New book 2007: Gay Travels in the Muslim World, Edited by Michael Luongo (ch. 10 by GlobalGayz owner Richard Ammon)
See books reviews: Gay City News and Philadelphia Gay News
Also see:
More information about Islam & Homosexuality
al-fatiha-news
Middle East Youth
Muslim Yahoo Group: "Queer Muslim Revolution"
Queer Muslim magazine: Huriyah, Barra
Gay Islam discussion groups:
Muslim Gay Men LGBT muslim
Queer Jihad Bi-muslims
Trans-muslims Lesbian muslims
More Lesbian and Gay Muslim Websites:
–Gay Middle East
–Social support group
–Web site aims for a broad-based reformation, social justice, gender equality, pluralism and free inquiry
–Arab Gateway–includes pages on gay Islam
–Making friends
–Safra Muslim Lesbian Project
–Mithly.com -"find true value in self-actualization and self-expression"
The majority of Muslim countries, including supposedly ‘liberal’ ones like Tunisia as well as dictatorships like Sudan, outlaw same-sex relationships. See full article (October 2000)
1 Gay Muslim scholar tries to shift attitudes through research, education 1/10
2 ‘I’m a pariah’ says Muslim scholar who is gay 1/10
3 Homeless charity warns of increase in gay Muslims fleeing family violence 1/10
4 Honour and secrecy for families of gay Muslims 1/10
5 Five Human Rights Groups Launch Worldwide ‘346 No Execution’ Campaign 1/10
6 More gay men being forced into marriage by their families 7/10
7 Arabic website to tackle gay issues 8/10
8 For Gay Arabs, a Place to Dance, and Break Down Walls 1/11
9 British gay Muslims seek Islamic weddings 2/11
10 Will gays be ‘sacrificial lambs’ in Arab Spring? 5/11
11 Muslim States Must Support LGBT Rights 6/11
13 Circumcision during Ramadan carries risks 8/11
14 Islam and Human Diversity 11/11
15 Michael Lucas: Beware of the risk of homophobia arising…11/11
6 January 2010 – Fridae
1
Gay Muslim scholar tries to shift attitudes through research, education
by News Editor
Despite being shunned by his community, the devout Muslim and PhD candidate in Economics began a new area of study in Islam and homosexuality, and hopes for Muslims to rethink the possibility of consensual, supportive relationships as opposed to violent homosexual rape which he says is what the frequently referred to story of Lut (or Lot) in the Qur’an is about.
The following is an extract published by Canada’s National Post on January 3, 2010.
Junaid Bin Jahangir was such a devout Muslim that when he arrived in Canada he ate only yogurt for two days until he was sure which food followed halal dietary rules. The university student prayed five times a day, and joined a local mosque. Then one day, at age 27, he started to wonder why he had never been with a girl. "Why don’t I like women that way?" he asked, and it led him to a counselling office, where he sat, sobbing, with the realization that he was gay — a pariah to his community.
Mainstream Islamic leaders say gay men should be shunned and some around the world are killed each year. Mr. Jahangir’s world imploded; work on his PhD ground to a halt. But out of that despair, Mr. Jahangir began to work on another project: Understanding the teachings of Islam on homosexuality. From his office at the University of Alberta, he contacted experts, read everything he could on the subject and studied the scriptures intensely for two years, rebuilding his own identity in the process. His work is starting to be recognized internationally.
Now he argues Muslims misinterpret the Qur’an if they consider the ban on homosexuality to be as firm as bans on alcohol or pork. The common story from which most Muslims draw their teaching is about violent homosexual rape, he says, and it’s time to rethink the possibility of consensual, supportive relationships. Although his PhD in economics is still incomplete, Mr. Jahangir was asked to contribute a chapter to a new anthology on homosexuality compiled by a noted Australian academic. The book, Islam and Homosexuality, edited by Samar Habib and published by Praeger Publishers, appeared recently in bookstores.
But he remains fearful of talking about the subject. He doesn’t want his face shown in photographs, and when he agreed to do a presentation at the University of Alberta in the run-up to the book launch, organizers asked campus security and a local newspaper to attend in case someone wanted to cause trouble. The meeting went well, and it appeared that some Muslim students attended, judging by the half-dozen head scarves among the crowd. But he still complains no Imams or professors with the university Islamic Studies department will speak with him or about the topic. The silence is so deep it’s frustrating, he says.
"The apathy is unbelievable. How many more marriages do we want to fail as we pretend this doesn’t exist? Gay youth are committing suicide," he says. "The 13- or 14-year-old girls, they are the ones who need this. [If they believe they are lesbian], what do they do? Get married and follow through the motions? What joy do they have in their lives? "Let’s at least talk about the issue because it affects us all."
Mr. Jahangir wrote his views in an opinion piece (Hope exists for LGBT Muslims) published in the Gateway, the University of Alberta student newspaper.
January 9, 2010 – Canada.com
2
‘I’m a pariah’ says Muslim scholar who is gay – Man shunned by Islamic community tries to shift attitudes through research, education
by Elise Stolte, Edmonton Journal
Junaid Bin Jahangir was such a devout Muslim that when he arrived in Canada he ate only yogurt for two days until he was sure which food followed halal dietary rules. The university student prayed five times a day, and joined a local mosque. Then one day, at age 27, he started to wonder why he had never been with a girl. "Why don’t I like women that way?" he asked, and it led him to a counselling office, where he sat, sobbing, with the realization that he was gay — a pariah to his community.
Mainstream Islamic leaders say gay men should be shunned and some around the world are killed each year. Jahangir’s world imploded; work on his PhD ground to a halt. But out of that despair, Jahangir began to work on another project: Understanding the teachings of Islam on homosexuality. From his office at the University of Alberta, he contacted experts, read everything he could on the subject and studied the scriptures intensely for two years, rebuilding his own identity in the process. His work is starting to be recognized internationally.
Now he argues Muslims misinterpret the Qur’an if they consider the ban on homosexuality to be as firm as bans on alcohol or pork. The common story from which most Muslims draw their teaching is about violent homosexual rape, he says, and it’s time to rethink the possibility of consensual, supportive relationships. Although his PhD in economics is still incomplete, Jahangir was asked to contribute a chapter to a new anthology on homosexuality compiled by a noted Australian academic. The book Islam and Homosexuality, edited by Samar Habib and published by Praeger Publishers, appeared recently in bookstores.
But he remains fearful of talking about the subject. He doesn’t want his face shown in photographs, and when he agreed to do a presentation at the U of A in the run-up to the book launch, organizers asked campus security and a local newspaper to attend in case someone wanted to cause trouble. The meeting went well, and it appeared that some Muslim students attended, judging by the half-dozen head scarves among the crowd. But he still complains no Imams or professors with the university Islamic Studies department will speak with him or about the topic. The silence is so deep it’s frustrating, he says.
Read Article HERE
January 11, 2010 – PinkNews
3
Homeless charity warns of increase in gay Muslims fleeing family violence
by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
The Albert Kennedy Trust, a charity which helps homeless LGBT young people, has said it is seeing an increase in the numbers of gay Muslims fleeing from forced marriages and family violence. The charity told the BBC it had seen an increase in the numbers of gay Muslims contacting it for help in the last six months.
Trust worker Annie Southerst said: "They face threats of physical violence, actual violence and restriction of liberties. We’ve had people chased out of the house with knives and we have had issues around young people who had exorcisms planned to get rid of the gay demons, I suppose. They come to us because they’re homeless, or in danger of being homeless imminently. We sort out emergency accommodation for them."
One visitor to the charity’s weekly drop-in session in London, 20-year-old student Suni, told the BBC he had been imprisoned in Pakistan for three months after his parents suspected he was gay. Suni said he had been beaten by his family, who thought making him marry a woman would cure him of homosexuality.
Fazal Mahmood, who runs a support group for South Asian and Middle Eastern gay men called Himat, said that after young men and women in Muslim families reveal their sexual orientation, they are often asked to leave. He said: "I’m proud to be a Muslim, I’m proud to be South Asian, Pakistani and I’m proud to be gay as well. Unfortunately a lot of parents don’t see that. All they see is ‘what is my community going to feel like when they find out my son or daughter is gay?’."
The government dropped plans to make forcing someone into a marriage a crime, instead introducing Forced Marriage Protection orders in November 2008. The Albert Kennedy Trust has used four in the last few months. They are court orders which, if breached, can result in a two-year prison sentence. The head of the government department which deals with forced marriages said that gay and lesbian young people were particularly vulnerable to forced marriages.
Olaf Henricson-Bell said: "Forced marriage by its nature is an underground practice and the cases often go unreported. The individuals involved may be reluctant to mention sexuality when they ring us or when they bring their case to the attention of the authorities."
The Forced Marriage Unit is to work with the Albert Kennedy Trust to produce guidance for gay charities when dealing with young people at risk of being forced into marriages.
January 19, 2010 – PinkNews
4
Honour and secrecy for families of gay Muslims
by Anonymous
Last week, the LGBT homeless charity Albert Kennedy Trust warned it was seeing an increase in the numbers of gay Muslims fleeing from forced marriages and family violence. However, for one gay Muslim, the experiences of gay EastEnders character Syed Masood are closer to home. While I haven’t been a fan of the show for quite some time, I was intrigued when I heard that EastEnders was to feature a storyline outlining the struggles faced by gay Muslims. Being someone who is both gay and (quasi)religious in their Islamic faith, I was interested to see how they would cover it.
As many people know, the relationship between religious communities and homosexuality can be volatile with both sides often holding open contempt for each other, but nowhere is this shown more than in the families of gay Muslims. While problems faced by the gay children of other social groups are more upfront – open hostility, youth homelessness etc – issues faced by gay and lesbian Asians have different layers of intricacy as family honour and social standing come into play.
Gay people in these communities are faced by the violence and disgust that is unfortunately prevalent in certain groups of people around the world and have to deal with an inherent and irrationally focused hatred from their family and friends. Sometimes this manifests in violence and there are cases all over the world of gay and lesbian people being killed by their families, who use their religion to rationalise their own feelings of hatred.
Other times, familial affection overrides this violence, but rather than this leading to tolerance or acceptance, a web of manipulation is spun and gay people are continuously made to feel they are dirty or wrong and that their life is causing pain to the people around them. EastEnders showed this in its proper light and rather than Syed being thrown out by his mother Zainab or attacked after being outed, he was instead told to go through with a marriage to a woman for his family’s benefit.
This exposes the root of what is in question here in terms of Muslim parents and how they deal with the situation. It is true, as I saw in the show and have experienced in my life, that if it gets out that a family has a gay son they will lose everything. They will become social pariahs and outcasts from not only the community but from the extended family who want to disassociate themselves from the fallout of the situation. Any other children in the family will also be shunned, unable to get jobs in their community and unable to marry as other families will see their blood as tainted.
This is the very real situation that is faced by these groups when a person, particularly a man, comes out as gay. It brings out the worst in people – parents, brothers, sisters, uncles – who mix their own negative views on homosexuality itself with the fear attached to losing their social status. Instead of coming at it violently or aggressively, the educated parents of gays instead manipulate their children, using their knowledge of them to consciously and unconsciously degrade their views of themselves and the way they see the situation around them.
This leads to many gay Muslims being stuck in loveless marriages or spiralling into depression, drug use and even suicide as they are made to feel like the situation, their sexuality and the reactions of their loved ones are their fault.
But while it is easy to be horrified and disgusted by the treatment that these gay Asians and Arabs receive, outside observers must consider why we let our families get away with this. Why we let them in our heads, feeding our own insecurities. The answer is simply because they’re right. Should the knowledge of our sexuality come out in the greater community, our families’ lives would be destroyed.
Whether this is right or wrong is sadly an irrelevance, that’s just how it is. It is the reason we allow ourselves to feel the guilt of our sexuality and the reason why family members do anything to stop it and to beat down any idea of their child being happy in a same-sex environment or relationship. Simply because, on subconscious and conscious levels, they know that it would destroy their lives.
Name not published at author’s request.
January 27, 2010 – IRQR
5
Five Human Rights Groups Launch Worldwide ‘346 No Execution’ Campaign
Today, five human rights advocacy groups in five Western nations announced the official launching of the 346 No Executions campaign, a coordinated worldwide effort to inspire at least 346 citizens in each member nation to submit letters of petition to their respective foreign ministries, specifically requesting that diplomatic pressure be applied to the government of Iran to abolish its death penalty.
The Iranian regime routinely carries out government-sanctioned executions in arbitrary, capricious and inhumane fashion to homosexuals, women, young girls, religious minorities, minors and now Green protesters, all of which are in defiance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Iran is a signatory.
The five participating groups in the 346 No Executions campaign to date are: The Iranian Homosexual Human Rights Councils (Canada, United States), OutRage! (United Kingdom), The Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation (Germany) and the Everyone Group (Italy). The participants hope to recruit more human rights groups in other countries to the campaign as word spreads. ‘346’ is derived from the official figure of executions carried out in Iran in 2008, according to the latest Amnesty International report.
Mr. Arsham Parsi, who represents the campaign as communications director of the Iranian Homosexual Human Rights Councils, recently stated that AI’s official figure of 346 does not accurately reflect the actual number of executions carried out annually by the Iranian regime:
"Three-hundred and forty-six is a conservative estimate," Mr. Parsi stated in a recent interview. "The unofficial number is likely much higher. Iran must stop taking innocent lives in such cavalier, arbitrary and brutal ways. Our campaign’s mission is to petition member governments to apply diplomatic pressure on Iran to cease and desist with these barbaric and unjust executions.
"It is the express goal of the 346 No Executions campaign to bring these arbitrary executions in Iran to an end. We seek to do this through letters of petition and by expanding the campaign to other nations, particularly in the European Union. Many EU member states conduct a great deal of commercial trade with Iran, yet the EU is also signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This dichotomy between principles and actions represents a clear conflict of interest in the EU vis-a-vis trade with Iran and the fundamental human rights EU member nations swore to uphold in the Universal Declaration.
"It is our hope that these letters of petition will compel as many governments as possible to address the situation in Iran, and will as a result apply diplomatic pressure on the regime to uphold its own legal, moral and human rights obligations under the Universal Declaration. We also hope that by increasing awareness of this intolerable situation in Iran to concerned citizens and human rights advocacy groups around the globe, that even more governments will pressure Iran. There is great strength in numbers."
For more information on the 346 No Executions Campaign, members of the press and the media are welcome to inquire further Email or Website
If you are a member of a human rights organization or NGO and would like launch your own 346 No Executions campaign in your country, we will gladly assist you. Please contact Mr. Arsham Parsi direct at info@noexecutions.com.
Thank You.
346 No Execution Campaign
Toronto, Canada
Website
Email
July 1, 2010 – PinkNews
6
More gay men being forced into marriage by their families
by Jessica Geen
The government has released figures which suggest a rise in the number of men being forced into marriage because their families know or suspect they are gay. The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) says it received over 220 reports of men being forced into marriages last year, up from 134 in 2008, an increase of 65 per cent. According to the FMU, such incidents traditionally increase during the summer, when holidays abroad are taken. Most victims are aged between 15 and 24 and the majority of cases involving men are linked to Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
While the vast majority (86 per cent) of victims are female, the FMU says that men are forced into marriage for reasons such as controlling behaviour, protecting family reputations and securing visas. It says it has received over 80 reports of men being forced into marriage so far this year with a number of cases linked to sexuality.However, these cases are likely to be the tip of the iceberg, as it is estimated many incidents go unreported.
Equality minister Lynne Featherstone said: "When young men are forced into marrying women it can be because they are gay or bisexual, or their families suspect that they are. This kind of abuse must not be tolerated. Adults working with young people need to be alert to young men who may be vulnerable to forced marriage, as well as women, and report any concerns to the Forced Marriage Unit.”
Tim Sigsworth, chief executive of the Albert Kennedy Trust, a charity for homeless LGBT youth, recently reported a rise in the numbers of young gay Muslims contacting it for help. He said: “The impact for many young gay and bisexual men facing a forced marriage is twofold. They not only experience a sense of loss from the rejection or ejection by their family and possibly community, but they may also be struggling to come to terms with their sexual orientation without the love, support and guidance which parents may have offered them in other areas of their lives.”
Male and female victims of forced marriage, or others acting on their behalf, can apply for a Forced Marriage Protection Order. An order can be used to prevent someone being forced into marriage or to protect a person where a marriage has already taken place. People can be arrested if they do not comply with the orders. Since coming into force in November 2008, over 150 orders have been taken out.
August 18, 2010 – PinkNews
7
Arabic website to tackle gay issues
by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
An Arabic-language website set up by two Israeli-Arab literary figures will tackle the issue of homosexuality. Qadita.net, launched this week, is an online magazine devoted to politics and culture. Writers are expected to include Arab and Palestinian critics and intellectuals. Its creators, author Ala Hlehel and journalist Anton Shalhat, say it will tackle ‘taboo’ issues in Arabic culture.
According to Hareetz.com, Mr Hlehel said: "We’ll post controversial texts that touch on social and cultural sensitivities. "The margins of freedom of the press in Arabic are shrinking under political and social tension from the whole Arab-Islamic scene, with its suffocating effect on free creation."
He added that a section on gay and lesbian issues will be "featured prominently" on the homepage. "It will include texts written by Arab gays and lesbians who, naturally, will publish anonymously," he said. There is another Arabic/English-language website devoted to LGBT issues. Behksoos was set up by lesbian group Meem two years ago.
January 13, 2011 – The New York Times
8
For Gay Arabs, a Place to Dance, and Break Down Walls
by Chadwick Moore
Joshua Bright for The New York Times The Habibi dance party at Club Rush in Manhattan in November.
Around midnight, upstairs in a small club on Avenue of the Americas, the pitch-black dance floor resounded with the rapid stomps and warbling, high-energy cries of the dabke, an Arab folk dance performed at weddings and other celebrations. When the strobe lights flashed, they revealed a sea of raised hands. A man in the crowd removed his kaffiyeh, the traditional headdress worn by some Arab and Kurdish men, and whipped it around in the air. “I can understand so many conversations going on right now,” a Fashion Institute of Technology student shouted over the music, coiling his wrists and shaking his hips to the belly-dance beat. “But you wouldn’t want me to translate. It’s all dirty. Dirty Arabic.”
This was a recent Saturday night at Habibi, a floating monthly dance party of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Arabs in New York. In a city that seems to offer activities for every conceivable gay subculture — one 700-entry directory lists support groups for, among others, gay vegans, pilots and sailing enthusiasts, along with 62 religion-based groups — Habibi is perhaps the only opportunity in New York for gay people of Middle Eastern descent to interact openly in an organized setting. “In New York there’s nowhere I can come to and cry, so to speak,” said Amir, 27, a registered nurse from Saudi Arabia who lives in Brooklyn and has been coming to the party for six years. “Habibi is a welcoming community.”
In its nomadic nine-year history, Habibi, which rests only during the holy month of Ramadan, has inhabited straight and gay clubs and hookah bars all over Manhattan — Flamingo, Boom, the China Club, Club Duvet, Moomia — and outlived many of them. Lately, Habibi has made its home at Club Rush in Chelsea. Its downstairs neighbor there is one of the city’s few “twink” parties; the word describes particularly boyish-looking men. Throughout the night, shy, lithe, silken-haired young men trickled upstairs to ogle the mob of Arab men dancing to Middle Eastern pop, spun by the party’s founder, a practicing Muslim named Abraham.
Habibi, the Arabic word for “my beloved”, is a sort of stepchild of a more serious-minded group called the Gay and Lesbian Arab Society. Abraham, a former accountant in his 40s with a shaved head, steady gaze and smoky accent, was one of the society’s co-founders. Through the 1990s, the group met at the LGBT Center in the West Village. “It got big, which is not always a good thing, because you have all nationalities of the Middle East,” said Abraham, who is of Syrian and Palestinian descent, grew up in Kuwait and now lives in Astoria, Queens. Like others interviewed for this article, he spoke on the condition that his last name not be used.
“The Egyptians want to hang out with the Egyptians, the Moroccans want to hang out with the Moroccans, et cetera,” he said. “This is always a problem you have with Arabs.” The cookies-and-tea meetings, Abraham said, “got a little boring.” The first Habibi party, in early 2002, was a fund-raiser for the society, held in an Italian restaurant on the Lower East Side. “I thought what was natural was to do something fun, have people dance, have fun,” Abraham said. Though the Gay and Lesbian Arab Society tended toward balkanization, Abraham said: “Habibi blends everybody. It breaks down as many walls as possible. You have everyone in the same room dancing.”
The society’s ranks, meanwhile, continued to thin. By the end, only a handful of people would show up for meetings. “I think around 2004, it was the Internet that really did it,” said Nadeem, an Iraqi Christian who served as the society’s president from 2000 to 2004, when it stopped meeting — though its Web site remains active. “There wasn’t a need to go to meetings; people could just meet up online. Habibi is so successful, one, because it’s a business and Abraham really treats it like one, and two, the idea of a party entices people more.”
Gay Muslims, at least as much as adherents of other faiths, face hurdles reconciling their religion with their sexuality. At the city’s biggest mosque and one of its more progressive, the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, the imam, Mohammad Shamsi Ali, laid out what amounted to a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. “Homosexuality is grouped with adultery, fornication, all of them very severe sins, but you don’t need to talk about it,” Mr. Ali said. “It is between you and the creator.” He said gays and lesbians were welcome at his mosque, even to bring their partners. “But we don’t need to know about their sex lives,” he said.
As the only game in town, Habibi, which has attracted as many as 300 guests, brings together Arabs of all social stripes — at once a blessing and a source of its own brand of discrimination. “In Dubai, everyone is bisexual,” a 22-year-old Columbia University accounting student said at the party in November. “But it’s such a different scene there.” Calling Habibi “kind of trashy compared to what most Arabs, at least in Dubai, are used to,” he said: “I mean, there are street vendors here.” Nodding in the direction of a man standing in the shadows nearby, the student said: “You can spot the ones who sell kebabs on the street. It’s not difficult.”
In the D.J.’s booth, Abraham kept the hits coming — mainly from Egypt and Lebanon, but also some South Asian and Indian pop. “Anything with a belly dance beat,” he said. “Keeping people on the dance floor is a natural high for me.” The dancers included plenty of non-Arab men, many of whom Abraham said were regulars. “Hummus queens,” a 24-year-old grocery clerk from Queens named Hilal joked at one of the parties. “That’s what you call white guys who go for Arabs.”
Some of the guests yearned for something more than just a good time. “There’s a lot of post-9/11 baggage that people want to deal with,” Hilal said during another party. “But the only option they have is to go out to a club and dance?” Still, Hilal, wearing a “Hummus Is Yummus” T-shirt and a Mohawk haircut, took his place on the dance floor, too.
And around 1 a.m., three female belly dancers took to the stage, dressed in pink sequined burqas. The crowd tightly gathered around the dancers and cheered as the women, piece by piece, stripped their burqas to a crooning love song. The next Habibi is this Sunday, Jan. 16 at La Pomme, 37 West 26th Street in Chelsea. More information is available from habibi@habibinyc.com Habibi e-mail address or the party’s Web site; its Myspace page or its Facebook page. There is a $10 admission charge.
20 February 2011 – BBC News
9
British gay Muslims seek Islamic weddings
by Adrian Goldberg
British gay Muslims are joining the global fight for equality and seeking gay Islamic marriage. The BBC’s 5 live Investigates speaks to one couple about their ‘nikah’ – a Muslim matrimonial contract – and asks how they balance their sexuality with the Islamic faith. We met about three years ago, at an iftar – a breaking of fast during Ramadan. I think a lot of Muslims find that time of year very spiritual and very enlightening, and so I think that’s why our relationship developed, because we spoke about our faith. Eventually we went on a date."
Asra recalls the first time she met her partner, Sarah, three years ago. The gay couple, who are also Muslim, are one of a growing number of gay, British Muslims who have cemented their relationship with marriage – Islamic marriage. Asra fondly remembers the moment Sarah proposed to her. "After the first date, which was about an hour, Sarah casually asked me to marry her."
Sarah interjects. "I think it was more like four hours, after dinner, coffee and walking. I didn’t really plan it, but it just really seemed like the way it was between us, I should try and keep it as pure as possible. That may sound strange being lesbians, but it felt like we should do it the most honourable way we could."
The Muslim way
Asra and Sarah decided upon a ‘nikah’ – a Muslim matrimonial contract. Whilst nikahs have traditionally been the reserve of heterosexual Muslims, Asra and Sarah were aware that other gay Muslims had followed this route and the couple decided to investigate further. "A few friends said you don’t really have to have an official Imam, but you need someone who is knowledgeable enough about the Qur’an to do it. Fortunately, one of our friends was, and she offered to do it. She’s a lesbian herself, and she said we could do it in her home."
Three months after the proposal, the big day came. Asra wore a white shalwar kameez – a traditional Pakistani outfit – and Sarah a pink dress. "I wanted to wear leather, but Asra wouldn’t let me," she sighs. "We got rings from Camden market, and we drew up contracts – we got a blueprint off the internet of a heterosexual contract and we both looked at it separately, to see if there were things we wanted to change. I remember I put about the dog – that if we broke up, Asra wouldn’t steal the dog." Asra rolls her eyes and adds "we also did a dowry, of £5. It was a symbolic thing and we’ve still got those £5 notes."
In attendance were six friends, who also acted as witnesses – "and a cat," says Sarah. The short ceremony was conducted in Arabic, and additional duas – prayers – were read and the marriage was essentially no different from the nikahs performed for straight Muslim couples all over the world. Activists at a London Pride event in 2005 There is growing visibility of gay Muslims in Britain, although not all are confident about coming out But the Islamic faith vehemently rejects homosexuality, and the fact this nikah was for a gay couple is highly offensive to the majority of Muslims – including Asra’s own parents.
"It’s still very difficult for me to tell my family about my life being a lesbian. They know I am a believer, they know I am religious, but going as far as saying I am a lesbian is quite hard," Asra says. "I remember thinking this is the only time I am going to get married, and my family weren’t there. That was constantly going through my mind – I am having an Islamic nikah, doing as much as I can through my faith, but my family weren’t there."
However, Sarah’s relationship with her family is quite different. "Because I wasn’t born a Muslim – I converted five years ago – I think my family is quite accepting of my sexuality. But sometimes it seems like they are waiting for me to grow out of being a Muslim." Gay Muslim voices Sarah and Asra know their marriage is unorthodox, and the idea of a gay nikah would be rejected by the majority of Muslim scholars, but Sarah says it is nobody’s business.
Read article
May 27, 2011 – CNN
10
Will gays be ‘sacrificial lambs’ in Arab Spring?
by Catriona Davies, for CNN
(CNN) – The uprisings bringing political change and demonstrations across much of the Arab world have given millions of people hope of greater freedom. But some gay people in the Middle East fear exactly the opposite. Homosexuality is illegal — enforced to varying degrees — in most Arab countries. A 2011 report by the International Lesbian and Gay Association reported that homosexuality is illegal in 76 countries worldwide and punishable by death in five, including Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Despite the risks, there are those willing to speak out and campaign for gay rights across the Middle East.
Sami Hamwi, a 35-year-old journalist from Damascus, is the Syrian editor for the website Gay Middle East, but few friends or family know his true sexual orientation. Hamwi said: "We have been trying in Gay Middle East to start a group to be able to help LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender] people in Syria. It is a work in progress." However, he added: "I am very scared now. I can think of a million things they can do to me if I was ever arrested or investigated."
Hamwi wants to see reform in Syria, but doubts that any political change could significantly improve gay rights. "Sheikhs still emphasize that death penalty is the Islamic punishment for gay men," he said. "A more open society regarding sexuality needs years, if not decades, of work after Syrians get the freedom they aspire to have."
Haider Ala Hamoudi, an expert on Middle Eastern and Islamic law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, in the United States, says that while Islamic law is open to different interpretations, it is generally considered to condemn homosexuality. "Not every Muslim would adhere to this view but traditionally Islamic law would regard homosexuality as illegal," he said. "It seems commonly accepted that the foundational sacred sources (the Quran and the Sunnah) ban homosexuality," he added. "I do know there are Muslims who take exception to that, it’s not black and white, but the dominant standing pretty clearly condemns homosexuality."
Some have a more positive view of the situation in Syria. A Syrian woman who writes a blog called "A Gay Girl in Damascus" has gained international attention for her account of her father protecting her when security forces arrived at night to arrest her for "conspiring against the state." The blog’s author, Amina Abdallah, is a 35-year-old English teacher who says she returned to Syria last year after many years in the United States. In an email interview Abdallah said she believed that political change could improve gay rights. She said: "A whole lot of long time changes are coming suddenly bubbling to the surface and views towards women, gay people and minorities are rapidly changing."
Read article
June 23, 2011 – Huffpost World
11
Muslim States Must Support LGBT Rights
by Melody Moezzi
Last week, in an historic and long-overdue move, the United Nations passed a resolution recognizing the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people around the world. With South Africa leading the charge, the U.N. Human Rights Council voted in favor of the resolution by a narrow margin of 23 to 19, with three abstentions. The new declaration holds that no one should be subject to discrimination or violence based on her or his sexual orientation or gender identity. Sounds like common sense to me, something that ought to go without saying, but unfortunately, it cannot go without saying. According to Amnesty International, 76 countries around the world continue to criminalize consensual same-sex relations, and whether as a result of discriminatory legal systems or hate crimes or suicide, one thing is certain: gays, lesbians and transgender individuals are being killed, tortured and victimized all over the world, simply for being who they are.
If that isn’t the very definition of a human rights violation, I’m not sure what is. The LGBT community represents the most vulnerable and marginalized sector of nearly every society worldwide, and as such, it’s vital that international bodies like the U.N. speak up in support of LGBT rights. Likewise, because it is so often religion that is abused and misused to justify the assault, murder and harassment of gays, lesbians and transgender people, it is equally important for religious individuals, groups and organizations to stand up in defense of the LGBT community. As a Muslim, it is my moral obligation to speak out and stand up whenever I see an injustice being carried out, and if I see any particular group that is especially vulnerable or marginalized, it is my moral duty to rush to that community’s aid. So, it’s especially painful for me to see Muslim majority countries and members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) voting against this historic U.N. resolution. If it was, as I suspect, some alleged affinity for Islam that led Pakistan, Malaysia, Jordan, Senegal or other OIC countries to oppose this resolution, I have some words of caution and advice for the OIC.
First, as Muslims, I’m sure you know that it is your religious duty to pursue peace and justice and that there is no sin worse than oppressing another human being. So, no matter your personal theological opinion or your interpretation of the Biblical story of Lot, it is incumbent upon you to resist oppression, and in doing so, to protect those who happen to be most vulnerable to it in any given time or place. Second, if we, as Muslims, expect our rights to be respected around the world, then we too must respect the rights of other minority groups. This includes the LGBT community. As Muslims, we know what it’s like to live in a world that can be hostile and discriminatory. Therefore, we have an even greater obligation to create the least hostile and discriminatory planet we can.
Let’s face it, my dear OIC member states, there are alarmingly large numbers of people out there who are convinced that Islam is the devil incarnate, that we Muslims are out to conquer and destroy the world, and that Islam is both "wrong" and "immoral." I know that these people exist because they love sending me emails. That said, I vehemently disagree with all of them, and I thank God that their hatred and bigotry hold no weight in any American court of law. So too, your intolerance and homophobia should hold no more legal weight than any of my pen pals’ vicious Islamophobia.
Finally, the LGBT Muslim community, along with their many heterosexual allies such as myself, will not let bigots and homophobes define our religion for us or for the rest of the world. We have scholars and imams in our ranks, and we refuse to be considered "less Muslim" because of our sexual orientation, gender identity or our choice to acknowledge that such distinctions are in fact God-given. Thus, the OIC member states that chose to oppose the recent U.N. LGBT rights resolution have not spoken for Muslims worldwide, and this is one Muslim who isn’t about to let them try.
25 July, 2011 – MSM Global Forum
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Ifti Nasim Dead: Pioneering Gay Pakistani Muslim Poet Dies At 64
by Sophia Tareen Article Date: 24 Jul, 2011
Chicago — Men and women in conservative dress sat quietly before the start of a what promised to be a typical Pakistani Muslim community gathering, until Ifti Nasim – the gay Pakistani Muslim poet, activist and Chicago radio show host – strode in wearing leather pants, a leather overcoat and pimp hat with feather.
The display elicited smiles, and some eye rolls, from audience members. But most at the gathering for dignitaries and business leaders were captivated when he read poems dealing with being Muslim in a post 9-11 world, with some yelling the Urdu word for "repeat" throughout the performance. It was a not an uncommon reaction to Nasim, who for most of his life managed to occupy an unusual – and often difficult – space. He lived as an openly gay Muslim man in Chicago’s South Asian enclave, while garnering respect from more conservative Muslims with his volumes of poetry, provocative humor, flamboyant fashion and advocacy for several Chicago organizations.
Nasim died at a Chicago hospital late Friday following a heart attack, his sister Ajaz Nasreen told The Associated Press. He was 64. "It is a big loss for the community," said longtime friend and business partner Rana Javed, who ran a local South Asian program, "Sargam Radio," and newspaper with Nasim for years. The respect Nasim earned in the community was evident at his funeral services and burial Saturday, when hundreds packed into a Chicago mosque to pay their respects and read Quran. A religious memorial service was scheduled Sunday and community leaders said public memorials with poetry readings would follow in the coming weeks.
Nasim said he always knew he was gay, but living openly in his native Pakistan wasn’t an option. He remembered first reading magazine articles about being gay in America and developing his love of fashion by flipping through Vogue. "In Islamic society, gays have no place," he told WBEZ-FM in Chicago. "America sold the gay culture to me back home. They’re living happily ever after in America. That’s my place, I’ve got to go to America. I was sold. Completely sold."
Islam forbids homosexuality. While attitudes toward gays have changed among some in Muslim countries, being gay is still considered widely unacceptable and homosexual acts in some Muslim countries are punishable by whipping or death.
Full text of article available here
2011 August 28 – Magharebia
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Circumcision during Ramadan carries risks
By Mohand Ouali for Magharebia in Algiers
In Algeria, Ramadan is a popular time to have boys circumcised. But the delicate operation can result in accidents or injuries to children if performed by inadequately trained medical staff. Although circumcisions can be performed at any time of the year, many Algerians choose to have their children circumcised during Ramadan, especially on the 27th day of the month, which has particular religious significance (Laylat al-Qadr or the Night of Destiny). Many organisations, public institutions and companies arrange collective circumcision ceremonies during the holy month as a gesture of support for families. However, when collective operations are performed at improperly equipped facilities, injuries often result.
"There are nurses, general practitioners and even paediatricians who carry out these operations despite having no right to do so," said Dr Mourad Zaoui, who works at a hospital in Kolea, Blida province. "This is a surgical procedure that should be performed by a surgeon." He explained that bleeding, infections and injuries resulting from surgical mishaps are the most common problems. "I witnessed the death of a child from post-circumcision bleeding," he said, adding that in other cases, damage caused by botched circumcisions can be repaired. "In most cases, the child will certainly experience psychological trauma, but that is all."
"There are still some areas where there is no oversight, and this increases the risk of accidents," Dr Zaoui said. He also noted that there are no national statistics indicating the frequency of mishaps. "Yes, accidents are frequent when circumcisions are performed. For instance, two boys were maimed when they were circumcised in mid-July in the town of Tenes," a medical source told Magharebia.
Another doctor in the town said that one child was maimed during a collective circumcision ceremony held by a charity last year. The child, who was later found to suffer from haemophilia, was circumcised by a nurse and was hospitalised due to bleeding. The nurse was suspended and legal proceedings filed against him. The Algerian health ministry has taken steps in recent years to reduce the risk of injury, including issuing new safety recommendations for doctors.
The Social Action Department (DAS) in Algiers announced August 1st that it would offer circumcisions to a thousand boys during the holy month in partnership with the health ministry. In Constantine, Abdelkader Nouar, the secretary-general of the Souboul el Kheirat office with the religious affairs ministry, has announced that around 500 boys from needy families will be circumcised during Ramadan. This gesture of solidarity will end on the eve of Eid al-Fitr. Nouar mosque committees have received numerous requests for circumcisions from impoverished families who cannot afford to pay private doctors for the procedure, which usually costs around 4,500 dinars (43 euros).
Read article
November 2011 – Orinam
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Islam and Human Diversity:
If God had willed, God would have made you one single community, but rather God brings whomever God wills within the divine compassion – yet the unjust oppressors have no guardian and no helper (Q. 42:8)
Islam in its essence, supports human diversity and celebrates every human being as a reflection of God’s will. The Qur’an, the holy book and the ultimate authority of Islam, doesn’t explicitly condemn homosexuality or transgender behavior. The Qur’an’s central message is solidarity with the oppressed and that God’s will works with those who suffer oppression. Many Muslims make presumptions when it comes to the issues of gender and sexuality and think that they already know “what the Qur’an says” without reflecting on whether they have based their opinion on patriarchal culture or their knowledge of the Qur’an and Islam. Modern reformists and contemporary interpreters of Islam, encourage believers to separate what is imposed by culture from what is essential to the faith, by ‘ijtihad’ – independent and original analysis based on intellectual effort and ethical discretion (in the interpretation of the religion).
The Qur’an and Alternate Sexuality:
Classical Muslim jurists and interpreters identify the Qur’anic narrative of the Prophet Lot’s struggle with his tribe (qawm lut) as addressing homosexual sex or more specifically male-to-male anal penetration. According to the Qur’an, Lot was commissioned as a prophet to the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was sent to preach monotheism and stop the tribe from their lustful and violent acts. But the men of Sodom and Gomorrah rejected Lot’s authority, by trying to deprive Lot of the right to extend hospitality and protection to strangers and the poor. They also schemed for ways to reject Lot’s prophethood and his public standing in their community, by murder, robbery, public nudity, gambling, idolatrous worship and by performing coercive same-sex acts against the strangers, whom Lot hosted (as mentioned in Q. 29:29). God punished the people of Sodom and Gomorrah for their transgressions, by turning the cities upside down and stoning the entire city, putting an end to the lives of the people once for all. The Prophet Lot and his believers were protected by God and were asked to leave the cities the night before. Lot’s wife was also killed in the stoning, as she didn’t believe in Lot’s authority.
God says “The tribe of Lot considered the warning a lie. We sent upon them a storm of stones [destroying all] except Lot’s family, for them we saved at dawn as a favor from us. In this way we reward those who give thanks. He [Lot] warned them of our violent retribution but they obstinately denied the warning. They strived to alienate his guest from him but we blinded their eyes, [declaring], “Now taste my punishment and my warning!” (Q 54:33-37)
The text that describes the story of Lot is often quoted out of context, as Islam’s condemnation of homosexuality and some fundamentalist interpreters even go to the extreme extent of ruling “stoning to death” as a punishment for homosexual acts. Modern interpreters believe that God sent upon the tribe of Sodom and Gomorrah, the storm of stones as they had disbelieved in Lot’s prophethood. They question, why women and children who didn’t engage in any sexual acts were also killed, if God stoned the cities as a punishment for male-to-male penetration. They ask if the immortality described in Lot’s story is specifically male-to-male penetration, then why Lot’s wife was also destroyed by God’s punishment? (her only misdeed was disrespecting Lot’s authority)
Read complete article here
17 November 2011 – PinkNews
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Michael Lucas: Beware of the risk of homophobia arising from the Arab Spring
by Michael Lucas
Gay entertainment mogul Michael Lucas warns of the risks of homophobic Islamist governments forming after the Arab Spring. After decades in power, a brutal dictator in a Muslim country is dramatically deposed by a massive popular uprising. Sound familiar? Of course: that’s what happened in Egypt and Libya this year, as part of what’s known as the Arab Spring. But it’s also what happened in Iran in 1979 — and that should make us pause for a moment.
It’s easy to cheer for democratic change and celebrate the downfall of tyrants like Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. But what if the end of one kind of oppression brings about the rise of another? As history has shown us time and again, revolutions are often turns for the worse. Gay people should be especially wary when the forces of religious fundamentalism are involved. And nowhere are those forces stronger today than in the Muslim world. The power behind the Arab Spring came in large part from the coiled energy of Islamic groups that had been suppressed by secular dictatorships; as the old regimes crumble, hard-core Islamists are eager to take their place.
If the past is any guide, that’s bad news for gays in the Muslim world. Consider Iran. Under the Shah, Tehran had room for gay nightclubs and artists. That tolerance ended when the ayatollahs took over in the Islamic revolution of 1979 and instituted a fundamentalist form of Quranic law, or Shariah, under which gay sex is punishable by death. (Three Iranian men were hanged for sodomy in September, and hundreds of others have reportedly been executed for gay-related offenses.)
Or consider the explosion of anti-gay violence that followed the end of Saddam Hussein’s secular regime in Iraq. The powerful cleric Ali al-Sistani, who had been kept in check by Saddam, issued a 2005 fatwa calling for gay men and lesbians to be killed “in the worst, most severe way of killing.” In recent years, according to human-rights groups, scores of Iraqi gays have been abducted and murdered — often through gruesome torture and mutilation — by sectarian death squads and even by members of their own families (in so-called “honor killings”).
Iraqi authorities have mostly turned a blind eye to this “sexual cleansing.” Should we be surprised? After all, Shariah is now officially the law of the land. The 2005 Iraqi constitution includes talk about equal rights for all citizens, but its Article 2 calls Islam “the official religion of the State” and says that “no law that contradicts the established provisions of Islam may be established.” Whether by law (in Iran) or by acceptance of lawlessness (in Iraq), the increased power of Islam in daily life has been a disaster for Muslim gays. Will things be different in the Arab Spring countries?
Read complete article here
