This Gay Couple Left Iran For A Better Life

canada goose clearance WASHINGTON In the best case scenario if Ramin Haghjoo and Nima Nia still lived in Iran, they would be married. Just not to each other to women, probably through arranged marriages. Perhaps they could have found women also attracted to their own gender and looking to hide the fact, canada goose clearance sale like one of Haghjoo’s friends did. In a bleaker scenario, they would be dead or behind bars for the crime of being what they are: gay. canada goose clearance

canada goose store Instead, Haghjoo and Nia ended up in the United States, where they married each other in a joyful uk canada goose outlet ceremony this August. as refugees several years ago, after fleeing Iran for Turkey. Things are better here in many ways, and they see their story as a hopeful one for other LGBTQ Iranians. They’re alive, they’re married, and they live openly as gay men. canada goose store

buy canada goose jacket But Haghjoo and Nia also find themselves in a country where the president tried to ban new refugees and canada goose black friday sale immigrants from Iran and several other Muslim cheap canada goose uk nations, on the argument that such people pose a threat to America’s safety. And they worry now about what canada goose coats on sale will happen is already happening to LGBTQ people in a country under Republican rule. buy canada http://www.canadagoosecanadaoutlet.com goose jacket

They want Iran to change so that people like them can be accepted as gay couples. to change so they can be accepted as gay refugees from Iran.

canada goose black friday sale “After so many borders crossed, what will my next country be after tonight?” Haghjoo posted uk canada goose on Instagram the day of the 2016 election. canada goose black friday sale

Canada Goose Parka Haghjoo was exempted from the military service mandated for all Iranian men because of his sexual orientation, which the Iranian military considers a mental problem. Other Canada Goose sale acts, such as kissing or even just confessing to homosexuality, can lead to punishment. While there are secret networks canada goose store for LGBTQ people, many of them online, members live under the constant threat of being exposed. Canada Goose Parka

canada goose coats But Haghjoo also wanted to be honest about who he was and to avoid military service, because it can be dangerous even for closeted gay men. The man turned his gun on Haghjoo instead and shot him. canada goose coats

Canada Goose sale Haghjoo spoke about canada goose coats the experience of being shot to a documentary crew and later found out the filmmakers planned to focus on his story. He was afraid of the attention that would draw,so he decided to flee to Turkey. Canada Goose Online The documentary aired one week after he left Iran. Afterward he wanted to return home, canada goose uk shop but his mother feared it wasn’t safe. “Do not come back,” she told him. Canada Goose sale

The man on the other end of the line said that he knew Nia was gay and that nothing bad would happen to him if he cooperated by canadian goose jacket going to the man’s house and named other gay people. Nia repeatedly declined to confirm that he was gay or to identify anyone else, but the man kept calling.

At his canada goose uk outlet college, canada goose factory sale a security guard told Nia that a man had been there and asked for his schedule. Nia thought he saw someone following him on the street.

One day, the man called to say he was near Nia’s house. Nia could hear a siren both through the phone and through his door. He was frightened.

canadian goose jacket After months of harassment, Nia met another man who worked as a security guard at a Canada Goose Coats On Sale bank and told him what was happening. The security guard contacted the man who had been threatening Nia, and the phone calls finally stopped. canadian goose jacket

Canada Goose online But when Nia and the buy canada goose jacket cheap security guard began dating, he faced new problems. The security guard became hostile, threatening both Nia and his parents. Nia escaped that situation when he left for mandatory military service in Abadeh, Iran. He went back to college to study art. But he still didn’t feel safe every call from a wrong number made him uneasy, and he kept worrying that someone might throw something through his apartment window. Canada Goose online

Nia finally decided he couldn’t stay in Iran, even though he was only a semester away from finishing his degree. He fled to Turkey, leaving his life and art behind.

canada goose clearance sale For eight months, Haghjoo waited to find out whether he would be allowed to enter the United States as a refugee based on the persecution he faced for his sexual orientation, political beliefs and religion. He is a Sufi, and people like him who practice a more mystical brand of Islam have been targeted by the Iranian government. based on the persecution he experienced as a gay man. canada goose clearance sale

Sometimes others who had fled their homes and were now stuck in Turkey argued that being gay made it easier for Nia and Haghjoo that they could move through the refugee process more quickly, while it took longer for political refugees. They didn’t understand that being gay in Iran had been “a prison,” Nia said.

canada goose Being in Turkey was difficult, too. They had hardly any money and at times went days with no food while waiting for money transfers to come through. Nia was abruptly kicked out of a house he’d rented in the Canada Goose Outlet middle of winter because the owner sold it. canada goose

canada goose coats on sale At least they were together. Canada Goose Jackets When Haghjoo first told Nia he loved him, Nia wasn’t ready to say it back. Another year passed before Nia’s refugee admission was approved. He joined his partner in Philadelphia in November 2012. wasn’t simple. In Philadelphia, Nia worked a cheap Canada Goose few jobs that he hated,including in a Walmart stockroom. He began to lose hope in this American life. But he quit that job, he said, because the organization didn’t treat him well. Now he’s working on a comic book narrated by a cat. Haghjoo is employed as a human rights researcher at a different nonprofit. canada goose coats on sale

The couple has made many friends here. They were featured on the popular Humans of New York Facebook page in a photo of them standing on a pathway framed with snow and a short caption: “We’re gay refugees from Iran.” More than 240,000 people liked it.

buy canada goose jacket cheap The 2016 election was difficult for them to watch. They both think anti LGBTQ sentiment has become more explicit under President Donald Trump. The president attempted to bar transgender people from the military, and his Justice Department has said the 1964 Civil Rights Act doesn’t prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Haghjoo said he has a “very real” fear that if he went to a largely pro Trump part of the country, he would be in danger. He avoids traveling to those places. buy canada goose jacket cheap

Canada Goose Jackets “I’m not afraid of Donald Trump, but I’m afraid of the ideology he’s representing,” buy canada goose jacket Nia said. “That ideology is not kind, it’s not pro human rights, canada goose outlet it’s not pro diversity.” Canada Goose Jackets

Canada Goose Outlet “I’ll find somewhere that I’m accepted and I’m free and I’ll go there,” said Haghjoo. “Which might not be a place on Earth, so we have to fight.” Canada Goose Outlet.