And You Think You Have It Bad

Whether you're reading this in St. Claire Shores USA, Budapest Hungary, or Jinan China, and you are gay and think your government sucks in its treatment of gays, be thankful that you are not in any city or town or village in Iran. Some international gay rights groups believe that more than 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power there in 1979, and where Homosexuality is a capital crime under Sharia, or Islamic, law. That's about 150 gays a month executed by the government.

You might remember the stir that was caused when two gay Iranian teenagers, one 18, the other believed to be 16 or 17, were executed two years ago for the "crime" of homosexuality. The two youths were hanged in the city of Mashhad in north-eastern Iran (photo above).

Well, Iran is making the news again for the same reason, as the Toronto-based Iranian Queer Organization, IRQO, said it has learned that just four days ago, police arrested as many as 87 gays at a private house party. The arrests were made in Isfahan, and IRQO said that police converged on the house where a man was celebrating his birthday. The report said that police brutally assaulted the man and others, including his parents.

One attendee who got away said that, "guests had come from Shiraz, Tehran, Shahin Shahr to Isfahan for the birthday. When they were coming out of the house followed by the police, their clothes were ripped, their faces and bodies were covered in blood. They were beaten up badly.”

Now, these 87 are being tortured in jail, and many will end up executed for being gay. So, whether you're in China, the US, or Hungary, you might think it's bad, but it's not as bad as those in Tehran, or Mashhad, or Isfahan, or anywhere in Iran. Click here for more information on the Iranian Queer Organization