QUEER STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION - IRAN

According to Amnesty International, over the last ten years, the Islamic Republic has conducted the highest number of executions per capita globally. Queer Liberation Collective denounces the death penalty under any circumstances.

ACTIVE POLITICAL RESISTANCE:

Queer Iranians have been one of the most active, vocal, and visible groups during the ongoing Mahsa uprisings since last September. As one of the most severely marginalised and overtly discriminated and violated social groups, LGBTQI+ Iranians have proudly raised the rainbow flag all over Iran and bravely and brazenly declared their bold presence on the streets and amongst the ranks of activists pressing for change in Iran. Advocates of LGBTQI+ rights are regularly imprisoned and threatened in Iran and on the receiving end of death threats outside Iran. Despite the dangerous circumstances, our LGBTQI+ friends are declaring their non-conformist gender and sexuality even inside the prisons. We have confirmed evidence that they declare their status behind bars.

CRIMINALISATION:

LGBTQI+ Iranians are one of the most highly victimised social groups under the direct violence of Iran's Islamic regime. Their sexuality and gender are criminalised according to shari’a as set in law and ratified by the Islamic Consultancy Assembly (Iranian parliament). The Second Chapter of the Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, approved on 21/04/2013, codifies the death penalty for homosexuality, consensual or not, for males and females. 

Queer Liberation Collective in Iran campaigns to repeal Chapter 2 in the struggle for decriminalisation. The Chapter constitutes punishments specified in shari’a (hudud), such as lashing and execution. Those are applied in consensual gay male or female sex and are based on measures determined in the Quran or the Islamic sunnah (tradition). Our immediate campaign, as a first step, is decriminalisation and repealing Chapter 2 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code.

VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND VALUES:

Sexual and gender discrimination laws of the Islamic Republic promote stigmatisation, discrimination, and overt and covert forms of violence against Iranian LGBTQI+ peoples in the family, social, medical and work environments and turn a blind eye to abuse, mistreatment, disabilities, honour killings. They promote discriminatory and inhumane social and cultural values that inhibit, limit and violate the well-being of LGBTQI+ Iranians in all spheres of life. According to a psychiatric study in Isfahan, suicide rates amongst LGBTQI+ Iranians have risen sharply since the Mahsa uprisings. Trans people are now one of Iran's most vulnerable social groups due to the lack of legal, medical, psychological, familial, social, and cultural support structures. 

The Islamic Republic’s informal military and ideological alliance, Axis of Resistance, operating in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon perpetuates and organizes violent anti-LGBTQI+ hate campaigns and mob attacks that threaten the lives and livelihoods of LGBTQI+ people in those countries. Mobs and violent groups have been recently galvanized and mobilized to increase violence against LGBTQI+ citizens and social spaces in all those countries. LGBTQI+ flags have been set on fire in Tehran following other torchings in other Iranian cities. The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission has declared homosexuals as sexual deviants. Beirut has witnessed violent attacks by organized mobs against gay and LGBTQI+ public bars and clubs.

We advocate to effect change, advance legislation for LGBTQI+ rights, and shift public opinion amongst Iranians. Our mission is to defend the legal, social, economic, cultural, ethical, spiritual, and physical safety and rights of LGBTQI+ Iranians inside and outside Iran. Our struggle is not only for decriminalisation but for attaining all and full dimensions of human and citizenship rights - legal, political, social, medical, cultural, educational, ethical and spiritual. All Iranians have the right to live with dignity and security, protected by law, equal in the face of the law, and free from violence, discrimination and stigmatisation in all areas of life, home, and work. 

GOALS AND TARGETS:

●      Galvanise strategic and working relationships with politicians, parliamentarians, legislators, and activists on the international scene to advocate for Iranian LGBTQI+ rights as an integral component of a future secular and democratic Iran.

●      Pressure the Islamic Republic of Iran to recognise, respect and implement LGBTQI+ rights; galvanising resistance to the Islamic Republic’s inhumane treatments of LGBTQI+ Iranians.

●      Exchange knowledge and resources with international civil rights and LGBTQI+ infrastructures to advance the struggle for rights in Iran. 

●      Harvest and share data and information on the civil, social and individual trials of LGBTQI+ Iranians with international bodies and create avenues and provisions for legal, medical, social and psychological support. 

●      Raise Iranian public awareness and acceptance of LGBTQI+ rights and issues as integral to a future secular and democratic Iran.

●      Form alliances with a broad spectrum of Iranian opposition structures in advocating for civil rights. Cooperate with Iranian opposition organisations and create networks and collaborations with other resistance movements. 

We recognise that hard-won rights around the world face rising intolerance. We stand by international movements that defend LGBTQI+ rights around the world to protect our rights to be free, to be proud, to love and to be loved, to be together, and to be who we are in a world that we live in, not one that we imagine, free from gender and sexual bias and discrimination of any kind.

MISSION STATEMENT

IQLC’S MISSION AND GUIDING OBJECTIVES:

·       Struggle for the decriminalisation of LGBTQI+ people in Iran. 

·       Struggle for the legal, social, spiritual, and physical safety and rights of LGBTQI+ people in Iran.

·       Denounce any form of overt or covert violence and civil disabilities against members of our Iranian LGBTQI+ peoples and their representatives, supporters, or leaderships currently perpetrated by the Islamist state in Iran. 

·       Call for inclusion and respect for LGBTQI+ people in all walks of life and social, economic, intellectual, cultural, and political circles in Iran. 

·       Call for LGBTQI+ people’s right to the full enjoyment of life, health, and well-being, in recognition that the rights of LGBTQI+ people are one of the most pressing issues of social democracy in our times, and more specifically to human sexuality and gender rights.

·       Campaign and drive positive change in public attitudes and public policy through direct, grassroots, or electoral campaigns.

·       Commit to an alliance with vibrant international and intercultural LGBTQI+ movements in empowering people to generate change and defend and uphold hard-won rights in their societies.

www.Iqlc.net

ABOUT IQLC

IRANIAN QUEER LIBERATION COLLECTIVE (IQLC)

Founded by a core group of LGBTQI+ Iranians on 1 December 2022, Iranian Queer Liberation Collective is a non-profit Human Rights platform that defends the rights and lives of LGBTQI+ Iranians inside and outside of Iran. 

A core aim of IQLC is to identify and collaborate with major international Human Rights organisations in promoting the rights and struggles of Iranian LGBTQI+ people. Our main aim is advocacy to effect change and advance legislation for LGBTQI+ rights for Iranians.

We recognize that hard-won rights around the world face rising intolerance. We stand by international movements that defend LGBTQI+ rights around the world to protect our rights to be free, to be proud, to love and to be loved, to be together, and to be who we are in a world that we live in, not one that we imagine, free from gender and sexual bias and discrimination of any kind. 

It is our mission to struggle not only for decriminalisation but for attaining all and full dimensions of human and citizenship rights - legal, political, social, medical, cultural, educational, ethical and spiritual.

We will not be silenced until we are free in all areas of life. Our struggle will continue until we can live with dignity and security in Iranian society, protected by law, equal in the face of the law, and free from violence, discrimination and stigmatisation in all areas of life, home, and work. 

Inside Iran, we are committed to:

-        Pressuring the Islamic Republic of Iran to recognize, respect and implement LGBTQI+ rights.

-        Raising public awareness and acceptance of LGBTQI+ rights and issues, advocating for LGBTQI+ rights, and galvanising resistance to Islamic Republic’s inhumane treatments of LGBTQI+ Iranians, and creating networks and collaborations with other resistance movements for human rights in Iran.

Outside Iran, we are committed to:

-        Galvanising working relationships with politicians, parliamentarians, legislators, and activists on the international scene to advocate for Iranian LGBTQI+ rights.

Cooperating with Iranian opposition organizations and forming alliances with a broad spectrum of Iranian opposition structures in advocating for LGBTQI+ rights.