Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 18, 2004)
I juneJiL ITrmTÏÏTn^lneivs 15 illamette Financial Group, LLC M ideast C onflict Stop by our Pride Booth oreid Walker and learn m ore about how to leave your IRA assets Documentary reveals societal pressure put on gays and lesbians of Arab and Iranian descent by N adia A li M aiwandi to your partner, with m inim al taxes due! / J ■i ' ■I 3529 NE Broadway fjg Portland, OR 97232 •445 9390 ext. 101 flo reid @ w fgad visors.com Greg Look Congratulations 3550 Liberty Rd. S g J Salem, OR 97302 503.566.7266 ext.114 to all the Newlyweds! www.wfgadvisors.com greg@ w fgad visors.com Mark (left) and Chris are two of the subjects interviewed in the documentary I E xist: Voices from th e L esbian an d Qay M iddle E astern Community in th e U .S. community that was part of her upbringing. Yet, s marginalized as Middle Eastern ers are, there are some within the unlike Rafati, Shooshani lost no family or friends when she came out. community who remain nearly invisible. Her mother was surprised but became “much Although Middle Eastern cul more accepting” as time went on, Shooshani tures are known for close family ties and strong says. In the film, she relates a story where she and her mother are walking near a lake, and her relations to community, when coupled with the mother is explaining her concern. shame put on homosexuality, it can lead to a life She tells Shooshani: “1 see you drowning. of secrecy for gays and lesbians. Those who risk coming out risk losing their family and commu 1 see you going down the wrong path.” nity permanently. Shooshani points to a spider sitting on the The documentary / Exist: Voices from the water and says, “What if to you it looked like Lesbian and G ay Middle Eastern Community in I was drowning, but really I was happy splashing around and doing my own thing.7” She says from the U.S., which will screen June 26 in Portland, takes these unchartered issues head on. that point on there was a shift, and her mother Through interviews with gay and lesbian peo realized she could actually be happy this way. ple of Arab and Iranian descent and some of The Bay Area resident— who will participate in a panel discussion after the Portland screening their relatives, the film explores sexual orienta tion, suicidal ideation and family discord— sub along with Rafati and another woman featured jects not commonly discussed in public among in the film, Parandeh Kia— doesn’t see a conflict in being who she is. Middle Easterners. Out of the dozen or R eso u rces “A lot of people feel they have to choose. There’s so interviewed, Ghaza- leh’s story is the most • Unlearning Homophobia video series: always this sense of alarming. Her family www.unleaminghomophobia.com either/or. But being Iran- became deeply hostile • Iranian queer site: www.homanla.org 'an> Jewish and lesbian after learning she is a • Muslim queer site: www.ahfatiha.net has forced me to become lesbian. During a con • Goudarz Eghtedari’s site: whole, she says. frontation, Rafati’s eld www.voicesofthemiddleeast.com The films ground breaking subject matter est brother tried to impressed two Northeast Portland residents last choke her and had to be pulled off by two other November in Los Angeles. Goudarz Eghtedari, brothers. Repeated threats from her family forced an Iranian American, and Gabriele Ross, origi her and her partner to move out of their home for nally from Germany, were attending the First fear of their safety. That was four years ago, and Conference of Homosexuality in Iranian Soci family relationships have improved little, if any. ety, where they saw I Exist. “To lose everyone all at once was very Eghtedari is considered an expert on Iranian hard,” says Rafati, who immigrated from Iran sexual minorities and spoke at the conference. with her family in 1983. “I didn’t have anyone “I’ve been involved with gay and lesbian issues on my side.” in the Iranian American community since Subsequently, these events prompted the 1996,” when he wrote a research paper on the making of I Exist. After finding no reading mate subject. Eghtedari also testified in Japan for an rial on Middle Eastern queers to help her deal Iranian gay man facing deportation. with the tumultuous time, Rafati approached In March, the domestic partners— or “joint the filmmakers of De Colores, a documentary on cat owners,” as Ross calls it— decided to organ Latino gays and lesbians and part of the ize a public showing of 1 Exist, securing grants Unlearning Homophobia video series, to film from Equity Foundation and A Territory something on her community. She says they Resource. Ross hopes the event will raise aware agreed with enthusiasm. ness among Middle Easterners about queer issues Rafati, a clinical psychologist, notes that it is and illustrate that “Middle Easterners are no dif not simply culture that caused the hostile reaction ferent than anyone else.” J D from her family. “That’s too easy,” she says, acknowledging the homophobia that permeates I E x is t V oices from the L esbian and G ay in many comers of Western culture. “Also, many M iddle E astern C ommunity in th e U.S. will be Iranians I know have had very supportive families shown 6 p m. June 26 in Room 53 at Portland State when they came out.” University's Cramer Hall, 1721 S.W. Broadway. Bita Shooshani, also featured in the film, is one of those Iranians. Her family immigrated to the N adia A li M aiwandi is an A fghan free-lance States when she was 5 years old. She says she grew up in a "small Iranian town in the San Fernando journalist and technical writer living m Portland. She can be reached at af^anactwism @yahoo com . Valley” of California, alluding to the tight-knit HAPPY GAY PRIDE Celebrating Our Big FAT Gay Weddings! CELIA LYON TERRI POPEJOY ( 503 ) 345-9253 ( 503 ) 345-9252 Congrats to everyone! Bella Casa Realty Inc. 1 5 2 3 SE A nkeny, Portland, O R 9 7 2 1 4 • 5 0 3 -2 3 1 -S E L L ( 7 3 5 5 ) 1 5 Big City P ro d llC 6 ] 722 N Sum m er a t A lb in a loc al f o l k s , local p r o d u c e , o r g a n i c s , etc rp> 1 ( 503 ) . . . 460-3830 i~ PCC Cascade ) n\e- n e u . ¿>\m a 2 r b lo c k s < S K L ” "6 w LINNTON FEED & SEED. NOT THE MALL. V \ > We carry multi-pure water system s 10920 NW St. Helens Rd * Portland, OR 97231 Phone: 503.286.1291 VM .......ä SPlue habuQousiyl •Vintage Clothing • Antique« •Vintage Eyewear www.decadesvintago.com DECADES vintage company (503) 223-1177 328 SW STARK
