Denied Identity: Human Rights Abuses Against Iran's LGBT Community

(November 7, 2013) - Since its inception, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) has discriminated, in law and in practice, against its lesbian and gay population. While transgender Iranians are legally protected if they start the sex-change process, there is significant concern that gay and lesbian individuals could be unnecessarily encouraged to undergo sex-reassignment surgery.

In addition, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Iranians are subject to a wide range of abusive and discriminatory practices such as custodial rape, arrests at social functions, expulsion from educational institutions and denial of employment opportunities.

The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center’s latest 60-page report, “Denied Identity: Human Rights Abuses against Iran's LGBT Community”, provides an analysis of this discrimination under Iranian laws and in practice, and details how this treatment is in contravention of international laws.

The report contains a thorough examination of discriminatory provisions in the IRI's Islamic Penal Code, as well as numerous witness accounts from LGBT persons about the persecution and discrimination they faced in Iran.

Link:

http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/publications/reports/

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