The history of LGBT people in Iran spans thousands of years. Homosexuality has been viewed as a sin in Islam, and is outlawed in almost all Muslim-majority countries, including Iran. In pre-Islamic Iran, a tradition of homosexuality existed, however most were intolerant of pederasty and sexual activity between two men, especially the Zoroastrians. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Iranians were “far from immoral relations with boys”.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][excessive citations]
Beginning in the mid-1980s, with the Islamic Government in power, as many as 7,000 homosexuals were hanged, shot, stoned, or burnt to death. Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, the punishment for homosexuality has been based on Sharia law, with the maximum penalty being death. Transgender people have never been officially addressed by the government leading up to the 1979 revolution, but, after the Islamic Revolution sex reassignment surgery has been allowed through Islamic Law.[16] The government provides up to half the cost of the procedure for those needing financial assistance, upon the provision of necessary documents and supporting proof of an identity disorder.[17][18]
^The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus: During the Reigns of the Emperors Constantius, Julian, Jovianus, Valentinian, and Valens>Ammianus Marcellinus. "The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus". uchicago.edu. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
^R. Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta, Oxford, 1968.
^A. Klotz, “Die Quellen Ammianus in der Darstellung von Julians Perserzug,” Rheinisches Museum für Philologie71, 1916.
^L. Dillemann, “Ammien Marcellin et les pays du Tigre et de l’Euphrate,” Syria 28, 1961, pp. 87-158.
^G. A. Crump, Ammianus Marcellinus as a Military Historian, Wiesbaden, 1975.
^H. T. Rowell, Ammianus Marcellinus, Soldier-Historian of the Late Roman Empire, Cincinnati, 1964.
^A. H. M. Jones, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire I, Cambridge, 1971, pp. 547-48.
^E. A. Thompson, The Historical Work of Ammianus Marcellinus, Cambridge, 1947.
^G. B. Pighi, “Studia Ammianea. Annotationes criticae et grammaticae,” Pubblicazioni Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore 20, Milan, 1935.