At an April 16, 2012 cleric convention in the Iranian city of Qom, senior ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli spoke against homosexuality and the Western practice of legalizing gay rights. He claimed that, according to the Koran, homosexuals are inferior to animals, and so are those who pass laws granting them rights.
It should be mentioned that, in Iran, engaging in homosexual relations is an offences punishable by death.[1]An Iranian website explains that, according to the Koran, an individual over the age of 18 who has been convicted of homosexuality by an Islamic court must be executed by burning or by being thrown off a mountain.[2]
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in New York in 2007 that there are no homosexuals in Iran.[3]
Following are excerpts from the Ayatollah's speech:[4]
Ayatollah Javadi-Amoli: According to the Koran, Homosexuals Are Inferior to Animals, as Are Those Who Legalize Their Rights
"...When a certain society commits a new sin, it brings a new agony upon itself. Problems like the AIDS [epidemic], and others like it, did not exist in history. It is not that they existed and people [simply] did not know the cure. Just as world events affect [humans], their actions affect the world and the events that take place in it...
"Lot said to his people: 'You have committed sins unmatched in world history – [acts that have never been committed] in the animal kingdom, nor the demon [kingdom], nor in the [kingdom] of man.' Even birds, predators, dogs and pigs do not commit such acts. According to the Koran, those who approve such actions in their parliament are inferior to animals.
"Man is not like an eternal angel, but must leave offspring. Allah almighty set marriage as the way [to ensure] human existence, and even made it pleasurable, so that man would enjoy it, just as He made eating pleasurable... Just as eating is necessary, and must be done in moderation, so is marriage necessary, and must be done in a reasonable manner...
The Koran... says of them [i.e. homosexuals] that they are inferior to animals. The Koran, the traditions, and the religious bans are what makes us human. True, we are not like the West in terms of industrial [progress]. But while they are more advanced [than us in this way], in terms of [sexuality] they are uncivilized. According to the Koran, their lives are lower than those of animals. Even dogs and pigs do not commit this heinous act (sodomy), which they legalize in their parliaments."
Endnotes:
[1] An Iranian human rights organization operating from outside the country reported in September 2011 that three men in Ahwaz were executed for engaging in homosexual relations. http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2228.
