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Thursday, December 20, 2007

They Hang Gay Teenagers, Don’t They?

posted by on December 20 at 17:47 PM

A gay Iranian teenager whose asylum claim was denied in the UK fled to the Netherlands, and then to Germany. The Germans returned him to the Dutch, who are now threatening to return him to the Brits, who have already decided to return the gay teenager to Iran.

And you know what they do to gay teenagers in Iran, right?

irangayteens1.jpg

The UK would be sending this kid to his death if they send him back to Iran, which means the Dutch will be sending this kid to his death if they send him back to the UK. The teenager, a 19 year-old named Mehdi, has asked a Dutch court not to send him back to the UK. A decision is expected in early 2008.

RSS icon Comments

1

I guess the Dutch only want devout Muslims, not homosexuals or apostates. Might rock the boat too much with the local Muslim community.

Posted by oljb | December 20, 2007 6:06 PM
2

I was thinking the same thing. Why not let some of the gay ones into Holland now to balance out the rabidly anti-gay religious thugs that have already immigrated to the country?

Posted by Dan Savage | December 20, 2007 6:12 PM
3

Give him permanent asylum, unless he has the rash - in that case, send him back to Iran.

Posted by JMR | December 20, 2007 6:12 PM
4

Or maybe they just figure their local lunatics will murder him anyway, so what's the difference?

Posted by oljb | December 20, 2007 6:13 PM
5

But wait - there are no gays in Iran. Ahmedinejad said so, so it must be true, right?

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | December 20, 2007 6:13 PM
6

dan,
this pic is far more disturbing than the one before...imo

Posted by point x point synopsis | December 20, 2007 6:14 PM
7

More proof that asylum is broken throughout the western world.

Posted by Anonymous Coward | December 20, 2007 6:19 PM
8

Are these the Jews of the 21st century? Is this 1938? There has to be a way to save these people. That's what asylum is FOR.

Posted by Fnarf | December 20, 2007 6:22 PM
9

Are these the Jews of the 21st century? Is this 1938? There has to be a way to save these people. That's what asylum is FOR.

As #1 said these European governments have gotten themselves into a spot where more and more of their decision-making is based on appeasing their Muslim populations. This is bad for gays, and free speech, and many other things.

Posted by JMR | December 20, 2007 6:27 PM
10

#8 - Fnarf, you hit the mark - perfectly accurate comparison to the Jews going from country to country and being DENIED, incl. the USA, all the while certain death awaited them in Nazi Germany.

The photo is very disturbing, the SGN ran it on their front page with the story over a year ago, as I remember.

Thank God for the radical London queers, or this issue would be buried and have little voice.

There have been some good demos in SFO on the issue and in other major Western national centers.

More must be done. Where is ACT UP???

Posted by Kenneth | December 20, 2007 6:34 PM
11

Israel is the world's gay paradise. This is because Judaism is the religion of truth and righteousness. In Israel anyone can be openly gay, get married, and live in total freedom.

Islam is a religion of terrorists, and Christianity is a religion of sex perverts. Only Judaism is a true religion that allows gay Jewish men in Israel to live rich, spritual lives.

Posted by Issur | December 20, 2007 6:56 PM
12

Jesus fuck.

Posted by Mr. Poe | December 20, 2007 7:02 PM
13

@12 I think he would if he could, unmarried man in his thirties, hangs around mostly other men of his same age, those same men "wash his feet"

Posted by vooodooo84 | December 20, 2007 7:05 PM
14

And the reason we haven't nuked these filthy, pig-fucking vermin yet is?

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | December 20, 2007 7:18 PM
15

Israel must and will nuke Iran. It's a matter of shifting the "thinking" of the pacifist idiots in the U.S.

I believe constructing a narrative about "The United States will go to war to protect Gay rights" could convince many liberals to back an attack on Iran lead by Israel.

Dan was brilliant in stumping for the attack on Iraq, and I believe Dan can push this gay right angle on Iran hard enough that attacking Iran will be the rational choice.

Israel needs to be able to nuke Iran. All that's preventing it is the idiot anti-war public.

Posted by Issur | December 20, 2007 7:27 PM
16

Oops, sorry, answered my own question. The reason is we need their oil. Guess I just don't have my priorities in the right order.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | December 20, 2007 7:30 PM
17

@14 why haven't we nuked Wyoming then? We need to fix ourselves, committing genocide to end genocide is the most retarded idea ever

Posted by vooodooo84 | December 20, 2007 7:31 PM
18

Agreed, Issur. Sooner or later, Israel WILL nuke Iran. They have no choice. I'm OK with sooner.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | December 20, 2007 7:38 PM
19

Yes, yes: let's save all those gay Iranian teenagers by... nuking Iran. They can't hang 'em if they've all been incinerated... along with everyone else.

Sheesh.

And I don't want to feed the trolls... all that crap that right-wing religious nuts use to justify their hatred of homos? It's in the Talmud. The Jews injected their homo hatred into Christianity and Islam.

Posted by Dan Savage | December 20, 2007 7:51 PM
20

Nuke Wyoming, voodooo? Whyever on Earth would we do that? Because a few rednecks got drunk on a Saturday night and killed Matt Shepherd? That doesn't even remotely compare with the situation in Iran. And besides, the reason why Israel must and will nuke Iran have nothing to do with sexual orientation, but if that's a rallying cry to get Americans behind it, I'm OK with that. I'm sure Issur will elaborate if you ask him.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | December 20, 2007 8:03 PM
21

If we're going to start bombing countries that pick on fags, we better have a lot of bombs (from Wikipedia:)

Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and Cyprus are the only countries in the Middle East where homosexuality between consenting adults in private is not illegal and homosexuals are not persecuted by the authorities. Cyprus had been forced to follow suit as a condition of joining the European Union. While homosexual conduct is legal in Jordan, the law does not require punishment for honor killings of homosexuals. In most other Middle Eastern countries homosexuality is illegal, often punishable by flogging and even hanging.

Posted by JMR | December 20, 2007 8:09 PM
22

@20 you remind me of the College Republicans protesting women's studies faculties for not speaking out about the sexism in middle eastern countries (even though many feminists do). You are just looking for punching bags on the left to bully into supporting another immoral war that has no rational basis.

Posted by vooodooo84 | December 20, 2007 8:12 PM
23

Get off the warpath, @15 & @20. It's that kind of attitude that gives Americans a bad name.

Posted by Irena | December 20, 2007 8:13 PM
24

This has nothing to do with anything being discussed, but is anybody smelling that raunchy smell outside right now? What the hell is it?!

Posted by The General | December 20, 2007 8:23 PM
25

I can smell it here as well (north beacon hill) It's awful.

Posted by catalina vel-duray | December 20, 2007 8:32 PM
26

i love my dead gay son?

Posted by konstantConsumer | December 20, 2007 8:46 PM
27

Okay. I think we need a compromise. Iran can hang the homosexuals but the lesbians need to be spared. The attractive ones should be sent to Southern California to appear in lesbian porn while the ugly ones...well, I think we can hang them too.

Posted by jay severin has a small penis | December 20, 2007 9:22 PM
28

This might be the definition of tragic

Posted by johnnie | December 20, 2007 9:59 PM
29

If the power of the US government and Jimmy Carter couldn't free the Iranian hostages, then how will this kid escape his Netherlander deportation fate? How about sending a couple of thousand letters to Queen Beatrix seeking her intercession. I realize how futilely romantic this seems, but sometimes boldness is all. We all can write, can't we? But we won't because we have to listen to something on iPod or watch Clash of the Choirs or hmmm assign the Public Intern to wash our feet. Oh well, Nick Lachey won - who cares?

Posted by RHETT ORACLE | December 20, 2007 11:38 PM
30

just send them HERE. i swear, most of europe has lost it. it's nearly impossible to relocate there if you're an american, and yet they have massive amounts of muslim "workers," who the natives all despise, and who the government can't say no to.

i lived over there for nearly a year while in college and the difference between europe in 1997 and europe in 2007 is revolting.

Posted by ari | December 21, 2007 12:27 AM
31

Please esnd them to Candan or maybe even here!!!!

Posted by n | December 21, 2007 2:59 AM
32

It's not the definition of tragic, because it's not something unavoidable. It's perfectly avoidable, but likely to happen (as it has before and will again) because so much of the world is controlled by evil-hearted scum. I'm talking about the British bureaucrats and the closet-Nazi Dutch. The ones who send this guy back to Iran are more evil than the ones who'll hang him.

Posted by Donovan | December 21, 2007 3:24 AM
33

Fucking hell people, overreact much? Not Dan, just some of the commenters here. You have to understand that the Dutch socialist system is based on laws that can be bent, but only after vigorous useless discussion and after everyone has had their say about it. Hence the court date and such.

@30: The difference between Europe 10 years ago and now is simply 10 years of the world going to shit, led by fear. It's no different in Asia or the US.

Having experienced the Dutch system for the past 28 years I cannot imagine this guy actually getting deported, but we'll see.

Posted by O | December 21, 2007 4:02 AM
34

Okay, #33, I am going to overreact BIG TIME! Any religous belief system that does not support the whole of humanity with all of it's colors, shapes and various forms of diversity is a sick twisted perversion against society. It needs to be treated with as much respect as National Socalism. If your nation is ran by theocrats who hang people for being gay then that nation is a perversion against humanity. If your nation refuses to protect that gay person (or anyone else seeking safe haven) that nation is also a perversion against the fabric of humanity.

You want to save those gay teenagers as well as save the planet? Understand that religon in all of its forms is a sick perversion.

Posted by Just Me | December 21, 2007 5:33 AM
35

I am ashamed to be British reading that our government has refused this lad safe haven! You really cannot preach equality and fair-play if you don't actually PRACTICE it.

Shame on them.

Posted by Breederboy | December 21, 2007 6:27 AM
36

@21-- Actually, most of conservative Christianity's homophobia (and general sex-phobia, for that matter) comes from Hellenic cultural influences, not Hebrew.

Posted by Petra | December 21, 2007 6:54 AM
37

I don't think it's an issue of the Dutch trying to appease their muslim community. They're probably just scared of old, conservative, white Dutch people screaming that they "let another asylum seeker in".
Like everywhere else in the world.

Posted by Griet | December 21, 2007 7:00 AM
38

Ok, what I don't understand is that if this kid committed a crime in the USA, where he *could* recieve the death penalty and he fled to the UK, they would not send him back to the USA until the death penalty was off the table. This has happened many times.

Yet the UK won't take someone who hasn't even committed a crime, yet would face the death penalty no questions??? WTF Gordon Brown?!?!?

Posted by Original Monique | December 21, 2007 7:48 AM
39

Its like anonymous coward said, the asylum system is hopelessly screwed up

Posted by vooodooo84 | December 21, 2007 7:54 AM
40

@18: agreeing with Issur = automatic fail

Posted by chi type | December 21, 2007 8:09 AM
41

@40 even issur doesn't agree with issur

Posted by vooodooo84 | December 21, 2007 8:11 AM
42

Jesus Christ, why didn't he flee to Canada? It's not a perfect system for gay refugees but from what I've read it's still better than anything else in the EU.

Posted by Rael | December 21, 2007 9:22 AM
43

Fuck that's a terrible picture.

Posted by rtw | December 21, 2007 10:26 AM
44

@42: The Atlantic ocean might have something to do with it.

Posted by Jerod | December 21, 2007 10:39 AM
45

then maybe it's time the atlantic entered the modern age and stopped discriminating against homosexuals.

Posted by infrequent | December 21, 2007 11:13 AM
46

@19

Issur is not a troll, good sir. He speaks the truth.

Posted by Mr. Poe | December 21, 2007 12:34 PM
47

They should so totally grant him amnesty--especially if he's hot.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | December 21, 2007 2:42 PM
48

An update on this story ... the kid has failed in the courts in Netherlands - and is due to be returned to the UK, from where he is likely to be deported back to Iran. There is an update posted Christmas Eve on UK Gay News - http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/07/Dec/2401.htm

If it were not for the long UK holiday season, then there is a chance that an injunction could be go in the High Court in London to prevent deportation until the court has heard an appeal, which, when in front of a real judge, the lad would more than certainly win.

The fear is that the UK will take the lad off a flight from Amsterdam and put him on the next flight to Tehran - and if this is the case over the holiday, then there is little chance of a lawyers getting an injunction.

If you are able to, please express your toughts to the British Embassy in your country, of fax Prime Ninister Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street. Fax number is: +44 207 925 0918.

Mehdi has had an unbelievably tough time since he left Iran for complete his education. While in England he learned that his boyfriend was with someone else, then that he had been arrested and under (presumably) torture revealed Mehdi's name, and then Mehdi learned that his former boyfriend had been executed for "being gay". All this when he was 18 - he is now 19.

Yes ... I'm a Brit - and I am totally ashamed of my country and the European Union over this.

Posted by nerva | December 24, 2007 4:29 PM
49

Please get "Mehdi" to get in touch with us if he is unfortunate enough to be deported back to the Uk.
Either via IRQO or gayasylum@yahoo.co.uk or Okuddus@yahoo.co.uk
Leicester England

Posted by Omar Kuddus | December 29, 2007 7:26 AM
50

Please get "Mehdi" to get in touch with us if he is unfortunate enough to be deported back to the Uk.
Either via IRQO or gayasylum@yahoo.co.uk or Okuddus@yahoo.co.uk
Leicester England

Posted by Omar Kuddus | December 29, 2007 7:26 AM

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