Iran: Zionists spread homosexuality to control world

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

Journalist slams report in state-controlled Iranian paper as Nazi propaganda; experts say it shows "how desperate Iran actually is."

BERLIN – A report in a state-controlled Iranian paper last week asserting that the “Zionist regime” “spreads homosexuality” across the globe in order to pursue its goal of world domination has sparked fierce criticism from experts on Iran because of its homophobia and anti- Semitism.

Mashregh News, an outlet affiliated with radical Islamists in Qom, wrote that the US and the UK are using money from Jews to spread homosexuality throughout the world. The article blasted Israel for promoting demonstrations for gay rights and specifically decried Tel Aviv as the gay paradise on earth. It also ridiculed Conservative Judaism for accepting gay rabbis, and urged Western governments to stop people from engaging in gay – and therefore immoral – actions, and provide medical treatment for homosexuals in order to stop their conduct.

Writing on Monday on the gay website GGG, Chris Karnak said the Mashregh item “reads like an article from the Nazi agitation paper Der Stürmer.”

Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, an expert on minority groups in Iran, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that the article is “against gays, against the West and anti-Semitic.” He added that “the text legitimizes the execution of gays in Iran; they made a text not only to ridicule the West but to provide a reason why Iran executes gays.”

The Iranian report also attacked Hollywood for depicting gays in positive terms on the silver screen. Moreover, according to the article, schools in California include homosexuality in their education plans because of a recommendation of a Jewish university.

Saba Farzan, a German-Iranian expert in the field of human rights in the Islamic Republic, wrote the Post via email on Tuesday: “This recent attack on human decency by the Iranian regime is tragically not surprising, but these vicious words continue to hurt. Once again this barbaric dictatorship has revealed its hatred towards gays and lesbians as well as towards the State of Israel and Western countries.”

“This is especially ridiculous as in the Middle East, Israel is the only state where the gay community is safe and protected,” she continued. “The Islamic Republic shows with this uncivilized world view how desperate it actually is.”

Berlin gay pride parade draws 700,000 people

BERLIN - Agence France-Presse

Camp costumes and colorful drag flooded the streets of Berlin on Saturday as hundreds of thousands took part in the city’s annual Christopher Street Day gay pride parade.

Marching and dancing to thumping techno music, the crowds made their way from the cosmopolitan Kreuzberg district to the Brandenburg Gate, where DJs and musicians were scheduled to keep the party going until midnight.

The German capital’s gay mayor, Klaus Wowereit, kicked off the event. Organizers said 700,000 people had taken part in the parade, which celebrated its 34th anniversary this year.

The treatment of homosexuals in Russia was a hot topic at the parade, with some participants bearing giant portraits of President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev retouched in the flamboyant style of gay French artists Pierre and Gilles.

Gay pride parades are banned in Moscow and since 2006 have been systematically dispersed when organizers try to start them.

Homosexuality was a crime in Russia until 1993 and was classified as a mental illness until 1999.

Christopher Street Day parades commemorate the Stonewall uprising of June 28, 1969, when police harassment at a New York gay bar sparked five days of rioting that launched the U.S. gay rights movement.

Celebrate Israel Parade Allows Openly LGBT Marchers for First Time

 By Jess Wisloski, Paul Lomax

UPPER EAST SIDE — Blue and white flags of Israel waved in the air alongside the rainbow flags that symbolize gay pride for the first time in the history of the Celebrate Israel Parade Sunday.

A crowd that was estimated to be 35,000 turned out for, and marched along, Fifth Avenue starting at East 57th Street in Lenox Hill and ending at East 75th Street.

And, for the first time ever, organizers embraced expressions of faith and identity, new and old, by allowing members of gay Jewish organizations to march openly.

"Today for the first time in a long time, we really truly felt like part of the Jewish community," said Mordechai Levovitz, co-executive director of Jewish Queer Youth, which organized 135 marchers.

"It was big first for the LGBT community," he added.

His was the Jewish group to use the word 'gay' on T-shirts and banners, and he said the enthusiasm and turnout among the GLBTQ community was greater than even he expected.

"We had 135 people in our group," he said. "That's amazing. I had 60 T-shirts, and I didn't think I'd be able to give out even that many."

He said the struggle for acceptance and recognition within the parade, which organizers call largest public celebration of Israel in the world, began in 1993.

At that time, The LGBT Synagogue, or Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, was kicked out of the parade after registering, when some schools said they would boycott if the group marched openly, he said.

Since 2000, the same congregation, based at 57 Bethune St., was invited to march with other synagogues, but only if they didn't display the word 'gay' on banners, said Levovitz.

"That's like closeting people," he said. "That wasn't satisfying and that wasn't a way to represent Israel. For the first time ever, gay and lesbian people were able to march under a gay and lesbian banner," he said.

Marchers in the JQY group came from the Manhattan JCC, A Wider Bridge, which connects LGBTQ people through trips to Israel, and Congregation Beit Simchat Torah Synagogue.

"It was amazing, it was so much fun. We're on such a high from it," said Levovitz. "The crowd was overwhelmingly supportive."

The parade's theme in its 64th year was "Israel Branching Out."

The parade honored the Jewish state, and thousands of people lined up along the length of the parade's route to take in the decorative floats, cultural performances, bands, and even colorful clowns.

Summer weather bathed the Upper East Side onlookers, and elected officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, Senator Chuck Schumer, Council Speaker Christine Quinn and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly all waved as they passed by.

Issac Imir, 60, from Great Neck, Long Island enjoyed a great viewing spot on East 60th Street. "It's a beautiful day and the parade is just wonderful," he said. "I'll be here again next year like I was last year."