A gay imam's story: 'The dialogue is open Islam – 10 years ago wasn't' | World Enomic Fom

Contents:

• WHAT DO ISLAM SAY ABOUT BEG GAY?
• EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
• CAN ONE BE MLIM AND GAY?
• A GAY IMAM'S STORY: 'THE DIALOGUE IS OPEN ISLAM – 10 YEARS AGO WASN'T'
• CAN A MLIM BE GAY?
• AFFIRMG MOSQU HELP GAY MLIMS RENCILE FAH, SEXUALY

WHAT DO ISLAM SAY ABOUT BEG GAY?

Beg lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or any other sexual orientatn or genr inty is difficult enough on s own, but beg Mlim as well n e one to stggle wh rencilg their inty wh Islam and Allah. If you're stgglg to rencile your LGBT+ inty wh your Islamic fah, n help to unrstand that Islam do not explicly forbid beg homosexual or havg a diverse genr inty. Furthermore, the Quran even mentns "men who are not need of women" (which n be terpreted as men who are gay or asexual) Verse 24:31-24:33, and the men are not nmned anywhere.

EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI

It's okay to be a Mlim who don't nform to a homophobic or transphobic view of Islam, the same way that other aspects of Islam have evolved and changed over time.

WikiHow has articl that may assist you g out, such as (but not limed to) How to Come Out, How to Come Out As Gay or Lbian, How to Come Out As Transgenr, How to Come Out to Your Friends, and How to Come Out to Your Parents.

If other Mlims tell you that you aren't a te follower of Islam bee you're LGBT+, you may wish to script a rponse such as, "Actually, the Prophet Lut was nmng the celti occurrg Sodom, and he nmned rape rather than homosexualy. However, acrdg to a recent survey by Public Relign Rearch Center, more than half (52%) of Amerin Mlims ageed that "society should approve of homosexualy.

CAN ONE BE MLIM AND GAY?

Acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, Turkey sr slightly better on measur of gay rights when pared wh some nearby Christian-majory natns such as Rsia, Armenia and Ukrae. Among them are two of the most popular Turkish entertaers of the past half-century: The late Zeki Muren was flamboyantly gay and the sger Bulent Ersoy is famoly transsexual. Their eccentricy has apparently add to their beyond the entertament dtry, the tradnal mastream Islamic view on homosexualy produc tolerance Turkey toward gays and creat starker problems Mlim natns that apply Shariah.

A GAY IMAM'S STORY: 'THE DIALOGUE IS OPEN ISLAM – 10 YEARS AGO WASN'T'

The average nservative Mlim tak this story as a jtifitn to stigmatize gays, but there is an important qutn that serv nsiratn: Did the people of Lot receive dive punishment for beg homosexual, or for attackg Lot and his heavenly guts?

CAN A MLIM BE GAY?

The even more signifint nuance is that while the Quran narrat this dive punishment for Sodom and Gomorrah, cre no earthly punishment for homosexualy — unlike the Old Ttament, which clearly cre that homosexuals “are to be put to ath.

AFFIRMG MOSQU HELP GAY MLIMS RENCILE FAH, SEXUALY

But signifint nam among them, such as the eighth-century scholar Abu Hanifa, the founr of the popular Hanafi school of jurispnce, argued that sce a homosexual relatnship did not produce offsprg wh an unknown father, uldn’t be nsired real Islamic basis for punishg homosexualy is the hadhs, or saygs, attributed to the Prophet Muhammad.

Such jurispntial facts might help Mlims today to velop a more tolerant attu toward gays, as some progrsive Islamic thkers Turkey, such as Ihsan Eliacik, are enuragg. People’s private liv are their own bs, he argu, whereas the public Mlim stance should be to fend gays when they are persecuted or discrimated agast — bee Islam stands wh the downtrodn. Yet those Mlims who sist on nmng gays should rell that acrdg to Islam, there are many ss, cludg arrogance, which the Quran treats as among the gravt moral transgrsns.