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“People are pretty lazy at giving feedback, especially because
many of them don’t know that I’m the original source of the
report. But a lot of people have called me, and many more have just talked about it in their friendship circles instead.
I’ve had more than 20 phone calls and 100 comments on the
page. Seven people have confirmed they’ve been successful, but I guess there’s many more”
We also asked Raham why he and others are so desperate
to evade military service, why gay men are eligible to apply
for exemption even though by doing so they are technically
confessing to a crime, whether the examination procedure is invasive, and whether the exemption code given to gay men prevents them from finding employment. He replied,
“Military service is awful for all boys, not just gays. So every-
one tries to get an exemption not to have to go … labour with no earnings, a waste of time for two years, a total waste of energy
and a source of intense depression … this is why people will suffer going through the exemption process for a month, so they don’t have to suffer for two years … being homosexual/transsexual is also an illness according to their law. They just think, “What if
we send a gay man to sleep in a dorm with thousands of other
boys?” And the answer is not ok for them. So they give gay men this exception … The hospital board doesn’t physically examine you. They used to, even just a few years ago, but not now. Now
they just ask questions and undertake some tests to figure it out … the problems gays have finding employment are the same as for others who get an exemption for a psychological disease.
They cannot be teachers, managers of educational organizations, or anything involving children. But I’ve had no problems and neither have my friends. I gave a copy of my military card
to my company, they never asked how I got the exemption and none of the friends I’ve asked have had any problems”