Execution, public humiliation and imprisonment have long plagued
the lives of the LGBT community in the Middle Eastern world. It
is a well-known fact that “LGBT individuals are at a constant
struggle,” notes the Imaan secretariat (an organisation
dedicated to the wellbeing of gay Muslims, based in Britain).
“[They] must [fight] for the right to be LGBT…[and] for the
freedom to love somebody of the same sex,” he argues further.
Brian Whitaker, of the Guardian, who authored the book
‘Unspeakable Love’, notes that the subject of homosexuality is
as unmentionable in the Middle East as it was in the UK 60 years
ago.  This tension can be attributed largely to Islamic
conservatism. In 2006, it was reported that radical Islamic
militias were attacking homosexuals in Iraq; and it was only a
year later that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed
that there were “no homosexuals in Iran”.  “Ironically,
Ahmadinedjad’s remarks and the laughter from his audience
probably did a lot to bring [the issue] out in the ope