“A few weeks ago, I received an email with the subject “I’m lonely, help me.” The sender was about 40 years old, and he was truly lonely. He’s been hiding his sexuality for years and has been under extreme social pressure. His family insists that he get married, and he no longer has any excuse to escape this pressure. He was just looking to find someone who would listen to him. He just wanted to vent to me. He was utterly hopeless and one of his wishes was to die so that he doesn’t have to face these challenges.
A few hours after I wrote back to him and said I’d listen to him, he trusted me with his phone number. When I called him, he couldn’t speak. He didn’t even know where to start. He couldn’t believe he could lift the veil of pretence and speak his true mind. He was silent for a few minutes and was just listening to me. When he spoke, he spoke quietly and I could easily feel the pain behind his voice. I asked him to talk to me but I didn’t hear anything other than sobbing. After a short while he started to speak while crying. He told me of his childhood and feelings. He told me of his school and the humiliation he’s been subjected to. He told me of the cruelties of his parents, of his brothers’ threats, of the problems at work, of his forced marriage, of the cure his family had found for him: pain killers, and electric shocks.
He told me of his youth, his fear of having a losing his honor, lack of real friends…
I didn’t know what to say. I was overwhelmed with all these problems. I had to seek shelter in cliché advice, and ask him to be patient and hopeful. I told him to bear with his problems and try to have a better life. But my words wouldn’t heal any wounds. I knew he wasn’t the only one facing such troubles. I told him that he should find a friend, who can save him from loneliness, and with whose help he could save himself from such circumstances. He smirked and said: “I’m too old for this. How many more years do you think I’d live? These last few years of my life I can live in the corner of my room. I don’t want to do something that even after my death would hurt my family and friends.” He was worried if he ever came out, how he could keep his family’s honor. ” (Quelle: Iranian Queer Organization – IRQO)
Scheiß Familienehre!
Related posts
Filed under: Homophobie
Trackback Uri
Commentaries