From Gay City News
By: KOUROSH SHEMIRANI
10/04/2007
Following the recent trip of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the US and his remarks at Columbia University where he denied the existence of homosexuals in Iran, the issue of Iranian gays is now in international public view.
Whether this newly gained global visibility marks a step in favor of improving the situation of gays in Iran or leads to a deepening of their plight has as much to do with internal Iranian society as with the actions of the international community. There are dangers and possibilities in this incredible turn of events that Western gay activists have to consider carefully.
No matter what anyone thinks of Iran, its regime, or its president, the fact is that Ahmadinejad's trip was a conscious change in policy by the Iranian government aimed at reaching out to the US and the American people. The Bush administration and the mainstream media have downplayed this fact and have even increased the same rhetoric that they developed before the invasion of Iraq - WMDs, state-sponsored terrorism, etc.
None of us can know what the outcome of these diplomatic maneuvers will be. But now that the issue of gays in Iran has become front and center, there is little doubt that it will work into the propaganda wars of both the Bush and the Ahmadinejad administrations.
In Iran, the president's comments denying the presence of homosexuals have been generally ignored or censored in the mainstream media; however the issue is debated and discussed publicly and on the Internet. It remains to be seen if activists and progressives in Iran will make any inroads in gaining greater public visibility and support as a result of this discussion.
This issue could easily become a major ideological and political test for a regime that rests on the basic notion that Iran is a proud independent nation resisting Western and especially US imperialism. The idea that homosexuality is a Western phenomenon is, of course, the main government line on the issue, and if the movement for gay rights is seen as a Western agenda, or a part of Western imposition on Iran, it will make it that much harder for the many brave gay activists inside Iran to continue their struggle for visibility and acceptance.
In the US, on the other hand, Ahmadinejad's comments regarding gays have been blown up and discussed ad nauseum to the point of becoming one of the primary ways that he is being increasingly discredited and vilified. And here is the danger that we in the West can easily fall into - if this issue is used to further antagonize Iran, it could mean a disaster for the situation of gays in Iran.
The sudden emergence of sympathy, even love, for gays by the likes of Fox News is not just cynical, it is dangerous. If left in the hands of those who couldn't care less about gay rights, the situation of Iranian gays will become a part of American war propaganda that aims to create justifications for military intervention and deepen the idea inside Iran that gays are a dangerous fifth column.
For the many well-meaning gay activists in the US who have been facing great challenges and setbacks here under the Bush administration, the idea that the LGBT community can have influence on public policy - especially foreign policy - seems farfetched. But what we say and how we relate to this moment can have repercussions beyond our own struggling community. I hope this essay will serve as a beginning of a constructive dialogue that helps us think and take proper action regarding the situation of gays and all sexual minorities in Iran.
Kourosh Shemirani lives in New York City and is a member of QIAM, the Queer Iranian Alliance. Contact him at: qiam2006@yahoo.com.
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