Even as Iran walks gingerly towards signing a definitive nuke deal with the West, a Vice episode has brought out the two-faced nature of the country's official policy towards sexual minorities.
The episode, telecast on HBO last week, tracks the Iranian government's treatment of homosexuality since the Shah's overthrow in 1979, when a deeper conservative agenda was pushed upon Iranian society. With the anointment of Ayatollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader, women were required to wear the hijab in public and were denied freedoms that had been representative of broader Iranian liberal attitudes. But perhaps the most brutal effects of the new regime's instatement were reserved for homosexuals who were, if found out, sentenced to several lashings as a first step beyond which, if the persecuted entity did not change his ways, lay death.
The episode shows how the state policy towards homosexuals was practiced. A grainy video has two men plied with all manner of charges, including smuggling, when the only "crime" they have committed is sodomy. Within hours of the shooting of their testimonies, the Vice episode chillingly informs us, the two were executed. (The shooting of the video suggests that it was done with the aim of inciting fear among homosexuals, just like the recent Islamic State footage showing gay men thrown off cliffs.)
However, the Vice episode reveals a twist in this tale. After meeting with Maryam Molkara, a trans activist, Ayatollah Khomeini agreed to bestow equal rights on the transgender community, so much so that transition, either way, is paid for by the state. The reasoning: while homosexuality is expressly proscribed in the Quran, there is no word in the holy book on the transgender. So while men can choose, and are even encouraged, to become women or vice versa, so that they can then be absorbed into straight society, they must not, under any circumstances, be permitted to love the same sex.
Naturally, this has led to fresh social neuroses. While upper-middle-class men have the option of living (with circumspection) as homosexuals or migrating abroad, lower-middle-class gay men have little option but to transition if they are to escape persecution. So, on the one hand, there is Arsham Parsi, founder of the Iranian Railroads for Queer Refugees, who helps gay Iranians emigrate and make a life in Canada. On the other, there is Farimah, whom the episode tracks as she prepares for her transitioning. Just as she is about to be taken into the operation theatre, she is shown crying. When the doctor asks her if she is having second thoughts about the procedure, she deflects the question with: "I miss my mother."
Shahryar Cohanzad, a well-known surgeon who has performed a number of trans surgeries in Iran, has this to say about the state policy: "Finding the most suitable case to put on the table is the most complicated part of the screening process. In this country, there is a lack of sufficient knowledge to differentiate between actual homosexuality and transsexuality, which is a major concern in the screening process. The vast majority of cases being classified and categorised as transsexuals are not true transsexuals."
What Dr Cohanzad articulates is a concern that resonates with the gay rights discourse in a number of developing countries. Desire is always thought to emanate from a male-female axis. Under this rubric, a man who chooses to sleep with another man must be willing to live the life of a woman and seek sexual pleasure in being a woman. To be sure, Iran must be lauded at one level for allowing the transgender the dignity that they seek. But equally, under this scheme, homosexuality, which by definition is love for same sex, becomes a shadow of heterosexuality, one that society tries to fit within its set parameters. While the transgender (most of whom identify as heterosexual since they see themselves as belonging to the opposite gender) are co-opted in this discourse, homosexuals are hung out to dry.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) rights activists should caution against such divisions. To accept the transgender while deriding the homosexual is a slippery slope. The Supreme Court in India, too, has seemingly bought into this notion since it has delivered a wonderful judgement recognising the third sex, even as it has justified keeping homosexuality illegal. As in Iran, heterosexuality is being celebrated, albeit in disguise, while any other form of desire is illegitimised. As the battle for greater LGBT equality picks up steam, we need to be cautious that dominant social structures don't end up privileging one subset among us over another.
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