and the handful of my gay Iranian friends already refugees here in Canada to organize such a vigil or demonstration by
ourselves alone.

We gay Iranians urgently need your help. Can you contact me by e-mailing me at hrc@pglo.net -- or, since time is of the essence given the rapid approach of July 19, it is even better if you can telephone me here in Toronto at 416-985-PGLO.

I thank you in advance for your cooperation in standing up for persecuted gay Iranians, and I look forward to speaking with you and working with you.

Sincerely Yours,
Arsham PARSI
Spokesperson
Email: arsham@pglo.net
Persian Gay & Lesbian Organization