JERUSALEM — The heads of all the crime families in New York used to get together every Wednesday night at the Ravenite Social Club on Mulberry Street in Little Italy. If you were looking for an Israeli parallel, you could do worse than the gym I work out at.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Since Iraq became independent from the British in 1921, it has undergone 11 coups. However, for the better part of the 20th century, the structure of the state had never experienced significant change. April 9, 2003, however, saw the end of the Iraqi state and the chaotic beginnings of a new state. On that day a line was drawn to distinguish between two eras. It was the first day of my life to live without Saddam.

“I am an Iranian lesbian.” It seems an introduction designed to shock anyone who knows anything about official Iranian attitudes to such admissions. After all, it was the country's own president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who in 2007 confidently stated during an address at New York's Columbia University that Iran did not have any gays.   But Kiana Firouz, a 27-year-old writer, actress and gay rights activists, is not only real — she's out, and proud, having adopted London as her hometown almost two years ago.