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Queers do exist in Iran and they need your support

During the past year, generous donations from IGLHRG, Egale Canada, Al-Fatiha Foundation and many individual human rights defenders have made it possible for the Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO) to help the Iranian queer community around the world.

Throughout the past year, we at IRQO were amazingly successful at creating a global shift in consciousness around Iranian queer issues. From the national and international conferences and meetings we attended and organized, to the media and public awareness campaigns we engaged in, IRQO has raised significant awareness about the plight of Iranian queers.

In January of 2007, we organized a Human Rights Symposium, which brought together acclaimed scholars and human rights activists, and provided the first forum for examining the systematic violation of human rights in Iran based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion and disability. Without your contributions, this event would not have been possible. Your donations also made it possible for us to purchase a computer and some other essential office equipments, which enabled us in turn to publish our monthly journal, Cheraq, without interruption. Providing a space for sharing experiences, stories, and academic debates, Cheraq, which is now received by more than 4000 Iranians every month, is slowly but effectively helping to create a proud and informed Iranian queer community. Its continuing success, however, depends in part upon the support of gracious donors such as yourself.

IRQO has also recently played an extremely influential role in cases of Iranian queer asylum seekers. The organization sends letters of support on behalf of Iranian queer asylum seekers to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and to European countries where refugees are usually tried for their cases; IRQO carefully follows up their cases to the end. As a result of our efforts, more than seventy refugees have been granted status just in the past year, many of whom had been waiting for three or four years. By documenting and reporting cases of torture, persecution, execution and other human rights violations that occur in Iran on a regular basis, IRQO has helped remove any international doubt about the dismal situation of queers in Iran.

IRQO has also been trying in the past year to provide financial support for queer asylum seekers. Many such asylum seekers suffer extreme financial difficulties as their families and friends have abandoned them. In Turkey, where many of them seek refuge, they are not permitted to work and do not have access to health facilities, medication, food or adequate housing. They often live in crowded houses, with no heat or sanitary facilities. For example, currently, in a small two-bedroom apartment that IRQO has paid for with your donations, seven of our refugees live in terror as the landlord has sold the building. To move to another apartment would require a considerable amount of money for down payments as that is the procedure for renting flats in Turkey. The young men will have to rent more than one flat and there is no money available for this. A portion of your donations were used to pay off their rent and that of other asylum seekers for a period of one year. Unfortunately, IRQO has no more funds remaining with which to support these people and many of them are thus in immediate danger of homelessness if additional donations are not made soon.

We are thankful for your past contributions and we hope that we have given you an idea of how instrumental it has been in easing our financial burden and advancing our cause. We further hope that we have made clear our urgent need for your continuing support. We would be more than happy to provide you with further information regarding our activities.

We are grateful for your concern and compassion on behalf of Iranian queers, and we look forward to your future contributions.

(a Refugee house in Turkey - 7 of our refugees live in this house)

for more information please read About IRQO.