Middle East
Minority, LGBTQ voices must be centered amid Iran protests, activists say
Mahsa Amini died in police custody last September
Amid the ongoing protests in Iran, LGBTQ and other minority voices must be centered in the fight for equal rights, activists said during an Instagram Live discussion hosted by Planned Parenthood Global on Friday.
The group organized the event as part of its “This Is Brave” campaign, an initiative that endeavors to “show the connection across social justice movements,” Planned Parenthood Global Senior Director of Global Communications Crister Delacruz told the Washington Blade by phone on Friday.
“For example,” she said, “sexual and reproductive rights are connected to the fight for LGBTQ equality: Just like anyone else, members of the LGBTQ community around the world who need access to sexual and reproductive healthcare.”
Protests, many led by women and other marginalized groups, erupted in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody last September. Amini was detained by authorities for allegedly violating rules governing how women can dress.
The demonstrations continued over the subsequent months despite violent crackdowns from the Iranian government, earning the attention of the international community and prompting the U.S. Senate to introduce a resolution condemning the country’s “systemic persecution of women and peaceful protestors.”
Joining Friday’s discussion were Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda, a human rights lawyer and founder of the Collective for Black Iranians, and Cyrus Veyssi, a digital creator and online strategist with a substantial following on social media platforms. Donya Nasser, a former member of the Planned Parenthood Global Advisory Board and current board member of Planned Parenthood’s Mar Monte (Calif.) affiliate, moderated the conversation.
Veyssi, a queer and nonbinary “child of the diaspora” who grew up in the U.S., said they have “countless friends who live in secrecy in Iran,” people who in some cases “have to spend every weekend in a jail” or were forced to flee the country, often with help from groups like the International Railroad for Queer Refugees (formerly known as the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees.)
Social media, Veyssi said, “has allowed people in the West to see what is happening in Iran.” And given their sizable platform and privileged position living safely in America with economic security, Veyssi said they feel it is their responsibility to “share as much as I can.”
Especially so since so many other LGBTQ activists who share content about or are otherwise engaged on social media with issues concerning the turmoil in Iran have experienced shadow-banning, Veyssi said, referring to the phenomenon by which a user’s posts are artificially depressed so they reach fewer followers than they otherwise would.
On Wednesday, Veyssi provided a written statement to The Washington Blade in response to a question concerning the nature of any misconceptions they have observed among Americans when it comes to the struggle for equal rights in Iran.
Noting that they are not positioned to speak on behalf of Iranians who still live in the country, Veyssi said they have observed that one “main misconception is not understanding the nuance between the violent and oppressive government in Iran and that of our culture.”
This extends to the treatment of LGBTQ people and identities, they said. “There is a lot embedded within our history that suggests how open minded – specifically among gender and sexuality expressions – our people have been.”
“From subversive poetry that illustrates queer love to even beauty trends that contrast with western ideals of masculinity and femininity, queerness has always been a facet of social experiences in Iran” Veyssi said.
“I wish more people understood that LGBTQIA+ rights is part of the larger movement towards freedom in Iran right now,” they added, “and that resistance in Iran can simply look like waking up and choosing to go about your day as your true self, something that many people have died for and are fighting for.”
Kounkou Hoveyda, who is Congolese, Iranian and French, recounted the story of a 24-year-old man who was “arrested and tortured in detention” for fighting for “the right to be who he is.” Even LGBTQ Iranians who choose not to engage in demonstrations or speak out against the government “are in a constant state of alert,” said Kounkou Hoveyda, who identifies as queer.
Among outside observers in the West, many never think to ask themselves whether Iranians engaged in the protests and movements for social and political equality may be transgender or nonbinary, Kounkou Hoveyda said — adding that Iranians are “just as layered as any other group of people” even when living under a regime that works to censor out their marginalized identities.
It is also incumbent on the allies of marginalized minority communities to speak out on their behalf, Veyssi said. “I want the 40-year-old white woman living in Nebraska posting about Iran” because she will have access to and influence with an audience whom less privileged groups may never be able to reach, they said.
Likewise, even in cases where matters like the treatment of women do not impact them directly, Veyssi said, “I will show up for whoever needs it, and it’s not just about what’s happening right now” in Iran. For example, they said, one must show up for women in the U.S. who are battling for bodily autonomy.
Veyssi credited Planned Parenthood Global for providing the opportunity for him and the other speakers to address these issues, which they said corporations and other powerful institutions have often shied away from.
“So many brands and companies want to avoid it,” they said, but what’s happening in Iran is not a political or partisan matter. Rather, Veyssi said, this is about freedom and one must confront the question of whether to stand up for that or stand in the way by remaining silent.
As the international arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Planned Parenthood Global has worked overseas for 50 years to break down barriers to health care and champion the brave people putting their safety on the line each and every day for reproductive freedom.
Iran
Grenell: ‘Real hope’ for gay rights in Iran as result of nationwide protests
Former ambassador to Germany claimed he has sneaked ‘gays and lesbians out of’ country
Richard Grenell, the presidential envoy for special missions of the United States, said on X on Tuesday that he has helped “sneak gays and lesbians out of Iran” and is seeing a change in attitudes in the country.
The post, which now has more than 25,000 likes since its uploading, claims that attitudes toward gays and lesbians are shifting amid massive economic protests across the country.
“For the first time EVER, someone has said ‘I want to wait just a bit,” the former U.S. ambassador to Germany wrote. “There is real hope coming from the inside. I don’t think you can stop this now.”
Grenell has been a longtime supporter of the president.
“Richard Grenell is a fabulous person, A STAR,” Trump posted on Truth Social days before his official appointment to the ambassador role. “He will be someplace, high up! DJT”
Iran, which is experiencing demonstrations across all 31 provinces of the country — including in Tehran, the capital — started as a result of a financial crisis causing the collapse of its national currency. Time magazine credits this uprising after the U.N. re-imposed sanctions in September over the country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
As basic necessities like bread, rice, meat, and medical supplies become increasingly unaffordable to the majority of the more than 90 million people living there, citizens took to the streets to push back against Iran’s theocratic regime.
Grenell, who was made president and executive director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last year by Trump, believes that people in the majority Shiite Muslim country are also beginning to protest human rights abuses.
Iran is among only a handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
A Wider Bridge on Friday announced it will shut down at the end of the month.
The group that “mobilizes the LGBTQ community to fight antisemitism and support Israel and its LGBTQ community” in a letter to supporters said financial challenges prompted the decision.
“After 15 years of building bridges between LGBTQ communities in North America and Israel, A Wider Bridge has made the difficult decision to wind down operations as of Dec. 31, 2025,” it reads.
“This decision comes after challenging financial realities despite our best efforts to secure sustainable funding. We deeply appreciate our supporters and partners who made this work possible.”
Arthur Slepian founded A Wider Bridge in 2010.
The organization in 2016 organized a reception at the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change Conference in Chicago that was to have featured to Israeli activists. More than 200 people who protested against A Wider Bridge forced the event’s cancellation.
A Wider Bridge in 2024 urged the Capital Pride Alliance and other Pride organizers to ensure Jewish people can safely participate in their events in response to an increase in antisemitic attacks after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported authorities in Vermont late last year charged Ethan Felson, who was A Wider Bridge’s then-executive director, with lewd and lascivious conduct after alleged sexual misconduct against a museum employee. Rabbi Denise Eger succeeded Felson as A Wider Bridge’s interim executive director.
A Wider Bridge in June honored U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) at its Pride event that took place at the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C. The event took place 15 days after a gunman killed two Israeli Embassy employees — Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim — as they were leaving an event at the museum.
“Though we are winding down, this is not a time to back down. We recognize the deep importance of our mission and work amid attacks on Jewish people and LGBTQ people – and LGBTQ Jews at the intersection,” said A Wider Bridge in its letter. “Our board members remain committed to showing up in their individual capacities to represent queer Jews across diverse spaces — and we know our partners and supporters will continue to do the same.”
Editor’s note: Washington Blade International News Editor Michael K. Lavers traveled to Israel and Palestine with A Wider Bridge in 2016.
Egypt
Iran, Egypt object to playing in Seattle World Cup ‘Pride Match’
Game to take place on June 26
Iran and Egypt have objected to playing in a “Pride Match” that will take place in Seattle during the 2026 World Cup.
The Egyptian Football Association on Tuesday said it told FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström in a letter that “it categorically rejects holding any activities related to supporting (homosexuality) during the match between the Egyptian national team and Iran, scheduled to be held in Seattle, USA, on June 26, 2026, in the third round of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup.” Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran President Mehdi Taj told ISNA, a semi-official Iranian news agency that both his country and Egypt “protested this issue.”
The 2026 World Cup will take place in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The draw took place at the Kennedy Center on Dec. 5.
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death.
The State Department’s 2023 human rights report notes that while Egyptian law “did not explicitly criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, authorities regularly arrested and prosecuted LGBTQI+ persons on charges including ‘debauchery,’ prostitution, and ‘violating family values.’” Egyptian authorities “also reportedly prosecuted LGBTQI+ individuals for ‘misuse of social media.’”
“This resulted in de facto criminalization of same-sex conduct and identity,” notes the report.
The 2024 human rights report the State Department released earlier this year did not include LGBTQ-specific references.
Soccer has ‘unique power to unite people across borders, cultures, and beliefs’
The June 26 match between Iran and Egypt coincides with Seattle Pride. The Washington Post reported the Seattle FIFA World Cup 2026 Local Organizing Committee decided to hold the “Pride Match” before last week’s draw.
“As the Local Organizing Committee, SeattleFWC26’s role is to prepare our city to host the matches and manage the city experience outside of Seattle Stadium,” said SeattleFWC26 Vice President of Communications Hana Tadesse in a statement the committee sent to the Washington Blade on Wednesday. “SeattleFWC26 is moving forward as planned with our community programming outside the stadium during Pride weekend and throughout the tournament, partnering with LGBTQ+ leaders, artists, and business owners to elevate existing Pride celebrations across Washington.”
“Football has a unique power to unite people across borders, cultures, and beliefs,” added Tadeese. “The Pacific Northwest is home to one of the nation’s largest Iranian-American communities, a thriving Egyptian diaspora, and rich communities representing all nations we’re hosting in Seattle. We’re committed to ensuring all residents and visitors experience the warmth, respect, and dignity that defines our region.”
The 2034 World Cup will take place in Saudi Arabia.
Consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death in the country. The 2022 World Cup took place in neighboring Qatar, despite concerns over the country’s anti-LGBTQ rights record.
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