Fun Fast Facts:
- Homosexuality is a crime punishable by imprisonment, corporal punishment and execution.
- The Iranian government contends that those executed have usually committed rape, murder or drug trafficking.
- Consensual sodomy is punished by 74 lashes for men, 100 lashes for women.
- Iran state-sponsors gender change.
Broadcast: 25 Aug 2015
Speaking up for an invisible LGBT community
LGBTIQ-friendly organisation: International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is a leading international organisation dedicated to human rights advocacy on behalf of people who experience discrimination or abuse on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
W3JOY interviewed: Hossein Alizadeh, Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
Listen to the podcast to discover:
- what life is like for a gay or lesbian person in Iran at the moment
- how you get information to LGBT people in hiding in Iran
- religion’s dominant role in Iran life and how voices outside of the strict religious interpretations are treated
- society’s limited understanding of bisexuality
- the cultural backlash against transsexuality despite State acceptance
- how LGBTIQ people are being educated on their basic legal rights
- how challenging the Iranian media to report LGBTIQ issues fairly is having positive outcomes
Listen to the podcast
74 lashes for homosexual acts
LGBTIQ-friendly organisation: Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees
- International, not-for-profit, queer human rights organisation based in Toronto, Canada.
- Advocates on behalf of Iranian queer asylum seeker/refugees.
- Provides support and counselling to Iranian queers worldwide.
- Supports offered include financial aid for shelter, food and healthcare.
- As of September 2012, has helped process more than 600 refugee applications.
W3JOY interviewed: Zara, from Iran
“If you don’t announce that you are gay, you can have a life just like other people have.
It’s not something you walk down the street and see people being executed because they are gay or lesbian, it’s not very common.”
“I have at least two gay friends. You see, you know they are gay, but it’s not something they talk about all the time.”
“Iran is the second country in the world to have gender transformation, after Thailand…I personally believe that the government does not want to execute people for how they feel, how they sexually are. So they are funding people who really are gay to go through the transformation.”
“I cannot say every single Iranian family is an open-minded one. So they cannot easily accept their child to go and have gender transformation. In the situations that they are left by their family, in most cases they do not have jobs, money, support…They have to become prostitutes.”