The claim about gay executions in Iran are largely discredited.

FROM GAYCITYNEWS.com:

"Doug Ireland began a campaign in Gay City News to prove that the Mashhad case was one of consensual homosexual sex, and that the Ahmadinejad regime was carrying out a “massive pogrom,” an “intensifying crackdown.” His reporting was deeply irresponsible. His claims about Mashhad relied entirely on second-hand sources. Ireland never confirmed those reports. No one has. His main source hasn’t shared information directly, even with the Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization. Ireland proclaimed the rape charges “refuted.”

A few Iranian exile groups saw a new audience in Western gays. They began reporting multiple executions in Iran as gay-related. Ireland was one of many drawn into Iranian exile politics with little feel for its complexities. And he leapt ahead even of his secondhand sources—for instance, suggesting a rape trial in Arak was a trial for consensual homosexual sex even though voices within Iran clearly doubted it."

hass, instead of posting a couple of paragraphs, why don't you post a link to the article you say those paragraphs come from? I've searched gaycitynews.com and I cannot find that article.

San Francisco City Councilmember Ross Mirkarimi, who is heterosexual and of Persian ancestry himself, has strongly condemned the Islamic Republic's gay executions. And he has always been a fairly independent-minded person.

Does he have ties to the Iranian exile community? Yes, but so do most Iranian-Americans. Do I believe he would purposefully lie to gays about persecution in Iran? Absolutely not. Besides, what would he have to gain, as an avowed pacifist?

I don't want to be a hater, but when you've had your lack of copy-editing pointed out in such a high-profile manner as you did last week, one would think you'd pay a little more attention in order to disprove the naysayers.

Please have someone read over what you've written before you post it - there are some really basic errors that even a cursory re-reading would point out. It would make you look a lot more professional and respectable, and stop you from being left open to easy low-blow criticisms.

Thank you, naprem!

These silly errors make me rumble in my chair!
If need be, write everything in Word (and spell check there) before posting things online. Thanks, Queerty.

I read GCN every week and never saw this. I also did a search on the site. You can go back to your work at the Iranian Mission to the U.N., "hass."