Arsham Parsi was born on 20 September, 1980, in Shiraz, Iran. After completing his basic education, he wanted to continue studying veterinary medicine at university; however, financial pressures forced him to stop his studies.

While living in Shiraz and after coming to terms with his sexual identity, Arsham began to do advocacy work for the queer community. Part of this work consisted of helping a doctor and his research assistants in a study of HIV in the local queer community. His advocacy work earned him the attention of the Iranian authorities, and Arsham was forced to flee Iran on 5 March, 2005. His train took him first to Turkey, where he was able to register as a refugee at the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Ankara. Ashram was one of the fortunate few whose case was actually accepted by the Commissioner. Three months after arriving in Turkey his case was accepted, and two months later he was invited to Canadian Embassy in Ankara and eight months later he was arrived in Canada.

Founder of IRanian Queer Organization-IRQO (formerly known as Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization-PGLO), Arsham began working for the advancement of civil rights for lesbians and gays in 2001. In 2003, he helped organize a Yahoo chat group for gay Iranians. They called it Voice Celebration. In total there were 50 participants, making contact with each other and exchanging views on how best to achieve civil rights. What was most striking about that day for Arsham was that while people were mailing contact, they were typing under false names, and nobody dared to actually speak out in public under their real names. He is still amazed that, less than 3 years later, he was asked to speak publicly in Geneva, Switzerland, at the 2nd session of United Nations Human Rights Council and on 4th anniversary all international media published some articles about Iranian queers.

Though now living safely in a safe country, Arsham still considers himself Iranian and never forgets that he is in exile for sexual orientation. He considers this a big responsibility. Arsham wants to return to a democratic, open Iran, and is working actively to make that dream a reality. As he passed the border out of Iran, he promised himself and his country that he would one day return to a free, open country and until that time would work to achieve that goal. Arsham considers the work he is doing today, as part of IRQO, to be an investment in a brighter tomorrow for all Iranians. In April, 2008, IRQO was awarded the 2008 Felipa de Souza Award by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in New York. In June, 2008, Arsham was awarded the Pride Toronto Award of Excellence in Human Rights in Toronto.
Arsham on October 9, 2008 announced his new organization called IRanian Queer Railroad - IRQR which is working more professional on Iranian queer asylum process.