Resilience in Repression: Marking 15 Years of 6Rang and the Iranian LGBTI+ Movement

6Rang (Iranian LGBTI+ Network), 19 November 2025: Today marks fifteen years since the founding of 6Rang.

When we created 6Rang in 2009, we did so with the hope that future generations in Iran would experience a more humane world, one where they could live and love with dignity, free from violence, discrimination, criminalisation and fear. What began as a small, determined initiative has grown into the most widely recognised and trusted grassroots organisation documenting and advocating for the rights of LGBTI+ people in and from Iran.

Over the past fifteen years, we have carried out continuous, collective, and deeply challenging work. We have demonstrated that a community under severe repression can still organise, support one another, and build a movement grounded in solidarity and shared purpose.

Iranian LGBTI+ activists and 6Rang at their first Pride march in Istanbul, 29 June 2014.

Through the production of educational resources, public awareness campaigns, workshops, and the translation of key legal and human rights documents, -as well as the herstory of global movements – we have helped expand understanding of sexual orientation, gender identity, and bodily autonomy in Iran. By amplifying the history and strategies of LGBTI+ movements worldwide, we have nurtured hope and created clearer pathways for change.

With the courage and partnership of our community, we have produced dozens of rigorously documented human rights reports, many of which have been submitted to UN mechanisms, international human rights bodies, and global media. These reports have played a critical role in exposing systematic discrimination, violence, and violations committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran against LGBTI+ people, and in pressing the state to be held accountable.

We have also witnessed and endured the same violence we document: state-sponsored repression, digital and offline surveillance, smear campaigns, misogynistic and queerphobic attacks, and the cruelty of a society shaped by entrenched stigma. The scars remain, but with the support of our community, we have always stood back up.

Every day, we hear from LGBTI+ people in Iran seeking safety and support, from those facing familial violence, conversion practices, threats of arrest, employment discrimination, and assaults on their bodily and personal autonomy. We respond to every message we can, offering guidance, resources, and pathways to protection. We cannot always solve every case, but every time we find a solution together, hope grows stronger.

During the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, our community stepped forward with extraordinary bravery, sending documentation, photographs, and testimonies from inside Iran, and insisting that this was the time to speak up.

Over these years, we have mobilised the support of more than a thousand political, cultural, and human rights figures worldwide, and we have built strong relationships with hundreds of recognised local, regional, and international human rights organisations. Their solidarity has helped bring global attention to the lived realities of LGBTI+ people in Iran.

As part of our evolution and in line with our long-standing commitment to representing the full diversity of our community, this year we are transitioning our official English name from 6Rang (The Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network) to 6Rang (The Iranian LGBTI+ Network). This change reflects the scope of our work and our dedication to defending the rights of all LGBTI+ individuals impacted by Iran’s discriminatory laws and social structures- even as we continue to identify ourselves as a lesbian-led network.

Throughout these fifteen years, our team, past and present, has operated with extraordinary discipline, security awareness, and professionalism, enabling 6Rang to remain a trusted lifeline for countless individuals and families. This work inside Iran would have been impossible without their commitment.

Today, 6Rang celebrates, not because the suffering has ended, but because our collective power continues to grow. We celebrate while carrying the grief of decades of repression, and with eyes full of determination as much as tears.

We remain committed to walking alongside our community until the full liberation of all marginalised bodies, until the end of dictatorship and repression in Iran, and until justice, accountability, and the possibility of a safe, ordinary life becomes accessible to everyone.

If we do not stand together, we will be targeted one by one.

Thank you for standing with us. Your solidarity strengthens our struggle for freedom, democracy, and social justice for every member of Iran’s LGBTI+ community.