It is unfortunate I find that in a number of countries strict laws are made to forbid a certain kind love that is in fact normal and nothing to be ashamed of. And in those countries such laws unfortunately have to apply to teenagers with a whole life ahead of them.

I must say that as a bisexual American, I’m thankful to be where I’m from, and to be who I am. But the same cannot be said for Medhi Kazemi, a 19-year old Iranian who fled from his country following the execution of his boyfriend. Earlier this month, Medhi, seeking refuge in the United Kingdom, was ordered by the court of law to return to his home land, where he facing the death penalty for the crime of sodomy.

Iran is not located far from Iraq, where, according to article read in the 2008 Winter edition of XY magazine, a 14-year old boy was brutally murdered in 2006 for prostituting himself to help out his poverty-stricken family. This case was one of over 400 killings (a least estimate) of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people.

I cannot fathom, as a human being, why countries like the UK, which are the birth home to many GLBT celebrities (take Elton John and Freddie Mercury, for example), have to cast off a young boy facing persecution in his native land, knowing full well that Mehdi returns to his homeland, he will be killed at any second.

This young man has really done nothing wrong. It is his misfortune to be living in a land that does not want to understand what his feeling are. People have feelings, and it is a must that people listen and think of the differences other people have, and not act upon it with direct violence.

It is not that Mehdi’s life is a tragedy. It is that the world he is living in is a tragedy, one that will take years, if ever, to fully understand what GLBT people have to go though.