By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last fall that there are no gay people in Iran, he knew better.

He knows, for example, about Arsham Parsi.

Just three years ago Parsi was forced to flee Iran under the threat of arrest not just for being gay but for working on behalf of gay rights in a country that hangs people for being gay.

When he speaks in Chicago May 17 to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Parsi will be talking about a subject that’s both personal and motivational to him.

“Seven years ago, when we formed the Iranian Queer Organization, nobody paid attention, nobody cared,” Parsi said May 5 in a telephone interview.

That’s changed. Despite the best efforts of Iran’s conservative religious leaders to suppress gays and stifle education about gay issues, Parsi said people in Iran are slowly becoming more knowledgeable—and more accepting.

“Maybe they don’t accept our rights, but now they have some basic information,” Parsi said.

Parsi said the conservatives are trying to pass new measures that would increase penalties for people convicted of gay-related offenses in Iran.

“The conservatives in parliament may pass this,” Parsi said. “If they do, the situation in Iran for LGBT people will get worse.”

Parsi’s journey as a gay activist began in 2001, after one of his friends committed suicide because he was gay. His friend’s death led Parsi to co-found the Iranian Queer Organization. He became more active, organizing online chat groups for GLBTs. Very quickly, he attracted the attention of the Iranian government. By March 2003 he was fleeing into Turkey. Eventually he was accepted as a refugee by Canada and now lives in Toronto.

Still, working for the rights of GLBTs in Iran—and working for an Iran he can return to someday as an openly gay man—is his passion.

“It is my country, it is my language, I had a job there,” Parsi said. “But they couldn’t accept me. They didn’t accept my existence and I had to flee. …I am going to go back to my country when we have a democratic country.”

Parsi said it’s impossible to foresee how long it will take for the conservatives’ power to fade in Iran.

“We are not quite sure what will happen in the future,” he said.

But even political leaders cast as moderate or liberal, Parsi said, promise little for GLBTs.

“We have many political parties in Iran,” he said. “But when we talk with any of them, they have the same beliefs (about GLBTs) as the leaders in Iran. We don’t have any warranty that if they gain power they will give us rights.”

Westerners can help. Parsi’s organization supports GLBTs who have to leave Iran or face imprisonment or worse. Donations from GLBTs in the United States and elsewhere help the group with those expenses. Westerners can also write letters and sign on in support of the IRQO’s campaign for rights in Iran.

With the power of education on his side, as each day passes, Parsi sees hope.

“If you don’t have hope, you don’t have anything,” he said. “I’m quite positive. Things will change.”

Arsham Parsi is in Chicago May 17 to help lead a rally and march for the International Day Against Homophobia. The rally begins at 3 p.m. outside Women & Children First, 5233 N. Clark St., followed by a march through Andersonville and Edgewater to the Gerber/Hart Library, 1127 W. Granville, for a reception in Parsi’s honor.