I have absolutely no idea why Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would agree to speak at Columbia University — I mean, we’re talking about Columbia, one of the best universities in the entire world, and Ahmadinejad, arguably one of the dumbest leaders in the entire world. Given, President Bush is no great orator or intellectual thinker either, but at least he lets other people write his responses for him or eludes answering questions altogether. Ahmadinejad, on the other hand, vetoes all diplomacy and subtlety (apparently he’s never heard of “think before you speak”), saying whatever is on his mind no matter the effect on any iota of credibility he may have had left. Thus, when Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger asked Ahmadinejad about the state of gays in Iran, Ahmadinejad, always good for a laugh, replied, “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country … In Iran, we don’t have this phenomenon. I don’t know who told you this.” He makes it seem as if homosexuals were some kind of a weed, and Iran had sprayed a Persian version of Roundup — ‘pouf!’ no more gays. (Unless of course he is implying that there were never any homosexuals to begin with, in which case, considering he also denies the existence of the Holocaust, this belief would not be at all surprising.) I wish Bollinger had followed up this response by asking Ahmadinejad why, if there were no homosexuals in Iran, was there a need for laws prohibiting homosexuality in his country?
I bring this up not because Ahmadinejad’s statements are at all credible or worth any serious debate — rather the Iranian president’s comments reflect the overall taboo against homosexuality in the Middle East. I realize that very few places in the world embrace or celebrate homosexuality (besides San Francisco) but the situation for gays in the Middle East is undoubtedly worse than most other areas.
In countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, homosexuality is punishable by death. Additionally, in Bahrain, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar and Syria, homosexual acts can result in various periods of jail time. In fact, the only Middle Eastern nation to currently support gay rights legislation is Israel, though, as in the other Middle Eastern countries, hate crimes against homosexuality are, sadly, not uncommon.
Perhaps one of Ahmadinejad’s advisers should fill him in on MAHA, an Iranian e-mail-based Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender magazine. In one of MAHA’s 2006 mailings, the author describes the life of the supposedly nonexistent homosexual in Iran: “Let no one claim there is not homophobic oppression in Iran. Every LGBT Iranian is at potential risk of arrest, imprisonment, flogging and execution. Avoiding such a fate requires leading a double life and hiding one’s sexuality. Even though there are secret gay parties and magazines, we are all at risk. Great discretion is the only thing that keeps many of us from the jails of the authorities — and worse.”
Evidence of this daily struggle in Iran can be seen from the 2005 Mashhad Incident in which two boys, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, were publicly hung. Though the government claimed that the boys were guilty of rape, it is widely believed that they were hung because they were gay. Technically the hanging would be legal in Iran since homosexuality is illegal, but the incident made international headlines because both boys were juveniles at the time of their arrests and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, for which Iran is a signatory, prohibits the execution of juveniles. And yet Ahmadinejad, there are no gays in Iran.
All hope is not lost however. In Lebanon, a group called Helem, which in Arabic is an acronym for “Lebanese Protection for Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender People,” was founded in 2004. It is the first group of its kind in the Arab world, and seeks to have Lebanese Penal Code, which allows for a maximum sentence of one year in prison for “unnatural sexual intercourse,” revoked. Helem provides hope that one day, a gay couple may be able to stroll in Tehran holding hands.
In most of the Middle East, homosexuals do not fear that they may be caught and hung at any second — this is an extreme case. Rather, homosexuality is something which one must keep hidden for fear of society’s retribution. This lack of freedom to be one’s self is the biggest problem for gays in the Middle East. Take this posting from an Arab-dating site: “Dear all, I am GAY and searching for a wife. Maybe it seems somehow strange but I am living in Lebanon where gays are prohibited from the society ... I am searching for a wife that accepts to live all … her life with a gay ... We can have kids and I have my own life and she has her own life.”
My hope is that one day, postings such as this will no longer exist, and that gay individuals will not have to hide behind a façade just to please society. Yet the Middle East has numerous other concerns to deal with, such as Arab-Israeli relations and women’s rights that take precedence in most people’s minds. But the first step for the Middle East to begin accepting homosexuals is admitting that they do exist; Yes, Ahmadinejad, in Iran you do have homosexuals like in our country.
Nora Choueiri is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at nchoueiri@cornellsun.com. A Helping of Hummus appears alternate Mondays.