In February 1978, a year before the religious revolution that ended the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza I, Iran was experiencing an unprecedented social opening. Miniskirts filled the streets. The atmosphere was even conducive to celebrating. lucky wedding of two gay. It was a secular ceremony and the connection had no legal validity, but there was a wedding ceremony and “I do”, celebrity guests, and lots of luxuries.
Everything was prepared to reveal that it was the union of two Iranian men, the fruit of their love. And it was held in a well-known place in Tehran at the time, the luxurious Commodore Hotel. Participating artists, famous actors, government officials and journalists, However, the photos of the event were not allowed to be published. The bride and groom arrived in a chariot pulled by a white mare, and the spotless suits of the serving waiters were white. From the top floor terrace, high society guests could watch the entire Tehran night.
A few months later, the Ayatollahs seized power with the support of the popular revolution. He is fed up with the shah’s political tyranny and waste. But the dream of a new Iran soon turned into a nightmare for many. The new radical religious regime penetrated all layers of society, severely limited freedoms and imposed a rigid version of Islam. To date, homosexuality has been banned and persecuted in Iran, and men accused of “leadership” continue to be executed.
A car and even a clergyman
That “wedding” established the union of two homosexuals from the Iranian high society of the time. one of the boyfriends bijan safari, son of a near-prox senator. Safari was an intellectual, painter, and architect, and had designed some of the venues in the Iranian capital, including one of the Shah’s palaces, Niavaran. her boyfriend sohrab ruin, also an architect and the son of one of the country’s great fortunes. The story of the eccentric and rebellious ceremonies is told by the exiled Persian broadcaster Radio Ranginkaman (Radio Rainbow) of Iranian, Afghan and Tajik LGTBI activists. Some memories of the event have been reproduced on Iranwire by blogger Shaya Goldoust, from the Prensa Ibérica group, who allowed it to be reproduced in EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA.
The ceremony started at nine o’clock at night. Holding hands, two men in suits entered and swept through the crowd of guests., According to testimonies collected by Radio Ranginkaman. When the ceremony was over, both bride and groom rode in a carriage to a nearby park designed by Bijan Safari, which is a meeting place for the gay community.
At first, the couple’s important families did not take kindly to the idea, but eventually agreed. Them they knew they could not register the marriageor, but they wanted everything else to look as royal as possible.
They chose the luxury Commodore Hotel. It was well known among the gay community for its sauna, restaurants and dance floors. And next to Şengöl Bar, with some of the best cocktails in the city; martini, vodka, whiskey.
The ceremony was attended by famous guests and government officials, including one of the Shah’s nephews or Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashlou, who would later be nominated for an Oscar. Security was provided by the Imperial Guard, according to eyewitnesses cited by Iranian media.
Opposition to the government used the meeting to declare the corruption of the regime. “The courtiers were so busy having fun that they resorted to a strange ceremony involving the wedding of two men,” said a radio host at the time.. Communist publications also used the event against a government. whom they wanted to overthrow. “Two filthy men,” wrote the pro-Soviet party newspaper Touch. The regime, which for years used the wedding as an example of pro-Western corruption, now denies it ever happened.
attacks against Mohammad Ali Safari, the senator father of one of her boyfriends, It increased after the wedding. The “newlywed” couple went on their honeymoon to France and never returned to their country. Bijan Safari died in Paris in 2019 and Sohrab Mahvi died in the United States shortly after.
Tehran’s Commodore Hotel now One of the ministry buildings of the Iranian Government. Located on Takhte Jamshid street, coincidentally, it was very close to the US embassy that would be occupied by students loyal to Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. They held dozens of Americans hostage for 444 days.
Gays ‘secretly’ coming out of the closet in Iran
Despite the enormous penalty for homosexuality in Iran, there is a certain covert activism. Members of the Iranian LGTBI community are revolting as much as they can.
One person’s voice-over sounds, “I am a gay man in Iran and I am in the square of Qom, one of the most religious cities in the country.” Video recorded by dozens of gays in Iran. A kind of protest and catharsis. “We exist, although it may be very difficult for some of you to accept,” says another. “I think God gave me the chance to be a lesbian,” another person says. “We are human and live among you.” Sometimes theocratic regime simply denies its existence. Is he gay? The Iranian President of the time, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said in an interview in 2007 that we do not have this.