Leaving on a Jet Plane

Yesterday evening, I attended the volunteer appreciation party at the HIV/AIDS organisation where I volunteer (as opposed to the one where I work). There were hundreds of cute boys, drinks (although I don’t drink), nibbles, hundreds of cute boys, a singer who was very popular in the 80s and has since dropped of the face of the Earth. There were also door prizes: certificates for massages, for manicures, for pedicures, for expensive restaurants.

And two air tickets to anywhere in North America. Guess which prize I won.

I found myself suddenly surrounded by cute boys, for some reason. But being unboyfriendable these day, I will forced to test the strength of my relationship with my good friend AlefAlef and take him instead of those opportunistic beauties. And already we’re fighting, he and I: AlefAlef wants to go to a beach and get skin cancer, whereas I want to hike in the wilderness and get eaten alive by blood-sucking, pestilence-spreading insects. The compromise may be the Yucatan, where he can ruin is complexion and I can wander through Mayan ruins.

My elation lasted right up until this morning when I read about the subject of the following post. Then it slumped dramatically.

Iran Hangs Two Gay Teenagers

Two gay Iranian teenagers — one 18, the other believed to be 16 or 17, were executed this week for the “crime” of homosexuality, Irangay_teens the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported on July 19 [ . . . ] The two youths — identified only by their initials as M.A. and A.M., were hanged on July 19 in Edalat (Justice) Square in the city of Mashhad in north-eastern Iran, on the orders of Court No. 19.

I live in one of the countries that leads the world in human rights while on the other side of the world, teenagers are hanged for loving whom they love. Pakistan makes headlines for the horrific legalised gang rape of a young woman, yet the hanging of two teenagers makes nary a blip in the world.

I haven’t been able to get the image of the young boy weeping minutes before his death out of my mind. I hope I have troubles sleeping tonight.