Petrelis Files

Reporters Without Borders: IGLHRC Says July 19 "Great Success"

Tala Dowlatshahi, an Iranian American writer with Reporters Without Borders, has written a fascinating article about gay and lesbian Iranians and the July 19 vigils and actions over the hanging last year of two gay teens in Mashad. When she contacted me, she made it clear one issue she wouldn't deal with in her article was the division between vigil organizers and leaders at Human Rights Watch and IGLHRC. I put her in touch with Doug Ireland and pointed her to his dozens of articles regarding Iran's gay community and the Islamic republic's repression against people with same-sex feelings and inclinations.

Dowlatshahi this morning sent me the link to her story, which I strongly urge you to read, if only to glean her unique perspective on the many conflicting and highly controversial aspects to gay Iranians.

The most surprising part of her reporting is the fact that the head of IGLHRC, who reluctantly agreed to hold a vigil at Iran's U.N. mission, only to back out days before it was to happen, and who certainly didn't expend time or her group's resources publicizing or engaging activists anywhere to organize vigils for July 19, is exclaiming now the events "were a great success." Not only that, but IGLHRC also says the actions last month illustrate how the global community is working on sexual liberation in Iran. Huh?

If this is how IGLHRC honestly feels about the July 19 vigils, why did the executive director exhibit much disrespect for the organizers, goals and demands of the vigils, and will IGLHRC do anything constructive for next year's third-annual international day of commemoration?

From Dowlatshahi's terrific article:

Earlier this month the international community came together to commemorate IDAAHOPI (International Day of Action Against Homophobic Persecution in Iran). Demonstrations took place from Brussels to Chicago, Tehran to Dublin, Moscow to New York, and Florida to the United Kingdom to condemn the 19 July 2005 executions of Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni in the Iranian city of Mashhad. The two young men, both in their late teens, were hanged after the father of a thirteen year old boy who had sex with them charged the boys with rape by knifepoint [...]

Although recent events have placed Amhadinejad and Bush on opposite sides of the fence, the one sure thing they agree on is their campaign to clampdown on the gay and lesbian community. In January this year, Human Rights Watch issued a report condemning the United Nations ban initiated by the Iranian government and strongly supported by the U.S. to stop gay and lesbian groups from gaining consultative status at the United Nations [...]

Lavaat (sodomy) is considered a crime punishable by death as written in the Iranian penal cde. Lesbianism is punishable by 100 lashes. If the act of lesbianism is continued, the death penalty can apply on the fourth occasion under articles 127, 129 and 130. In some cases, women having relations with other women are forced into mental hospitals, beaten by family members or become victims of honor killings.

Under the auspice of Islamic jurisprudence, the Iranian Office of Promotion and Prohibition of Vice is saddled with the responsibility of repressing moral deviance within the Islamic Republic and has been the main persecutor in these sex crime allegations. The warden of good vs. evil, the Office was created as a draconian arm of the Islamic Republic to monitor the public and private activities of Iranians and to ensure moral respectability under Sharia law. The Office has responded swiftly and since 2003, toughened up its death penalty laws, increased public hangings this past year, and opted to uproot all gay underground activities with the intention to sexually sterilize Iranian society [...]

For lesbian women who face grave judgments by community members if they are unmarried and have no prospects for marriage, the Internet becomes a haven and escape for them to dialogue with other women who share similar sexual interests. But often these Internet sites are swiftly shut down or monitored. I tired logging on to the Khanaye Doost (House of Friends), a popular website dedicated to Iranian lesbian women. I only received the prompt: Sorry, Khanaye Doost no longer exists [...]
My friend Hashem, a fashion designer who lives in New York with an American boyfriend, often shares tales with me about his travels to Iran and daily Iranian gay life. He tells me of secret chai (tea) houses in Tehran that are known as hangouts for gay men.

"There's an underground that's really active. Men arrange dates online through secret coded language that the government won't be able to understand. We then meet up at chai houses at all hours of the day where only men are allowed. Sexual glances are often exchanged through teacups." [...]

Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in New York told me that the demonstrations commemorating the 19 July anniversary were a great success and showed how the international community is coming together to advocate for the right to sexual freedom in Iran [...]

Ms. Ettelbrick hopes future activities will focus on how to encourage dialogue about these issues within Iran and to promote better understandings of Iranians among the international community, gay or straight [...]

I agree here with Ettelbrick's call for more dialogue and suggest she start the process of more communication and engagement on these concerns, with members of the global gay community who coordinated the July 19 actions.