14 Facts About Arsham Parsi

Arsham Parsi is an Iranian LGBT human rights activist living in exile in Canada.

Arsham Parsi is the founder and head of the International Railroad for Queer Refugees.

The strict laws against homosexuality forced Parsi to keep his work secret from friends and family.

In 2001, Arsham Parsi formed a small LGBT group online called Rangin Kaman, renamed Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization in 2004.

The PGLO later became the foundation for Arsham Parsi's Toronto-based Iranian Queer Organization in 2006.

Arsham Parsi later left IRQO and founded the International Railroad for Queer Refugees in 2008.

Arsham Parsi began secretly working for the advancement of civil rights for lesbians and gays in Iran.

Arsham Parsi was the executive director of the Iranian Queer Organization and director of the organization's online magazine, Cheraq for several years.

Arsham Parsi is an Iranian member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, based in Brussels, Belgium, and ambassador of Iran to the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network, based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Director of the cultural committee at the Iranian Association of University of Toronto in 2007, Arsham Parsi is a founding member of the Rainbow Railroad group based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the Advisory Committee of the Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation.

Arsham Parsi's autobiography, Exiled for Love, was written with Marc Colbourne and published by Fernwood Publishing in 2015.

Two months later, Arsham Parsi's work was recognized with the Pride Toronto Award for Excellence in Human Rights.

In June 2015, Arsham Parsi was awarded by Logo TV for the International Trailblazer.

Arsham Parsi is being featured in two galleries of Canadian Museum for Human Rights that is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.