in front of the U.S. Embassy in
Baku on 14 June 2016. Azerbaijan is largely a
secular country with one of the least practicing majority-Muslim populations. The reason behind
homophobia is mostly due to the lack of knowledge about it, as well as due to the "old traditions". Families of homosexuals often cannot come to terms with the latter's sexuality, especially in rural areas.
Coming out often results in violence or
ostracism by the family
patriarchs or forced heterosexual marriage. The contest's presence in Azerbaijan also caused diplomatic tensions with neighbouring
Iran. Iranian clerics Ayatollah
Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari and Ayatollah
Ja'far Sobhani condemned Azerbaijan for "anti-Islamic behaviour", claiming that Azerbaijan was going to host a gay parade. This led to protests in front of the Iranian embassy in Baku, where protesters carried slogans mocking the Iranian leaders.
Ali Hasanov, head of the public and political issues department in the Azerbaijani President's administration, said that gay parade claims were untrue, and warned Iran not to meddle in Azerbaijan's internal affairs. In response, Iran recalled its ambassador from Baku, while Azerbaijan demanded a formal apology from Iran for its statements in connection with Baku's hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest, and later also recalled its ambassador from
Tehran. LGBTQIA+ people have gained more visibility in recent years, through various interviews, social media posts and films. For Pride Month in 2019, several Azerbaijani celebrities shared social media posts supporting LGBTQIA+ rights, including singer
Röya, stylist Anar Aghakishiyev and 2011 Eurovision winner
Eldar Gasimov. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in
Azerbaijan since 1 September 2000. Those who are financially independent and living in
Baku are able to lead a safe life as an LGBTQIA+ person, as long as they "practice" their homosexuality in their private sphere. There is a small LGBTQ movement, with three organizations advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights and protection. Although homosexual acts between consenting male adults are officially decriminalized, reports about police abuses against gays, mainly male prostitutes, have persisted. While complaining of the violence against them, the victims preferred to remain anonymous fearing retaliation on the part of the police. In April 2019, Elina Hajiyeva, a 14-year-old girl from Baku, attempted suicide once more due to homophobic bullying at her school. Although her mother had reported the bullying to the principal, Sevinj Abbasova, neither she nor other teachers took any action against it. After the attempted suicide, the principal kept Hajiyeva in her office for an hour during which she attempted to have the half-conscious Hajiyeva admit to suicidal tendencies and place the blame on family difficulties rather than on bullying issues at the school. She did not call an ambulance or allow others to do so. Hajiyeva died in hospital two days later. The school director, deputy director and school psychologist were dismissed from office. Only the principal was prosecuted on account of negligence resulting in death, and leaving someone in danger. On 24 October 2019, the principal was sentenced by the Sabail District Court of Baku to 2 years and 2.5 months of restriction of liberty, which means movement surveillance, only requiring her to be home at 9:00 PM. She was also ordered to pay 18,500 AZN ($10,882) of monetary compensation to the parents. The case sparked a nationwide social media campaign against bullying. 2011 Eurovision winner
Nigar Jamal posted a video on
Instagram addressed to President
Ilham Aliyev asking government officials to take action. The Ministry of Education launched an action plan against bullying on 13 May, envisaging a number of tasks to ensure a "healthy environment in general education institutions", to improve school and family relations and to protect students from abuse. A hotline was also established. In May 2019,
Azerbaijan Airlines fired three employees for releasing personal information of a transgender passenger on social media, including a picture of her passport. In June 2019, five transgender women were physically assaulted by a group of 15 men in
Mardakan. Four of the attackers were arrested. In September 2019, a young gay man was beaten, raped and expelled from his village of
Yolçubəyli because of his sexuality. He reported the violence to police. Photos of his rape surfaced online.
Media The first news website for LGBTQIA+ people in Azerbaijan was launched by Ruslan Balukhin on 25 May 2011: gay.az. The Azerbaijani Constitution guarantees freedom of expression for everyone by all forms of expressions. The Azerbaijan Press Council was founded in 2003. The council deals with complaints according to the Press Code of Conduct. It is unknown if the council has assessed complaints of harassment made by state-controlled media using homosexuality as a tool to harass and discredit critics of the government. Azerbaijan's human rights
NGOs have been successful in raising awareness of the lives of Azeri LGBTQIA+ people. The first LGBTQIA+ online magazine
Minority Magazine was founded by Samad Ismayilov in December 2015. The magazine covers education, entertainment and current issues about LGBTQ people. The magazine started functioning as an NGO from August 2017.
Film Samad Ismayilov, an LGBTQIA+ activist and the founder of
Minority Magazine, made a documentary movie about a trans man from Azerbaijan named Sebastian. The film focuses on Sebastian's challenges, fears and dreams about the future. It was filmed in Ohio in the United States. The film made its debut in
Baku on 25 November 2017, with the support of the Dutch embassy. About 80 people came to watch the movie and participate at LGBTQIA+ discussions after the film. Deniz Miray, who is trans rights activist and film critic, shot her "Bədənimə Günəş" in 2022 by talking about the challenges of LGBTQI+ individuals in Azerbaijan.
Literature In 2009,
Ali Akbar wrote a scandalous book titled
Artush and Zaur, which focused on homosexual love between an
Armenian and
Azerbaijani. According to Akbar, being an Armenian and being gay are major taboos in Azeri society. In 2014, Azerbaijani writer Orkhan Bahadirsoy published a novel about the love of two young men,
It is a sin to love you.
Suicide of İsa Şahmarlı In January 2014,
İsa Şahmarlı, the openly gay founder of AZAD LGBT, died of suicide by hanging himself with a rainbow flag. At the time of his death, Şahmarlı was unemployed, in debt, and estranged from his family who considered him "ill". Şahmarlı left a note on Facebook blaming society for his death. He was discovered soon afterward by friends. Şahmarlı's suicide sparked an increase in LGBTQIA+ activism in Azerbaijan. The day of his death was marked as LGBTQIA+ Pride Day and was honored in 2015 with the release of several videos.
LGBTQI+ organizations As of 2015, there are five known LGBTQ organizations in Azerbaijan: • Gender and Development (), created in 2007 and carries out local projects in collaboration with the
Ministry of Health. •
Nafas LGBTI Azerbaijan Alliance (), established in 2012. It has implemented several projects, including part of an international survey and regularly holds talks with the
EU Delegation to Azerbaijan and other European embassies regarding the difficulties of LGBTQ people and their situation in Azerbaijan. • AZAD LGBT, established in 2012 by İsa Şahmarlı. AZAD concentrates on education and better media representation in Azerbaijan. In its first year, it ran several projects including organizing LGBTQ movie nights in the capital of Baku. These movie nights were attended by a local psychologist who participated in Q&As after the films. In 2014, after Isa Shahmarli committed suicide, AZAD organized a series of photo and video projects. • Q-Collective • Gender Resource Center () (), established in 2020 is a queer-feminist platform. The centre was established in Azerbaijan in response to the problem of lack of safe space and resources for people of different genders and sexual orientations. Other online campaigns or magazines also exist. • Gay.az, the first information portal for LGBTQ people in Azerbaijan • Love Is Love, an online photo campaign designed to provide support to the LGBTQ community in Azerbaijan. • Reng, in remembrance of Isa's birthday, including illustrated versions of several of Isa's writings •
Minority Magazine, which covers education, entertainment and current issues about LGBTQ people == Human rights reports ==