About us.
We are daughters and sons. We are cousins, aunts, and uncles. We are humans. We identify as Iranian and LGBTQ, and seek to create a space for deeper understanding between our nascent community and the traditions and cultures our grandparents and parents passed down to us.
RAHA International is committed to help its members free themselves from cultural and social alienation and create a deeper space for understanding, and ultimately break down barriers preventing us from living as our authentic selves.
Founded in 2017, RAHA International is a community-based organization committed to positively impacting its members lives by connecting Iranian LGBTQ+ people through their cultural identity. RAHA hosts events throughout the greater Los Angeles area in order to honor, celebrate, and embrace Persian culture.
Meet the Executive Director:
Meet our board member and executive director at RAHA International, Shervin Khorramian.
He says he feels like a true gypsy at heart after having lived in more than four countries and a dozen cities.
Nearly six years ago Shervin noticed a need for LGBTQ Iranians to have a community of their own. After years of building programming and events for the Iranian LGBTQ community, Shervin founded RAHA International in June 2017.
But Shervin’s activism started long before Raha. Back in the early 90s, he came out to friends and family while still a student at UCLA. “Coming out opened up a world of laughter, love, and friendship that previously had been so foreign to me. I became an activist after coming out to make sure that others who wanted to come out would have an easier path, and they too could have the same rush and happiness that I had experienced.“
After more than four decades in the US, Shervin still loves Persian food and never misses an opportunity to have a good chai sherene (Persisn tea with pastries).
In between his work as an activist and eating pastries he managed to earn a B.S. in physics and earn his CPA license. Shervin currently works as the director of finance for a local company in West Hollywood.