Iranian pop star Googoosh has released
a video featuring a lesbian couple.
The 63-year-old Googoosh is considered
one of Iran's top cultural figures. The 1979 Islamic revolution
interrupted her singing career for two decades until she fled the
country.
In the video for the song Heaven
(Behesht), a young woman's lover is met with disapproval from
her father and others. It isn't until the video's final frames that
we find out that she's in love with another woman.
“Don't tell me to stop loving; You
can't do that and I can't either,” Googoosh sings. (The video,
with English subtitles, is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
David Akhavan, who wrote and directed
the video for Heaven, told the AP that its success on YouTube
“shows the subject is something that, if you're for it or against
it, draws attention.”
Googoosh has been labeled an
“anti-revolutionary” by government-controlled newspapers because
of the video. A conviction of homosexuality can carry the death
penalty in the Islamic republic.