Hey guys, just found this interesting article about being gay in Iran. Good read! Being Gay in Iran by Farhad Dolatizadeh - Seattle Features - The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper
Ugh. I've seen part of the documentary mentioned. The guy told them NOT to bring the camera, but they claimed they had 'group consent'. This was clearly a bold face lie, and they put the lives of everyone at risk. I hope there is some type of compensation that can be gained for what happened. The documentary was clearly done by straight people for a straight audience, with little or no concern for the lives of the people involved. Honestly, there is so much journalistic malpractice going on that everyone who worked on the piece should be fired. You can guarantee that at least some people who were shown have been arrested in Iran and likely have been tortured if not killed. As a result of what they've done, that first open LGBT activist group in Iran likely has come under serious stress. I'd be shocked if it's still around, or still operating at it's original strength. People likely abandoned it in droves to protect themselves. Yeah, it was such a great idea. 'Hey, let's show where all the LGBT people in Tehran meet up every Tuesday, show their faces, and give the name of the place that they meet. I mean, what's the worst that can happen in a country where you can be put to death for being gay?!' Bastards.
I don't understand the thinking behind the filmmakers either Aldrick. Do you have a link to the documentary?
The link I found it at was here. It's divided in three parts. Click next at the top to see each part. The cafe incident takes place at 5:41 in the first part. The guy tells them not to bring the camera, and then they hide it and claim they have "group consent". That makes no sense because if they had "group consent" they'd have no reason to hide the camera. They actively put the lives of everyone in that documentary in danger. I'm not against helping LGBT Iranians get their stories out - they should! They should have just had their faces blurred and voices distorted. Or have been in full black silhouette also with voice distortion to protect their identities. If they wanted to show people on camera, they could have showed those already living in Canada who had fled Iran and were safe. It makes no sense to do it any other way, because they put their lives directly in danger. The documentary was done by CBC News "Sunday Night". They didn't just go to the cafe. In the third part they went to a park where LGBT (mostly gay men) gathered, named the park, and showed faces there as well. They only blurred the faces of people who directly asked not to be shown, and really - they didn't do all that good of job of concealing identities. They claimed that everyone they showed gave their permission, but clearly that's not the case as evidenced by this article. I'm willing to bet that the majority - especially those in the park and cafe - didn't even know they were being recorded. I swear it's just disgusting. I'd seriously ban these idiots from journalism if I could, and make them pay a fine for the damages they've caused to the lives of everyone they showed. I think this is just an example of straight people "not getting it" - not understanding how serious something like this is...
This is so sad... I'm really glad he made it into Canada to tell his story, but to think of others, who were executed or had to suffer prison terms.. Why are ideas that allow people to hate others for a non-existent entity still permitted?
