Iranian LGBT and feminist activists commemorated May 17, as a way of promoting freedom of expression for LGBT people, and for all, in Iran. One of the goals of the campaigns was to end hate speech against, and scapegoating of, LGBT communities and women in the media, and to promote free expression for all.

May 17 in Tehran: No homophobia in Persian media!

Lesbian & Gay – Knowledge, Education, Rights, News (LG KERN) coordinated a joint media/journalism campaign among Farsi speaking activists. Around IDAHOT 2014, they aimed to raise awareness about homophobia online, especially via all global Persian websites or media. Activists monitored information on media messages which contains hateful and homophobic messages, and promoted their own campaign images, texts and videos in their place.

Source: LG Kern

A special focus on media in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan

The goal of this action was also to recognize, report and fight against hateful messages and news worldwide, with a special focus on media in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

Source: LG Kern

Feminists organise in Tehran

Also for May 17, 2014, a group of feminists produced and launched an online publication releases in Tehran about heterosexism and sexism.

Flashmob Video

LG KERN also disseminated a flashmob video filmed in Tehran. The video features someone walking through the streets of the Iranian capital, using the rainbow flag as a cape. The video is accompanied by Googoosh’s song “Behesht”, a song she recently dedicated (in 2014) to the fight for equality, regardless of the gender of who we love. Googoosh is a famous Iranian pop star, and the video tells the story of lesbian couple.

To watch the flashmob video, click here

Further Information

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lgkern2
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LGKERN2

An Iranian activist who shared the photos with us advised, “In Iran homosexuality is a crime and the base culture of our people has phobia to all of LGBTs and its hard for us to live a normal life, we have to fight for our rights . taking this photos are too dangerous for us and it could take our life . photos are taken in Tehran – Iran. it happened this morning 17 may.”

Meanwhile, the organisation Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees Inc. (IRQR), caring for the Iranian community in Canada, organized an event in Toronto which brought together two Iranian celebrities over the motto ’Iranian Voices against Homophobia’ : Susan Taslimi who is a famous Iranian actress who lives in Sweden now and Kambiz Hosseini who is a famous TV host in Voice of America, Persian desk.

This was the first time ever that Iranian celebrities publicly talked about homosexuality and called homophobia as a social sickness. Kambiz Hosseini even went as far as publicly apologizing for the harm caused by his past homophobic attitudes.

The event was sponsored by Iranian Association at the University of Toronto, Riksteatern (Swedish National Theatre), Swedish International Development Agency and Shahrvand Newspaper.

For more information, access

Pictures of the event

Videos of the event