Some homosexual individuals in Iran have been pressured to undergo sex reassignment surgery in order to avoid legal and social persecution for being gay.

[22] Under the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah, the last monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty, homosexuality was criminalised, though it was mostly tolerated even to the point of allowing news coverage of a mock same-sex wedding.

Janet Afary has argued that the 1979 Revolution was partly motivated by moral outrage against the Shah's government, and in particular against a mock same-sex wedding between two young men with ties to the court.

[2][3][4][14][15] In Iran, this framework is occasionally viewed as a means to "correct" individuals who may otherwise express same-sex desires, offering an option to conform to heteronormative standards (Najmabadi, 2011, p.

[2][3] Same-sex sexual activities that occur between consenting adults are criminalized and carry a maximum punishment of death,[2][3][4] though not generally implemented.

[citation needed] Rape, whether same-sex or opposite-sex, often results in execution, but is related to adultery and sodomy in Iran's penal code rather than being classified as "sexual assault".

Approved by the Parliament on July 30, 1991, and finally ratified by the Guardian Council on November 28, 1991, articles 108 through 140 distinctly deal with same-sex sexual activities and their punishments in detail.

According to Articles 125 and 126, if sodomy or any lesser crime referred to above, is proved by confession and the person concerned repents, the judge may request that he be pardoned.

According to Articles 127, 129, and 130, the punishment for female same-sex sexual activity (mosāheqe) involving persons who are mature, of sound mind and consenting, is 100 lashes.

At the discretion of the Iranian court, fines, prison sentences, and corporal punishment are usually carried out rather than the death penalty, unless the crime was a rape.

On March 14, 1994, famous dissident writer Ali Akbar Saidi Sirjani was charged with offenses ranging from drug dealing to espionage to homosexual activity.

Article 638- Anyone who explicitly violates any religious taboo in public beside being punished for the act should also be imprisoned from ten days to two months, or should be flogged (74 lashes).

[35] In a November 2007 meeting with his British counterpart, Iranian member of parliament Mohsen Yahyavi admitted that the government in Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality.

[37] On September 5, 2022, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported that the two women had been sentenced to death on charges of "corruption on earth" and human tracking.

On March 15, 2005, the daily newspaper Etemad reported that the Tehran Criminal Court sentenced two men to death following the discovery of a video showing them engaged in sexual acts to which they confessed.

[41] They apparently confessed to the authorities that they were in a relationship and in love, prompting a court to charge them with mohārebe ("waging war against God") and lavāt (sodomy).

[44] According to Human Rights Watch, in February 2008, the police in Isfahan raided a party in a private home and arrested 30 men, who were held indefinitely without a lawyer on suspicion of homosexual activity.

[48] Gay Iranian couples are often afraid to be seen together[49] in public, and report that LGBTQ people were widely stereotyped as being sex-obsessed child molesters, rapists, and disease-ridden.

[2] As Article 20 in Clause 14 states, a person who has sex reassignment surgery can legally change their name and gender on the birth certification upon the order of court.

[14] Hujatal Islam Kariminia asserts that society is largely unaware of the clear distinction between homosexuality and transsexuality, comparing the gap between the two to the "Great Wall of China" (Najmabadi, 2014, p.

[citation needed] In 2002, a book entitled Witness Play by Cyrus Shamisa was banned from shelves (despite being initially approved) because it said that certain notable Persian writers were homosexuals and bisexuals.

[56] In 2004, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art loaned a collection of artwork that formerly belonged to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi that had been locked away since the Revolution in 1979 to the Tate Britain.

[66][67] The 2015 graphic novel Yousef and Farhad, published by OutRight Action International in English and Persian, explores the relationship between two young Iranian men.

The story, produced in collaboration with Khalil Bandib, an American-Algerian political cartoonist, and Amir Soltani, a well-known Iranian-American author who is also the creator of the best-selling graphic novel "Behesht-e Zahra," highlights the struggles for acceptance and aims to foster understanding among families.

[75] The consequences of a same-sex relationship deemed a punishable crime or even death in Iran, results in a toil that forces many LGBT people to seek asylum in countries where the life situation is better.

In March 2006, Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk said that it was now clear "that there is no question of executions or death sentences based solely on the fact that a defendant is gay", adding that homosexuality was never the primary charge against people.

[82] In a November 2007 meeting with his British counterpart, Iranian member of parliament, Mohsen Yahyavi admitted that the government in Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality.

"[84] In June 2019, in a press conference held in Tehran between Mohammad Javad Zarif Minister of Foreign Affairs and Heiko Maas Minister of Foreign Affairs, openly gay German journalist Paul Ronzheimer of the tabloid Bild asked Zarif "Why are homosexuals executed in Iran because of their sexual orientation?

According to international and local media reports, on April 13 at least 30 men suspected of homosexual conduct were arrested by IRGC agents at a private party in Isfahan Province.

The law requires all male citizens over age 18 to serve in the military, but exempts gay men and transgender individuals, who are classified as having mental disorders.