baraka,
GAY HOMELAND FOUNDATION
PRESS
RELEASE
GHF
PR EN 2007/002 (Public)
05 July 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
baraka and GHF announce vigil commemorating gay and lesbian
victims of Iran’s Ayatollah regime for 19 July 2007 in Cologne, Germany
The Gay
Homeland Foundation, an organization dedicated to furtherance of a gay
national movement and cultural progress of the gay-lesbian community, and baraka, an international self-organization group of gay,
lesbian und bisexual immigrants in Cologne, have announced the first political
demonstration commemorating all gay and lesbian victims of the Ayatollah regime
in Iran in Cologne on 19 July 2007. A vigil is scheduled to begin at 17:30 at
the “Memorial for Lesbian and Gay victims of National Socialism” near the Hohenzollern bridge on the left Rhine bank
in Cologne, Germany.
RUBICON, Cologne's
counseling center for gays and lesbians, is also supporting the event.
19 July
2007 is the anniversary of the 2005 execution of two homosexual teenagers,
Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, who were believed to be lovers and were
denounced to the police by a family member.
Authorities
later distributed official information suggesting that the two teenagers were
executed because of a rape of a 13-year old boy. In Iran, such accusations are
routinely applied against homosexuals to justify a death sentence, since the
regular proof by four witnesses (as prescribed by Sharia) can not be
realistically supplied.
The
two executed teenagers will always remind us of the fate of many of our
brothers and sisters in Iran who were tortured and murdered by the Ayatollah
regime and its death squads.
In today’s
Iran, gays and lesbians still suffer the worst oppression and live in daily
fear of denunciation. The country’s harsh Islamic regime has declared a
downright war against homosexuals, reminiscent of ethnic cleansing in its
perfidy: Specially trained agents routinely entrap gay men in internet forums. In
this atmosphere of constant fear, many commit suicide or undergo unnecessary
sex-change operations.
The Gay Homeland Foundation (GHF) last year appealed
to the international community to cease deporting gay and lesbian asylum-seekers
to persecuting countries, and to consider instead the establishment of a
self-administered territory for the gay and lesbian people.
Today,
GHF and baraka urge everyone to remember that in this age of gay pride
parades, pool parties and liberal lives for some, a large part of our people
still lives in a state of daily fear of death, deprivation of any human
dignity, and subject to the will and whim of the enemy. Let each of us consider
this day whether we as a community are doing enough to protect our brethren
from their tormentors.
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418 words
CONTACT INFORMATION:
The Gay
Homeland Foundation is an organization dedicated to furtherance of a gay
national movement and cultural progress of the gay-lesbian community; the
administrative center is located in Cologne, Germany. The Foundation is actively
investigating the possibilities for establishment of self-administered GLBT
settlements and organizing the LGBT community in a sovereign political entity.
For additional background material, please visit: http://gayhomeland.org
For further event information, please contact Viktor
Zimmermann:
viktor.zimmermann@gayhomeland.org
tel. +49-221-1691810
baraka is an
international self-organization group of gay, lesbian und bisexual immigrants
in Cologne. The group meets every Friday at 18:00 in RUBICON (Rubensstr. 8-10,
50676 Cologne, Germany).
For additional background material, please visit: http://baraka-online.info
For further event information, please contact Jacek
Marjanski:
baraka_koeln@yahoo.de
tel: +49-221-27 66 999-88 (Friday only)