San Francisco Examiner:

Dena Rod’s longstanding dream to visit Iran, their parents’ homeland, feels incredibly far away. Heightened tensions with the United States aside, they’re married to a woman and writes about both their queer identity and the government’s persecution of people like them, in the country.

At the same time, the Bay Area writer has grappled with what it means to have their parents feel like they had to tolerate their sexuality due to being in a different country, as if it were a Western influence. Rod was encouraged to not tell their extended family before they were married, who already knew through what they called “the Persian phone tree.”

But these are the kinds of experiences and conversations Iranian Americans are increasingly able to have as the community deepens its roots in the country. On June 20, it will be front-and-center as Rod and three other writers conduct LGBTQIA-centric readings and storytellings for a Pride event-turned-online dubbed “Out in the Diaspora.”

“There’s no singular space for us unlike other groups who have entrenched histories in the area,” said Rod. “We’re creating the representation that we didn’t have growing up. That’s creating a space for the generation behind.”

Go to link