TL;DR

• Two gay Iranian men face deportation to Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by torture or death.
• Their asylum hearings were conducted without lawyers and marred by bias, according to their attorney.
• One man received a last-minute court stay; the other has none, risking separation of the couple.
• Deportations to Iran, long halted, quietly resumed under the Trump administration.
• Advocates warn this case signals a collapse of U.S. asylum protections for LGBTQ people.

THE U.S. MAY SEND TWO GAY MEN BACK TO IRAN—WHERE BEING QUEER CAN MEAN EXECUTION

In a story that feels ripped out of a dystopian thriller but is happening right now, the U.S. government is preparing to deport two gay Iranian men back to a country where their identity alone could get them tortured, flogged, or killed. And unless a federal court or political intervention stops the process, the Trump administration could carry out the deportation in days.

These men—romantic partners in their late 30s and early 40s—already lived the nightmare many queer people in hostile nations fear. They were arrested by Iran’s morality police in 2021 for “homosexual conduct,” a charge that can carry the death penalty. After being released while awaiting sentencing, they fled the country, surviving danger in Türkiye before risking everything to cross into the United States in early 2025.

They believed they were traveling toward safety. Instead, they walked into an America where asylum doors are slamming shut.

“Textbook asylum cases”—but no lawyers, no fairness

According to their attorney, Rebekah Wolf of the American Immigration Council, the men’s cases couldn’t be clearer: they are from a nation where homosexuality is criminalized and punished by torture or execution. Under U.S. and international law, that should be enough.

But their asylum hearings—held in April and May 2025—were conducted without legal representation. Wolf describes the proceedings as a disaster: biased questioning, inappropriate demands for “proof” of queerness, and a fundamental misunderstanding of LGBTQ persecution. Meanwhile, a third LGBTQ asylum seeker who fled with them—a woman—was granted asylum in a single 45-minute hearing.

The contrast is chilling: representation can literally be the difference between freedom and death.

A quiet shift with deadly consequences

For decades, deportations to Iran were effectively paused because the U.S. has no diplomatic relationship with Tehran. But something changed last year. Wolf says the Trump administration quietly began removal flights to Iran, with two already completed and a third now planned.

ICE insists it can carry out deportations even while appeals are pending. The administration has found the cracks in the system—and is bulldozing through them.

One man received a last-minute stay from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The other has none. The couple may be torn apart, with one shipped off to likely execution while the other waits helplessly behind U.S. walls.

“Please save my life.”

Wolf describes one of her clients calling her repeatedly as deportation approaches. His pleading is simple, human, unforgettable:
“Please, Ms. Wolf, save my life.”

Meanwhile, LGBTQ rights advocates are sounding the alarm. Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, didn’t mince words, calling the possible deportation “part of a Trump administration that deploys ICE to endanger our community’s lives every day.”

She pointed to the recent killings of queer Americans like Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents and the disappearance and torture of gay asylum seeker Andry Hernández Romero in El Salvador—a horrifying pattern of state-enabled harm to LGBTQ people.

Why this case is bigger than two men

If the U.S. forcibly returns these men to Iran, it won’t just be a humanitarian catastrophe—it will mark a devastating shift in American asylum policy. LGBTQ asylum technically still exists on paper, but Wolf warns that the process has become so fast, so punishing, and so inaccessible that it might as well not exist at all.

“You can make it so unbearable and so impossible to access that, for all intents and purposes, it no longer exists,” she said.

H3: A brutal message to LGBTQ people worldwide

For decades, queer people fleeing deadly persecution looked to the United States as a refuge. This case says something different:
Don’t count on America to protect you anymore.

The implications for global LGBTQ asylum seekers—especially those from countries like Iran, Uganda, Russia, and Chechnya—are catastrophic.

Sending two gay men back to Iran isn’t just a policy decision. It’s a warning shot.

A community watching, a system failing

At the time of publication, ICE has not announced whether Sunday’s flight will proceed. But one thing is painfully clear: the American asylum system, once imperfect but lifesaving, is now teetering on collapse.

And two men who dared to love each other may pay the ultimate price.