Stefano Parisi, an important exponent of the Italian center-right coalition, said he would vote against both the registry of de facto partnership and civil unions but in recent days, he has discovered a strange interest for the Iranian gay community: “We don’t hang homosexuals from cranes”, he wrote on Twitter. Meanwhile, The Advocate (an historical bimonthly publication) headlined: “Anti-LGBTQ Iranian Regime Promises Retaliation Against U.S.” The newspaper explains that tensions between the White House and Tehran increased after the U.S. withdrew from a nuclear deal that “was controversial even among many supporters of Obama, largely because of Iran’s anti-LGBTQ laws.”
The assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani obviously has nothing to do with the rights of sexual minorities in Iran, but why not take advantage of the persecution of homosexuals, bisexuals and trans-people in the country to justify a war that you want to detonate for all other reasons? Pinkwashing experts (the practice of exploiting LGBTQIA rights to present violent and repressive actions as progressive) are already at work and following the usual paradox by being at the service of politicians who hate sexual minorities. For this reason, do not be surprised if you will come across an “Armiamoci e partite” (Let us arm ourselves for the war you will be going to) by some far-right politician moved by the fate of gay men in Tehran, while they continue to hinder a law to defend those of their own country.
Read also: Turkey: What Erdoğan’s Homophobia Shows Us about His Power
Tattered rainbows
What all of this really means for the LGBTQIA rights: an escalation carried out on both sides and dramatically accelerated by the murder of Soleimani? Let’s try to understand who benefits from it and who does not. It is beneficial to President Donald Trump who not only can divert public attention from the undergoing impeachment process (would the U.S. dismiss a president while on the verge of a World War III?) but also galvanize the fundamentalists of his electorate: those evangelical convinced that a great war in the Middle East will mark the start of the Apocalypse and the return of Christ. Both Trump and his fundamentalists supporters have deeply homophobic and transphobic positions.
For similar reasons, Benjamin Netanyahu’s image is also strengthened. With the early March election in sight, he desperately need to divert the attention of Israeli public opinion from the multiple charges of corruption, fraud and abuse of trust. Netanyahu’s electorate is also energized by the war on Iran. Let’s not forget that despite the propaganda about Israel being “the only rainbow oasis in the Middle East,” with the right wing in power in Tel Aviv, all the bills of rights for sexual minorities have been rejected by the parliament. There’s also another homophobic regime who is rejoicing for the tense situation: the Saudi governament of Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the arch enemy of Iran as well as of homosexuals, bisexuals, and trans-people.
By bolstering these homophobic politicians, will the Principalists front, the ultra-conservative and ultra-homophobic Iranian, be weakened? It’s difficult to imagine that anyone will discover their love for sexual minorities through rainbow-colored bombs (falsely) presented as a gift to the LGBTQIA community (victim of massacres just like anyone else). At any rate, the conflict would probably extend to neighboring countries: Lebanon being one with the highest chances which would decree the end of a promising secular and democratic revolution.
Read also: Maryam Khatoon Molkara and Transsexuality in Shia Islam
Beyond the nose
Even if a conflict with this motivation could be really justified, this conceivable war would be a tragedy both in general and for the sexual minorities rights. The LGBTQIA’s public opinion, is not only at risk to fall prey to the most obvious propaganda, but also of being glassy-eyed beyond the end of their nose. For example, like it happened in an article by LGBTQ Nation, which starts with a totally absurd title: “If Trump starts a war with Iran, America won’t be in top fighting shape.”
The article doesn’t seem to agree with “Trump’s capricious foreign policy and military decisions,” but ultimately reduces the matter to the fact the U.S. president banned transgender soldiers from the stars and stripes army: “While gay, lesbian, and bisexual soldiers would be among those sent to fight in Trump’s folly, the military would be lacking the institutional knowledge and simple firepower from trans soldiers booted from service on the commander-in-chief’s whim.” The problem is reduced to the absence of a few hundred soldiers (because “the country will need all the help it can get“) instead of the horror of war and the insanity of discrimination.
Pier Cesare Notaro
translation by Barbara Burgio
©202o Il Grande Colibrì
images: elaborations from ClipartWiki (CC0) / from OpenClipart-Vectors (CC0)
