Worldwide JULY 19 Protests Set for 1-Year Anniversary of Iranian Gay Teen Executions

Doug Ireland, OutRage and International Day Against Homophobia are publicizing protests on Wednesday July 19th 2006 to commemorate the horrific executions of two Iranian gay teenagers Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni exactly one year ago, because of their homosexuality. As Doug reports:

At least 18 cities in the U.S., Europe, and Canada have already begun to organize events for July 19, the International Day of Action Against Homophobic Persecution in Iran. The original call to action for July 19 was initiated jointly by the militant British gay rights group OutRage and the Paris-based International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) for world-wide demonstrations on July 19, the first anniversary of the public hanging in Iran of two gay teens, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni. Photos of the execution of the two boys, who were hanged in the public square of the city of Mashad last year (photo above left), created international outrage when they were widely circulated on the Internet, and focused the world’s attention on Iran’s ongoing, lethal reign of terror targeting Iranian gays.

Protests have already been scheduled for the anniversary of the teens’ execution in a number of large European cities, including London, Moscow, Frankfurt, Berlin, Marseille, Amsterdam, Vienna, Dublin, Stockholm, and Brussels. ever, the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission which had both endorsed the call for world-wide demonstrations and had announced it ws taking the lead to organize a New York City demonstration in front of the Iranian Mission to the U.N., has withdrawn from the demonstration. The New York demonstration was also endorsed by Gay City News, New York City's largest gay weekly newspaper. Local gay groups and ad hoc committees have already scheduled U.S. events in San Francisco, San Diego, , Washington, D.C., Fort Lauderdale, and Provincetown for July 19. And there will be commemorative meetings in Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.(A list of all those demonstrations and events in the U.S. and around the world, with contacts, is at the bottom of this post).

The call for global demonstrations has also been endorsed by the Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization (PGLO), the largest Iranian gay group, which has secretariats in several European countries and Canada. “We enthusiastically support the call for demonstrations on July 19, and we are very grateful to our brothers and sisters for organizing these demonstrations for our beleaguered Iranian gay people,” Arsham Parsi (left) , human rights secretary of the PGLO, told Gay City News from his base in Toronto, where he and local gay organizations are organizing a demonstration..

The PGLO has also asked all its members in Iran to display lighted candles in their windows on July 19 in memory of the two hanged Iranian lads -- "That's about all we can ask our members in Iran to do safely without bringing down persecution on their heads from the regime's police and the homo-hating paramilitary basiji thugs who work for the ayatollahs," Parsi said.

Doug has also been reporting about the way that U.S.-based LGBT civil rights organizations have not been engaged with this story. This is summarized in an article by Rob Anderson in The New Republic entitled "How America's Gay Rights Establishment Is Failing Gay Iranians."