Iran’s LGBT community can only long for joy of Pride in Tel Aviv

Human rights organisations and LGBT activists have long argued that many gay and lesbian Iranians have been pressured into undergoing gender reassignment procedures because homosexuality is treated by the authorities as a disorder rather than a legitimate sexual orientation.

Over decades of persecution, Iran's LGBT community has built a largely hidden existence. Through private gatherings, underground parties, encrypted communications and trusted social circles, many have found ways to form relationships and communities beyond the reach of the authorities.

Social attitudes have evolved as well. Access to satellite television, the internet and the work of activists in the diaspora has exposed younger generations to different views on sexuality and gender, contributing to greater acceptance in parts of society, particularly among urban youth.

Attendees in the estimated 150,000-strong crowd at Tel Aviv Pride, June 12, 2026 (Jack GUEZ / AFP via Getty)AFP via Getty Images

"Last year was the toughest of my life," said Shayan, a gay man from Tehran.

"Being gay has always meant being treated like a criminal, but since last summer the regime has been targeting anyone it sees as different from its accepted norms. The situation has become much worse."

Others describe a climate of heightened fear following the recent conflicts.

"Since the war, the IRGC has established checkpoints across the city," said Mohammad, another gay man living in Tehran.

"Young soldiers stop cars and interrogate passengers. A friend of mine was arrested because he had trimmed his eyebrows, and a soldier didn't like it. They called him gay and took him out of the car."

According to Mohammad, his friend was held for four days before being formally informed of any charges.

"They searched his phone and found a gay dating app. He was tortured and held in solitary confinement for two months. Now he is waiting for a court hearing on charges of membership in anti-revolutionary groups."

Cases involving LGBT detainees rarely attract public attention. Friends and family members often avoid speaking publicly for fear that publicity could reinforce the authorities' accusations or expose detainees to harsher punishments.

‘Lisa’ (not her real name) is a lesbian activist from Tehran who took part in anti-regime protests in January. Since February, she has been living in hiding for fear of arrest.

"For the first time, I felt safe enough among the protesters to be myself," she said. "One night I even carried a rainbow flag."

The visibility of LGBT participants became one of the lesser-known aspects of the protest movement, with rainbow flags appearing at demonstrations inside Iran and among the diaspora abroad.

"On 8 January, during one of the mass protests, people were encouraging me," Lisa recalled. "It was heartwarming to see that the crowd was supportive and that we shared the same vision for the future of Iran, a place where everyone can live freely."

For some LGBT Iranians, that growing visibility may also help explain the authorities' increasingly harsh response.

"That's exactly why the regime is now harsher towards the LGBT community," said Shayan. "They saw with their own eyes that decades of propaganda against us have not worked.

“Younger generations and anti-regime protesters are supportive of our rights."

The risks remain acute. Lisa said one of her closest friends was arrested shortly after taking part in the protests.

"One night they stormed into my lesbian friend's house and arrested her," she said.

"She was very active in the demonstrations. We still don't know where she is. We don't know whether the authorities are aware that she is a lesbian, and I worry they may come after me as well."

Fearing arrest, Lisa said she has spent months moving between safe locations.

"I left my home in February and have been constantly changing where I stay," she said. "I've also had to leave my job."

Stories such as Lisa's illustrate the precarious existence of many LGBT Iranians, who face not only legal persecution but also the constant fear that political activism, personal relationships or even private messages could bring them to the attention of the security services.

Mohammad is sceptical of President Trump’s suggestions that recent military action has fundamentally altered the nature of the Iranian regime.

"It is very offensive when President Trump says he has changed the regime," he told the JC from Tehran. "What kind of regime change is it if LGBT people are still being arrested, intimidated and potentially executed?"

For Mohammad, genuine change would require a transformation of the political system itself.

"Regime change would mean a new constitution, a modern, democratic system that respects human rights in the way Americans or Israelis expect their governments to do," he said.

"What happened was that some officials were removed, and the remaining authorities carried on governing. That is not regime change."

He added: "For us in the LGBT community, regime change would mean a complete change in how Iran is governed. That is why people went into the streets, protested and, in many cases, lost their lives."

Mohammad rejects the notion that Iranian society is somehow unprepared for greater freedoms.

"Maybe President Trump thinks we don't deserve democracy, or that we are not civilised enough for it," Mohammad said. "He is wrong. Iran was a much more open society before the Islamic Revolution."

As evidence, Mohammad points to stories that have become part of LGBT folklore among some Iranians.

"We had gay marriages before many Western countries did," he said. "There are newspaper reports from the 1970s. I have one framed in my flat. It was about two architects, both close to the royal court, who openly celebrated their relationship."

Before the 1979 revolution, the Shah's Iran adopted a significantly more open approach to culture and the arts than the Islamic Republic that followed.

International artists, writers and intellectuals regularly visited the country, while Tehran emerged as one of the Middle East's leading cultural capitals.

Among them was the American openly gay pop artist Andy Warhol, who travelled to Iran in 1976 at the invitation of the royal court and produced portraits of Empress Farah Pahlavi.

Andy Warhol and 'Princess Of Iran', his portrait of Empress Farah Pahlavi (Graham Wood/Getty)Getty Images

The annual Shiraz Arts Festival was known for pushing artistic boundaries, while Tehran was home to bars, clubs and private social circles frequented by members of the LGBT community.

Some prominent figures from the era, including the Shah’s prime minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda, have long been the subject of speculation about their sexuality, although such claims were never publicly acknowledged. He was executed by the Islamic Regime in 1979.

For Mohammad, those memories challenge the notion that greater acceptance of LGBT people is somehow foreign to Iranian society.

As Tel Aviv prepares to host Pride celebrations this weekend, the contrast is not lost on those watching from across the region.

"Of course, we watch Tel Aviv with envy," Mohammad said. "People there can celebrate openly. They can live openly."

He paused before adding, "We could have had that too. We could have been celebrating in Tehran. We could have invited them here and visited them there. The only reason we cannot is because of the Islamic Republic."

For now, many members of Iran's LGBT community will have experienced Pride from afar, through social media, encrypted messaging apps and satellite television.

Tel Aviv's celebrations represent more than a party from some members of Iran’s LGBT community, who see a glimpse of a future they still hope one day to build for themselves.

"We want the same things everyone else wants," said Lisa from her hiding place in Tehran. "To live freely, without fear, and to be ourselves."