An official report has found that 17
percent of young Iranians are gay.
According to The
Economist, the 82-page report was recently issued by Iran's
parliamentary research department.
The survey of 142,000 students found
that 80 percent of unmarried females have boyfriends and 17 percent
of respondents said they were gay.
The researchers' suggestion on how to
stop sex outside of marriage was remarkably liberal: temporary
marriages.
“Instead of seeking to cool the loins
of the youngsters altogether, they should be allowed publicly to
register their union by using sigheh, an ancient practice in Shia
Islam that lets people marry temporarily,” the magazine wrote. “A
legal but loose and much-deprecated arrangement, which can last from
a few hours to decades, sigheh is often viewed as a cover for
promiscuity or prostitution. Clerics themselves have long been
suspected of being among its biggest beneficiaries, sometimes when
they are on extended holy retreats in ancient religious cities such
as Qom.”
Zahra, a 32-year-old woman who lives
with her boyfriend, said: “I have one life and though I love my
country, I cannot wait for its leader to grow up.”
Former Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad made world headlines in 2007 when he asserted that there
are no
gay people in Iran.