Type to search

Tea

‘My Country Kills Men Like Me, It’s So Fucking Unfair’ Says Iranian 19 Year-Old

Share

An anonymous  gay Reddit user posted an anguished letter to the site saying that his country kills men like him. Based on the user’s handle Arshia, a Persian name,  we’re guessing he’s from Iran.

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash.

“For context, I’m a 19-year-old gay kid, I live in a country where gay men are killed, whether it’s by their family, or by the government.

It’s taking me everything to say [something] like this online but two of my friends got executed 2 months ago, their neighbor saw them having sex and ratted them out to the police. The first week was hell, their parents didn’t even hold a funeral cuz they were embarrassed by their sons.

They were 17 and 18, and full of life, dreams, light, and love. One of them had just gotten admitted to his dream med school, and the other one was a pretty damn good programmer. And now, they’re both dead, the real pain has just started to hit me after 2 months, that my friends are actually buried, and are no longer breathing. And for what?

I never said goodbye, the police just took them. I never told them how much they helped me, how much I cared for them, how much I strived to find sth like their relationship one day. I still text both of them daily, hoping to hear something back…

I thought I’ve moved on, but I don’t think I ever ever will, I knew them for 4 years and a part of me died with them. If I could just hold them one more.

My heart aches for them, and I’ve spent so many nights crying myself to sleep. But at the same time I’m afraid for my own life, if it happened to them it can easily happen to me too, or to my boyfriend.

I don’t know what I should do, this is so fucking unfair.”

According to Amnesty International:  LGBTI people in Iran face pervasive discrimination, live in the constant fear of harassment, arrest and criminal prosecution, and remain vulnerable to violence and persecution based on their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.

Under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code consensual same-sex sexual conduct is criminalized and punished by penalties ranging from flogging to the death penalty.

In May a 20 year-old Iranian man was beheaded by his half brother and cousins.
Tags:

You Might also Like