Zakariyya Bori is sharg his experienc as a young gay Mlim to help other queer people on the road to self-acceptance.
Contents:
- AS A GAY BRISH MLIM, THIS IS WHAT I THK OF THE POLL FDG OVER HALF OF UK MLIMS WANT HOMOSEXUALY BANNED
- WHAT'S LIKE BEG A GAY MLIM?
- I WANT YOUNG GAY MLIMS TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE ENOUGH, NO MATTER HOW HARD IS
- IN A SURVEY OF AMERIN MLIMS, 0% INTIFIED AS LBIAN OR GAY. HERE’S THE STORY BEHD THAT STATISTIC
- WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY AND MLIM AMERI
AS A GAY BRISH MLIM, THIS IS WHAT I THK OF THE POLL FDG OVER HALF OF UK MLIMS WANT HOMOSEXUALY BANNED
<p>EastEnrs' current romantic storyle featurg a gay Mlim character has ed a stir. But what is really like to be gay wh Bra's Mlim muni? Interviews by <strong>Homa Khaleeli</strong></p> * gay muslims uk *
Bee apparently, more than half of all Brish Mlims thk homosexualy should be ’s remember took the rt of Bra a sexual revolutn, a lot of activism, art and cema along wh some major reform to get to where we are now on gay rights. I’m hardly surprised that 52 per cent don’t thk homosexualy should be legal. And dog so n have far reachg nsequenc on both dividuals and the 's why so many gay Brish Mlims choose to stay the closet.
This leads to a secret double life wh dark nsequenc, such as the gay Mlims livg straight marriag. Naz Mahmood killed himself after his mum found out he was gay.
WHAT'S LIKE BEG A GAY MLIM?
* gay muslims uk *
This was the first story I ever read the mastream prs about a gay Mlim - is any surprise that so many choose to stay silent when they see ‘people like me’ enunterg such fatal stggl? Beg gay and Mlim is 'like cidg which arm to cut off’Every time I speak tthfully about beg a gay Mlim, I enunter posivy om other Mlims – om “Wow, I’ve never met someone like you!
I WANT YOUNG GAY MLIMS TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE ENOUGH, NO MATTER HOW HARD IS
For many LGBT Mlims, g out of the closet to their fai and relig muni n be a ght cisn. One Mlim lear says she receiv lls regularly om young gay and lbian Mlims who are aaid to reveal their sexual inty. * gay muslims uk *
” to “I’ve always spected my uncle was gay…I wish he uld e out”. I’ve enuntered a plethora of other gay Mlims now, cludg Bra’s first out Mlim drag queen, Asifa Lahore, and have found foms such as Stonewall’s ter-fah semar, which brought up topics such as how Mlim muni n support LGBT people earlier this year.
We’re really not so different at 's rearch shows that the time has e for Brish Mlims - straight, gay or otherwise - to break the silence and start havg more difficult nversatns. It's the only way we n start to create a mastream space for homosexualy wh Brish Islam, and cut that 52 per cent statistic down as far as possible. Brish Mlims are more likely to feel a stronger nnectn to Bra than the populatn at large, acrdg to pollg, which also found that more than half thk that homosexualy should be illegal.
IN A SURVEY OF AMERIN MLIMS, 0% INTIFIED AS LBIAN OR GAY. HERE’S THE STORY BEHD THAT STATISTIC
Parents have been prottg over relatnship tn, sayg is patible wh their relig valu. Where do the row leave gay Mlims? * gay muslims uk *
Extensive pollg nducted by ICM suggts that most s attus held by the Brish Mlim populatn do not broadly differ om those held by the populatn at large, but there are signifint differenc when to some issu such as homosexualy and women’s Phillips, the former head of the Equaly and Human Rights Commissn, said the fdgs were “extremely worryg” as they suggted on many issu Mlims were “natn wh a natn” lled for a more “mcular approach” to rearch suggts that 86% of Brish Mlims feel a strong sense of belongg Bra, which is higher than the natnal average of 83%. However, when asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed that homosexualy should be legal Bra, 18% said they agreed and 52% said they disagreed, pared wh 5% among the public at large who disagreed. Almost half (47%) said they did not agree that was acceptable for a gay person to bee a teacher, pared wh 14% of the general a seri of qutns on the terror threat Bra, 4% said they sympathised wh people who took part suici bombgs (1% said they pletely sympathised and 3% said they sympathised to some extent), and 4% said they sympathised wh people who mted terrorist actns as a form of polil prott a quarter (23%) supported the troductn of sharia law some areas of Bra, and 39% agreed that “wiv should always obey their hbands”, pared wh 5% of the untry as a whole.
She said that although any prejudice agast gay people was unacceptable, the fact that nearly 50% of Mlims did not thk homosexualy should be illegal was a sign that attus were shiftg.
But the 30-year-old lol uncillor and Unison worker has been payg special attentn sce EastEnrs troduced s first gay Mlim character. Akhtar, the chair of Imaan, an anisatn for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Mlims, advised the BBC on the storyle the hope that the character of Syed Masood would help tackle the double discrimatn of homophobia and Islamophobia that many gay Mlims Mlim theologian Amanullah De Sondy said recently that the vast majory of Mlims were "eply homophobic", and a survey rried out this summer among Brish Mlims reported that 0% of those qutned thought homosexualy was "morally acceptable". Yet, so far, the taboo-btg EastEnrs storyle has not sparked the expected luge of plats – fact, the soap's first gay Mlim kiss attracted a healthy 7.
WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY AND MLIM AMERI
But what is like beg gay and Mlim the UK today?