No Homosexuals in Iran?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently appeared in front of students at Colombia University and claimed that Iran does not have gays like we do in our country. A statement that controversial and said with such bigotry should certainly be on the minds of many left wingers, right? Wrong. According to this Wall Street Journal opinion piece, the crickets are chirping on this one. So while they can stand up and blast American presidents for their tough views on homosexuality, a man who wholly denies their very existence in his country escapes without a single left wing criticism? Seems very bizarre to me...