Iranian cleric compares gay marriage to bestiality
The Times reported Struan Stevenson, a former Conservative MEP and coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change, sounded alarm bells about the event.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALThe rainbow flag, commonly known as the gay pride flag or LGBT pride flag, is seen during the first Gay Pride parade in Skopje, North Macedonia June 29, 2019(photo credit: REUTERS/OGNEN TEOFILOVSKI)
Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party, last week canceled her slated appearance at an event with a former representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who compared gay marriage to bestiality.The British paper The Times first reported that Sturgeon and Scotland’s chief constable, Iain Livingstone, pulled the plug on an event in Glasgow with Dr. Mohammad Shomali, who has served as an official representative of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran.Shomali wrote: “A hundred years ago, it would have been unthinkable for gay marriage to be sanctioned. Perhaps a day will come when some will desire marriage with animals.” The event was the Peace and Unity conference. According to The Times, they canceled their appearances “after concerns were raised over the presence of the outspoken supporter of the Tehran regime.”The Times reported that “The multi-faith event was set up by the Ahl al-Bait Society Scotland, a Glasgow-based charity whose director, Azzam Mohamad, accompanied the former SNP [Scottish National Party] leader Alex Salmond on his visit to Iran in 2015.”Shomali served until recently as the “respected representative of Grand Ayatollah Khamenei and head of the Islamic Center of England, London.” He termed homosexuality as “unlawful.”The Times reported that Struan Stevenson, a former Conservative MEP and coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change, sounded alarm bells about the event with Shomali that ostensibly triggered the cancellations.“The regime has responded to a widening uprising in Iran by introducing a shoot-to-kill policy on unarmed civilians, with more than 200 deaths, 3,000 injured and many thousands more arrested,” Stevenson said. “It would have been entirely wrong for our first minister and chief constable to be sharing a platform with an open supporter of such a brutal regime. I’m delighted they have decided to do the right thing.”The Jerusalem Post first reported in January that Iran’s regime publicly hanged a man based on an anti-gay charge. Iran’s clerical regime imposes the death penalty on Iranian gays and lesbians. According to a 2008 British WikiLeaks cable, the regime has executed 4,000-6,000 gays and lesbians since the nation’s Islamic revolution in 1979.In June, when asked by a reporter from the German Bild newspaper why Iran’s regime executes gays, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif cited “moral principles” and defended his regime’s lethal homophobia.
