“The sun had set, and one could hear the sound of music emanating from the alleys and back alleys of Takht-e Jamshid Avenue. A reporter for Radio Rangin Kaman interviewed a number of the guests, and described the event thus:
This idea was opposed by the friends and families of both. So they invited a clergyman to perform the rites. But the two lovers were determined to make the ceremony as close to a traditional wedding as possible, and for them and their relationship, it would mean the same thing. Strictly speaking it was, of course, impossible for their marriage to be registered officially.
At the Turquoise Restaurant on the hotel’s top floor, over a 360-degree view of Tehran, an unprecedented event took place: the marriage ceremony of two gay men, an event unimaginable in the Islamic Republic today.Īcording to a report by Radio Rangin Kaman (Radio “Rainbow Community”, the term used for the LGBT+ community in Iran), Bijan Saffari and his boyfriend of many years Sohrab Mahvi, another designer for the Niavaran Palace, decided to mark their relationship to date in the form of a wedding ceremony. In February 1978, the Commodore Hotel on Tehran’s Takht-e Jamshid Avenue, a short walk away from American Embassy, played host to a ceremony that captivated reporters and the public in equal measure. But he is equally well-remembered for one single event: his gay marriage, the first ever recorded in Iran. His achievements in the pre-revolutionary Iranian cultural sphere were myriad. Saffari emigrated to France and passed away in Paris at the age of 86 on April 22, 2019. Many outstanding playwrights, actors, and directors came out of the Theater Workshop with divergent views and styles, all pioneers in their own field. Saffari was also made the director of the Theater Workshop, a major experimental training group in Iranian theater that was initiated in 1969. He was the architect of Tehran’s City Theater and Daneshjou Park complex, and a member of planning committee of Shiraz Festival of Arts, overseeing the festival’s theater events. From 1965 to 1977 he was also an advisor to Iranian National Radio and TV. He became a member of the Empress Farah Foundation’s board of trustees, growing close to Farah Pahlavi herself. Saffari then launched his own architecture firm and started painting, while also teaching architecture. He graduated with a degree in architecture from the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris in 1958 and returned to Iran the following year. Born in 1933 in Tehran, he was the son of the general and senator Mohammad Ali Saffari. But in fact, Googoosh newly revealed, it was in honor of a man named Bijan Saffari.īijan Saffari was a 20 th century intellectual, avant-garde painter, architect and former professor at Tehran’s Faculty of Decorative Arts. Many thought that it expressed her affection for Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic Revolution.
Googoosh was asked about the song Agha Joon (“Dear Papa” or “Dear Sir”), written for her by Mohammad Saleh Ala and released at the height of the 1979 revolution. Her answer to one question by Homa Sarshar in the recent interview caught my attention, and that of many other members of the LGBT+ community besides. In the music video, she boldly and publicly declared her support for their cause. After 21 years of silence, though, she retains all the legendary status she attained in Iranian music and remains popular with younger generations, four decades on.īesides my own personal affection for Googoosh, which is rooted in my adolescence, her 2013 rendition of Rouzbeh Bemani’s song Behesht (“Paradise”) made her even more loved by members of the Iranian LGBT+ community.
In this particular interview, the subject was more Faegheh Atashin than she was Googoosh.
#FIRST TIME GAY VIDEOS AND STORIES SERIES#
Recently Googoosh, one of Iran’s most beloved and enduring singers, shared a series of previously-untold stories about the ups and downs of her life in an interview with Iranian-American author and journalist Homa Sarshar.