Urgent appeal to the LGBT community and leadership about the crisis in Iran

Dear LGBT family,

We should all temporarily pause our work for our own civil rights, and orient our hearts and activity toward doing everything possible to help the Iranian people who are in dire need of worldwide support. Today, members of our human family are being gunned down in Iranian streets by a monster. We're all one. We are Iranians. They are us. We all face the same monster.

As a group, individually and through our LGBT organizations, we should express publicly our solidarity with the Iranian people, and our outrage at what's happening to them.

Watch this recent video from Tehran that I just obtained a half-hour ago. You can hear the Iranian "Basij" (police) firing their guns, presumably at the demonstrators. It's difficult to watch, but you really need to watch it and listen to it.

Madison Reed

Follow the Iranian crisis at huffingtonpost.com