VillageVoice.com – by Kevin McKenna
As a gay student at Columbia University, I was looking forward to hearing what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had to say about the documented persecution of homosexuals in his country. Ahmadinejad did not discuss punishment for homosexuals but rather stated, ?In Iran we don?t have homosexuals like in your country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don?t know who?s told you that we have this.? As much as any of the views expressed by Ahmadinejad, these views on homosexuality in Iran are completely ridiculous and unreasonable.
I grew up in Orange County, California, which is not the friendliest environment for gays. I went through about five years of personal torment before finally coming out to my close friends and family during my senior year of high school. There is not a large gay community in Orange County, so I was happy to find myself in New York City about six months after informing my family of my sexual orientation. The whole process was very difficult for me, but everything turned out well in the end. The concerns I had about coming out in Orange County are trivial compared to the dilemma gay people face in Iran.