Iran bans being gay, but allows sex change

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, gay male sex still carries the death penalty and lesbians are lashed, but hundreds of people are having their gender changed legally, bolstered by the blessings of members of the ruling Shiite clergy.

“Approval of gender changes doesn’t mean approval of homosexuality. We’re against homosexuality,” says Mohammed Mahdi Kariminia, a cleric in the holy city of Qom and one of Iran’s foremost proponents of using hormones and surgery to change sex. “But we have said that if homosexuals want to change their gender, this way is open to them.” [...]

But in Iran, there’s no waiting period. After passing the psychological screening, the patients are hustled into treatment. After all, in the interim they are considered gay, and therefore outlaws. (source)

So, if Kent and I lived in Iran, one of us would have to have this brutal surgery performed so that one of us would be a woman? Then we would be a straight couple?

No. One of us would be mutilated, but we’d still be able to be together. Unbelievable what religion is doing to some people.