Iranian filmmaker, actress and lesbian activist Kiana Firouz is in danger of being deported back to Iran for her “crime of unrepentant homosexuality“; for which the punishment is execution.

Kiana worked as an underground activist for LGBT women’s rights. During this time, she documented the horrific treatment of LGBT people in Iran and shot footage for a documentary about the commonplace horrific abuse of human rights there. When items of footage were discovered by Iranian Intelligence, Kiana was harrassed by agents in Tehran and fled to the UK as a student two years ago. Kiana has since directed and played a key role in Cul de Sac, the culmination of her work.

Her application for asylum in the UK was rejected by the Home Office, who were fully aware of the persecution Kiana faced in light of her sexual orientation. The Ministry argued that she could return to Iran and conceal her homosexuality. Seeing as the well-publicised evidence blatantly contradicts this ruling, it would seem that the Home Office is guilty of, at best, gross incompetence; at worst, wilful negligence.

LGBTQ rights in Iran

Iran’s “lawful” approach to sexuality; noosing two unidentified gay teens for their “crime”.

LGBTQ equality was once a reality in Iran, prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution; a Gay Liberation movement was in the works and even publicised gay marriages were tolerated. Since then, the country’s laws regarding LGBTQ rights have been based on an extremely conservative interpretation of Islamic law. Homosexuality is punishable by lashing, or execution by hanging in more “extreme” cases; Transexuals are institutionalised and often forced to undergo hormone treatments; LGBTQ people as a whole undergo sex change operations for fear of extreme persecution. It is utterly disgusting.

Make no mistake; forcing Kiana to return to Iran is nothing short of marching her to her death. We’re talking about a women who, in the face of extreme oppression, had the courage to step forward and speak out against it; to put a face to the abuse suffered by Kiana and her LGBTQ comrades in Iran. Every free and liberal LGBTQ person has an obligation to stand with her in solidarity and prevent this travesty from taking place.

What the student community can do

First and foremost, please sign this petition and join this Facebook group and show your support. And please…spread the word. Raising national awareness of this issue is a crucial part of this campaign.

Both the Lib Dems AND the Tories pledged to change the rules specifically for asylum seekers; acknowledging the consequences suffered by LGBTQ people who – just like Kiana – were sent back and told to keep quiet under the previous Government’s policy. That being said…the new Minister for Women and Equalities, Theresa May, has consistently voted against LGBTQ rights and – in my humble opinion – was a poor choice for the job. Regardless, it is time for her to do her part to uphold her party’s pledges. I will also be writing to Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dem undersecretary for Equality – who, by contrast, has an excellent voting record for LGBTQ rights – to doubly ensure that conservative views towards homosexuality in the UK do not further jeopardise Kiana Firouz. I invite you all to lobby your MP’s to take action on this issue.

Please take our survey for the Fight for the Right To Party Campaign about your experiences in gay and non-gay clubs..Will only take a few minutes.

righttoparty.lgbtq.co.uk

To read our motion submitted to NUS LGBT Conference see below:

Today is the ninth annual Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK, a day commemorating the millions who were killed in the Nazi Holocaust.

The Guild and JSoc held an event yesterday in the Guild Council Chambers at which a Holocaust survivor was invited to tell her story. Due to University Commitments I was sadly unable to attend the event, however I’m told that it was a fitting memorial. It is essential that we honour the memory of the victims and and never forget the horror that was allowed to take place during this dark time in history. Among them were some six million Jews and some ten thousand LGBTQ people.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

George Santayana

The LGBTQ Association will be holding a discussion on the Holocaust – with particular focus to persecution of LGBTQ people – at the Wednesday Coffee Afternoon. The Association will be showing Paragraph 175 at the usual Sunday evening Film Night and would like to extend an invitation to all members of JSoc and members of the Jewish Community on campus.

Many of you may have noticed a facebook campaign recently more relevant than usual to the LGBTQ. ‘Un-Ban Dominic Scaia’ was a campaign set up because he uploaded photos onto facebook of his recent top surgery and was banned for this.

Obviously, it is not unfair for facebook to remove photographs that are considered pornography, i.e. topless women. However, they do not go around taking photos on men’s chests off the internet and banning those members; we live in a society where it is perfectly acceptable for men to be topless, which is fair enough. As a site used every day by millions of people, facebook have a right to respect people’s differences, to respect their decisions and their feelings, and not to marginalise the minorities they have within their users. Many of the people using the site, who are trans, will have had similar surgeries, and to feel as if by uploading photos afterwards they are doing something wrong, will only serve to break down self esteem and marginalise another minority even more.

What, I feel, makes it even worse, is that when his account was disabled, Dominic contacted facebook to ask why, and if it was to do with the post-op pictures, to complain. No one got back to him. So even if there had been other reasons that he had been blocked from facebook, he wouldn’t have known them, and would have been kept in the dark until the time came when he was finally unblocked. And let’s face it, the images that can so easily be stumbled upon on facebook, and especially upon the internet in general, are significantly worse than anyone, bigoted as they may be, can describe these as.

Thankfully, Dominic’s account has now been unblocked, he has been apologized to about the incident, and facebook have changed their policy regarding allowing post-op chest photographs. But that does not stop the fact that it happened in the first place. Many people think of social networking sites as a platform for speech, sharing of lives. If this was allowed to happen once, what is to say that it will not happen again, to another group, for another, equally unjustified reason? Maybe not just this policy, but many others used by facebook, need to be examined to see just how fair and justified they really are.

I have met many people recently who have been of the opinion that as a community we have nothing left to fight for. In this country we have legal equality and civil partnerships and, usually, the ability to be who we are all of the time. But it is small incidents like this, as well as large, shocking incidents such as the beating and murder of Ian Baynham in Trafalgar Square last year, that should help to push home to people who say this, that even in a Western, democratic society, yes, there is still a lot of injustice to be fought.

The campaign group can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=240719433565&ref=ts

An article including the photo which got him banned can be found here: http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Facebook_reevaluates_decision_to_censor_trans_mans_postop_chest_pics-8127.aspx

As I’m sure many of you will know, last Friday was Transgender Day of Remembrance (see below) and the LGBTQ association held a candle lit vigil that evening. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who turned up including both LGBTQ people and straight allies. I’d like to give particular thanks to Rev Kara Cooper from the Chaplaincy, who following the reading of the names and the one minute silence gave an eloquent non-denominational prayer.

The issue of violence against trans people is still a very real problem both within our own society and in many places across the world, and given the small percentage of the overall population who are trans, the numbers effected by this are still far too high. TDoR acts as a way for the trans community and those allied to it to address this issue in a reflective manner, allowing for both healing and renewed strength in the battle against discrimination. The people listed within TDoR services only represent a part of the picture, for we will never truly know how many there are, nor shall we know all of their names; but it is important to remember that alongside these losses there are also many who have survived this type of transphobia, and continue to fight against it.

Transphobia, like any kind of discrimination, presents itself in many forms, and the consequences of it may not always be directly apparent. In its most apparent form we open abuse, but this does not address more subtle issues such as social exclusion and societal attitudes, factors which explain why statistics state that 34% of trans people have considered suicide (Samaritans). Violence can also take on more passive forms; many both on and off the list died not on the streets, but in their homes and in hospitals, refusal of medical treatment based upon trans status is far from unknown, even in the Western world.

It is for these reasons that Transgender Day of Remembrance exists; for so long as the situation remains at it is currently, it becomes imperative to ensure that these injustices are not overlooked. The candle lights during the vigil are meant to represent the lives of trans people; in many services the candles are snuffed out one by one with each reading of the names, but throughout the vigil we chose instead to keep relighting the candles blown out by the wind; and at the end of the service some of us sat around and allowed as many of the candles as possible to blow out naturally. The most important thing to be taken away from this is not the sorrow brought about by the deaths we were there to remember, but the renewed hope for a better future.

Transgender Health (NHS)

This Friday is the 11th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), an event which is held on the November 20th each year and is observed in places throughout the world. TDoR was set up in November 1998 following the death of Rita Hester, which also led to the Remembering our Dead project; a project which lists the names of trans people killed as a consequence of discrimination.

The guiding principles of the Day of Remembrance:
• “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” (Santayana)

• All who die due to anti-transgender violence are to be remembered.

• It is up to us to remember these people, as their killers, law enforcement, and the media often seek to erase their existence.

• Transgender lives are affirmed to have value.

•We can make a difference: by being visible and speaking out about anti-transgender violence, we can effect change.

The University of Birmingham LGBTQ association will be marking this event with a candlelit vigil in Mermaid square (outside the Guild of Students) on Friday at 6.30pm. If you wish to assist in the reading of names, or want to contribute to the event with other readings/ poety etc. please don’t hesitate to get in contact. In the event of poor weather the vigil will be moved inside, however, we suggest to all members to bring warm clothing in the event of cold weather.

TDoR website.