BERLIN – A report in a state-controlled Iranian paper last week asserting that
the “Zionist regime” “spreads homosexuality” across the globe in order to pursue
its goal of world domination has sparked fierce criticism from experts on Iran
because of its homophobia and anti- Semitism.
Mashregh News, an outlet
affiliated with radical Islamists in Qom, wrote that the US and the UK are
using money from Jews to spread homosexuality throughout the world. The article
blasted Israel for promoting demonstrations for gay rights and specifically
decried Tel Aviv as the gay paradise on earth. It also ridiculed Conservative
Judaism for accepting gay rabbis, and urged Western governments to stop people
from engaging in gay – and therefore immoral – actions, and provide medical
treatment for homosexuals in order to stop their conduct.
Writing on
Monday on the gay website GGG, Chris Karnak said the Mashregh item “reads like
an article from the Nazi agitation paper Der Stürmer.”
Dr. Wahied
Wahdat-Hagh, an expert on minority groups in Iran, told The Jerusalem Post on
Tuesday that the article is “against gays, against the West and anti-Semitic.”
He added that “the text legitimizes the execution of gays in Iran; they made a
text not only to ridicule the West but to provide a reason why Iran executes
gays.”
The Iranian report also attacked Hollywood for depicting gays in
positive terms on the silver screen. Moreover, according to the article, schools
in California include homosexuality in their education plans because of a
recommendation of a Jewish university.
Saba Farzan, a German-Iranian
expert in the field of human rights in the Islamic Republic, wrote the Post via
email on Tuesday: “This recent attack on human decency by the Iranian regime is
tragically not surprising, but these vicious words continue to hurt. Once again
this barbaric dictatorship has revealed its hatred towards gays and lesbians as
well as towards the State of Israel and Western countries.”
“This is
especially ridiculous as in the Middle East, Israel is the only state where the
gay community is safe and protected,” she continued. “The Islamic Republic shows
with this uncivilized world view how desperate it actually is.”