CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Iran has banned a leading daily newspaper for the second time within a year after the paper published an interview with a woman accused of being a gay activist, according to Agence France-Presse.
Although the ban on Shargh, a popular newspaper among Iranian liberals, has not been officially confirmed by authorities, the Fars news agency has cited on Monday that an informed source within the culture ministry said that the press watchdog had ordered a temporary ban on the paper.
"We had an article which was an interview with an expatriate writer," Mehdi Rahmanian, Shargh's license holder and managing director, told AFP. "They said she had moral problems; they say she is homosexual and promotes that in her Web log. But we talked to her as a poet."
Shargh published a full-page interview last Saturday with Saghi Ghahreman, an expatriate Iranian poet currently living in Canada, under the headline "Feminine Language."
Another publication, the daily Kayhan--well-known for repeated attacks on the moderate press--claims that Ghahreman was the leader "of the Iranian homosexuals organization" and a "counterrevolutionary fugitive."
Shargh lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai claims that the ban is unjustified, as there was no evidence of "vice in [the interview]."
"The reason for the ban is unlawful because the judiciary has not protested against the individual who was interviewed," he said, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.
Ghahreman never explicitly referenced homosexuality in the interview, but said that "sexual boundaries must be flexible.... The immoral is imposed by culture on the body."
Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, an Islamic republic and individuals convicted of engaging homosexual sex can, in theory, be sentenced to death. However, there is no proof that the crimes are consistently pursued.
The paper responded on Monday by publishing a front-page apology for the interview, stating it had been "unaware of this person's personal traits" and would "avoid such people and movements" in future articles.
Shargh had only recently resumed publication after finishing a nine-month ban in May for publishing a cartoon that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad decided was offensive. (The Advocate)
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Here Are Our 2024 Election Predictions. Will They Come True?
November 07 2023 1:46 PM
Meet all 37 of the queer women in this season's WNBA
April 17 2024 11:24 AM
17 Celebs Who Are Out & Proud of Their Trans & Nonbinary Kids
November 30 2023 10:41 AM
Which State Is the Queerest? These Are the States With the Most LGBTQ+ People
December 11 2023 10:00 AM
These 27 Senate Hearing Room Gay Sex Jokes Are Truly Exquisite
December 17 2023 3:33 PM
10 Cheeky and Homoerotic Photos From Bob Mizer's Nude Films
November 18 2023 10:05 PM
42 Flaming Hot Photos From 2024's Australian Firefighters Calendar
November 10 2023 6:08 PM
These Are the 5 States With the Smallest Percentage of LGBTQ+ People
December 13 2023 9:15 AM
Here are the 15 gayest travel destinations in the world: report
March 26 2024 9:23 AM
Watch Now: Advocate Channel
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Latest Stories
George Santos's latest money-making plot? Reviving his drag persona, Kitara Ravache
April 29 2024 5:12 PM
Pride
Yahoo FeedHow did the Biden administration just make health care fairer for LGBTQ+ people?
April 29 2024 1:54 PM
Candace Parker, queer WNBA legend, is retiring 'privately with the ones I love'
April 29 2024 12:42 PM
Tennessee parents beg judge not to release school shooter’s journals publicly
April 29 2024 11:58 AM
12 photos exploring the lives of Thailand’s Ladyboy community
April 29 2024 11:55 AM
Parent arrested as Ryan Walters called 'bully and bigot' at Oklahoma meeting
April 29 2024 10:15 AM