The fact that Yoshie types "the queers" as if we were some imaginary animal is part of my problem.
Queers exist. Iranian queers exist (some are my friends). So the scare quotes are inappropriate. Not all Iranians identify as queer, but those that do should be allowed to do so without fear of torture or death (which my friends say is a real possibility and has occurred to others). Even the Dutch government (which hates queers less than most) had to back down in the face of evidence and reverse their intial ruling that queers had no right of asylum based on fear of torture or death.
The fact that the Iranian government does horrid things to queers does not mean that it should be subject to imperialist interference. But the fact that I or anyone else opposes imperialist activity towards Iran, does not commit us to silence about Iran's treatment of its queer citizenry (unless a person argues that people do not have the right to claim the sexual self-expression of their choice. If that is the argument, then Iran does have the right to torture and kill those people who choose to be sexual in a way that is declared to be unacceptable).
Brian