A Proud Gay Aussie wrote on Mar 5
th, 2026 at 1:46am:
Why is the ‘gay press’ so cowardly on Iran?
The unwritten rule has been there for decades: the fight for gay equality halts at the borders of Islam
Here is an obvious thing. As well as repressing women, the regime is not exactly progressive when it comes to the issue of the gays. In fact this lack of acceptance, tolerance or ‘kindness’ extends to publicly hanging people by the neck from cranes for the ‘crime’ of being homosexual.
.....
Some of us have for years noted a particular oddity of the ‘rights movements’ as they have manifested in the West. Which is that however dogged – indeed dogmatic – they are at home, however much they will pursue a backbench MP or Republican congressman for not being completely on board with gay marriage or the transing of children,
they become silent at the borders of Islam.In a different universe, some 15 years ago or so – when the battle for gay equality was won – the remaining would-be warriors might have decided to continue their fight to highlight the abuse of gays in other countries. I mean real abuse, not just another story about the horrors of growing up under Section 28.
Imagine if instead of spending 15 years trying to push ‘trans kids’ as the next forefront of the rights struggles, the activists had decided to stick to the basics and become more geographically adventurous. They could have. Just about the only gay pride organisers I have any respect for (the others being mere party organisers) are the people who have tried to hold gay equality protests in places like Moscow. That is actually brave.
The unwritten rule has been there for decades: the fight for gay equality – as for women’s rights – halts at the borders of Islam. You might say that is simply because of cowardice, or that no western groups could have made any impact on the Ayatollah’s thinking anyway. Or perhaps – most likely – the cowardice is caused by a fear of accusations of having a ‘colonialist mindset’ (which I think we can agree is the most dangerous mindset of all).
You could believe any or all of these excuses. But I can’t help finding it interesting that Trump may have just done more for gay rights in Iran than any activist group in the West could ever have dreamed of. Not that they’ll thank him, of course. They’re probably too busy trying to find another way to demonise the creator of Harry Potter.
Douglas Murray