Affirmg mosqu help gay Mlims rencile fah, sexualy

Contents:

• MEET AMERI’S FIRST OPENLY GAY IMAM
• AFFIRMG MOSQU HELP GAY MLIMS RENCILE FAH, SEXUALY
• GAY HOTON
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

MEET AMERI’S FIRST OPENLY GAY IMAM

HOUSTON - Hoton has a pretty sizeable Mlim populatn and while may e as a surprise, there are members of the muny who happen to intify as gay, lbian, transgenr, or queer.

AFFIRMG MOSQU HELP GAY MLIMS RENCILE FAH, SEXUALY

"I want them to know Iftikhar is here, and to make sure I am that rource and be like ‘hey, this is what we have, ’ and I want them to be able to have a muny that is for them to be weled to and feel fortable bee we have a lot of refuge g on asylum that are gay and everythg is the sry for them as they may not have a fay here, or know anyone or even have a muny so they all end up lost, and I don't want that, " she said. "I knew all my life that I was gay, but I jt I never really accepted for myself bee my dad was so polil the Islamic Society [of Greater Hoton] so was a very big thg for me to e out and I wasn't able to, so was very hard for me.

" Currently, Rani said they have a clear unrstandg of their Islamic inty but bee var members of the Mlim muny have negative opns of homosexuals, n raise some eyebrows when others fd out about her sexualy. But Imam Daayiee Abdullah – believed to be the only openly gay imam the Ameris – is proud of his story.

But as a gay man Ameri, he saw that lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Mlims had unmet spirual needs and he beme an imam to provi muny support. "Beg an openly gay imam and havg been intified as such, I do get a lot of feedback and also kickback, but that's OK, " said Imam Daayiee Abdullah, of Washgton, D.

GAY HOTON

Performg funeral r for a gay Mlim who died of AIDS.

But not all of them are gay. Many worshippers at the Light of Reform Mosque are not gay. "Beg an openly gay imam and havg been intified as such, I do get a lot of feedback and also kickback, but that's OK, ” he said.

“If you go to most Mlim scholars, they're gog to tell you that homosexual acts are a s Islam; that there's no way around , ” said Dr. Hse Rashid, an adjunct profsor of relign at Hofstra Universy and ntributor to a report on homosexualy U. “But the tradn was and remas that homosexualy is a s Mlim tradn.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

The var scholars who ntributed to the project’s report emphasized that there is no sgular terpretatn of homosexualy Islam. "I thk Daayiee is tryg to say, 'Y, I n be gay and I n be a Mlim, and I n tend to people who are also gay and Mlim, ' that this is part of their inty as a human beg and that the relign of Islam teach people to embrace all aspects of their humany, " he said.

Though is unknown how many Amerin Mlims or Mlims around the world are gay, a growg number are vyg to be heard. The film “I Am Gay and Mlim” tracks several gay Morocn men as they explore their relig and sexual inti.