[Visit homanla.org Iranian Gay Lesbian Organization]
When your family would rather see you dead than gay.
By Dr. Ali Zarrabi

In 1989, after years of living in the closet both in Iran and Germany, I finally reached the point where I saw only two options: either I had to kill myself and end my depressed, closeted existence, or accept myself and deal with the consequences. I came out that year in June, when I went to my first Gay Pride in Berlin holding hands with another man.

My feelings of fear and shame have changed to anger: at my parents, my society, and the culture they forced on me. I'm angry at my parents for making my childhood such a constant hell. For not being there when I had to hide and cry because somebody, again, made a derogatory remark about me. [FULL STORY]