Gays Join Protest Against Ahmadinejad Speech At Columbia
'In Iran we don't have homosexuals'
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(New York City) Gay activists holding posters of what is general believed to be a picture of two gay men being executed in Iran joined hundreds of other demonstrators protesting the appearance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University on Monday.

In his speech Ahmadinejad portrayed himself as a man of peace and suggested he had been misquoted on earlier remarks about attacking Israel.  But he also said there is a need for new research into the Holocaust asking why varying views of the event aren't allowed to be expressed.

Ahmadinejad then said that the Palestinian people are paying for the Holocaust.

During a question and answer session following the address he refused to be pinned down on earlier statements where he questioned that the Holocaust ever occurred.

The Iranian leader was also asked about reports men who are gay or perceived to be gay have been executed. 

He refused to confirm or deny that executions of gays had taken place but then compared homosexuals to drug dealers and other criminals.  

"Why should they get sympathy?" he asked. "Don't you have capital punishment in the United States?"

When pressed further Ahmadinejad said: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like you do in your country.  We do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it."

The remarks were greeted with loud jeers and laughter from the mostly student audience.

"Our nation is free," Ahmadinejad declared. 

The assertion brought a rebuke from America's biggest LGBT civil rights organization.

"Today’s assertions by President Ahmadinejad that there are no homosexuals in Iran would be simply absurd were it not for the fact that international human rights watchers have long documented some of the most horrific acts of persecution and violence committed against gay people in Iran," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign.

"These acts of terror have included incarcerations, beatings, and brutal executions. Ahmadinejad’s denial that there are gay people in Iran shows the extent to which he devalues the lives of the many citizens his government has and continues to violate."

Opponents of the government have accused Iran for several years of rounding up gays under Sharia law.  In 2005 two young men hanged in a public square in northern Iran after were alleged to have been found guilty of homosexuality. The government claimed they had been convicted of kidnapping and raping a male teen.

In May a western LGBT organization for gay Iranians says it has learned police have arrested as many as 87 gays at a private house party.

Some international gay rights groups believe that more than 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979.

Columbia has taken a considerable amount of criticism for inviting Ahmadinejad to speak.  But in introducing the Iranian leader Columbia President Lee Bollinger called Ahmadinejad to task.

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator. And so I ask you, why have women, members of the Ba'hai faith, homosexuals and so many of our colleagues become targets of persecution in your country?''

At the opening of his speech Ahmadinejad called Bollinger's remarks "an insult to the information and the knowledge of the audience here.'' 

©365Gay.com 2007