The momentum by US gay groups and individuals to organize actions to remember Iran's hanging of two gay teenagers last summer and support Iranian gays and lesbians continues to grow.
I received a call from friends at IGLHRC informing me they're organizing a protest at Iran's mission to the UN on July 19. Yes, we now have our seventh city on the growing list of places where actions are scheduled.
Below is the editorial that will appear in Gay City News tomorrow, announcing IGLHRC's coming on board and urging all New Yorkers to show up at Iran's mission in three weeks.
I am also linking to Doug Ireland's latest column on Iran that will be in the same issue of GCN, which he is sharing on his blog. It's terrific recap of the tragic hangings and efforts to help our Iranian brothers and sisters.
From GCN:
JOIN THE JULY 19 DEMONSTRATION AT THE IRANIAN U.N. MISSION
Over the past year, Gay City News has devoted considerable space to reporting and documenting the horrific reign of terror that the Islamic Republic of Iran is inflicting on its gay and lesbian citizens. This campaign includes Internet entrapment, blackmail to force arrested gays to inform on others, torture and executions of those found guilty of engaging in "homosexual acts" and of gays who have been forced to confess to "crimes" they never committed.
As Doug Ireland reports on this page, July 19 marks the first anniversary of the inhuman public hanging of two gay teenagers—an act that symbolizes the anti-gay brutality of the Tehran regime.
Gay City News urges New Yorkers to join those around the world who will be protesting on July 19 in solidarity with gay Iranians, and endorses those demonstrations and vigils worldwide.
We urge all New Yorkers, gay and straight, to join the demonstration organized here by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in front of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations at 622 Third Avenue, at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 19. Gay City News believes that it would be shameful and tragic if—in the city where the modern gay movement began with the Stonewall Riots 37 years ago—the LGBT community remained silent and immobile in the face of the lethal wave of anti-gay repression unfolding in Iran.—The Editors
Follow this link to the list of seven cities now participating in the July 19 actions. I will update this page when more cities get organized.
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