'We're gog to show the whole world that you n be gay and Mlim'
Contents:
- EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
- CAN A MLIM ATTEND A GAY WEDDG?
- CAN A MLIM BE GAY?
- MAJORY OF U.S. MLIMS NOW SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE, WHILE WHE EVANGELIL CHRISTIANS REMA OPPOSED
- MLIMS WHO STRONGLY FAVOR OR FAVOR GAY MARRIAGE
EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
The official fictn, Brian Whaker explas, is that gay people don’t exist the Middle East. They do – and for many of them, attus of fay and society are a bigger problem than fear of beg persecuted * muslim gay marriage *
Acrdg to the kgdom’s relig police, the school was fed 100, 000 riyals ($26, 650) for displayg “the emblem of the homosexuals” on s buildg, one of s admistrators was jailed and the offendg parapet was swiftly repated to match a blue rabow-ee se of the gaily pated school shows how progrs one part of the world n have adverse effects elsewhere and serv as a remr that there are plac where the nnectn between rabows and LGBT rights is eher new or yet to be Afghanistan, only a few years ago, there was a craze for ratg rs wh rabow stickers – which Che factori were only too happy to supply. It wasn’t until the Afghan Pajhwok news agency explaed how they might be misterpreted that the craze me to a sudn on the ter and you will also fd pi of the “Rabow Qur’an” for sale – an unnscly gay edn of the holy book wh tted pag of every hue and remend on one webse as “an ial gift for Mlims” there are two sis to this cross-cultural misunrstandg.
Genr segregatn, which go to extreme lengths the more nservative Mlim untri, enurag homosocial behavur, creatg a suatn where men are often more fortable the prence of other men and where placg a hand on another man’s knee is a sign of iendship, not an vatn to sex.
Historilly, Mlim societi have often acknowledged this – toleratg to some extent even if they the 19th and early 20th centuri, men who had been persecuted for their sexualy Europe often sought refuge Moroc and, long before same-sex marriage was dreamed of the wt, male-on-male partnerships were regnised – and marked wh a ceremony – the remote Egyptian oasis of some Mlim untri, whole towns have bee the butt of jok about the supposed homosexualy of their habants. In Egypt, for example, an old law agast “bchery” is often laws have a tastrophic effect on the liv of people who are unlucky enough to get ught but, spe ocsnal crackdowns, the thori don’t, on the whole, actively seek out gay people to arrt them. In England 1952, there were 670 prosecutns for sodomy, 3, 087 for attempted sodomy or cent asslt, and 1, 686 for gross problem wh such laws, even if not vigoroly enforced, is that they signal official disapproval of homosexualy and, upled wh the fulmatns of relig scholars, legimise discrimatn by dividuals at an everyday level and may also provi an exce for actn by vigilant.
CAN A MLIM ATTEND A GAY WEDDG?
Years before Isis began throwg allegedly gay men off the top of buildgs, other groups Iraq were attackg “un-manly” men – sometim killg them slowly by jectg glue to the reason for the paratively small number of prosecutns is the official fictn that gay people don’t exist to any great extent Mlim untri; homosexualy is regard primarily as a wtern phenomenon and large numbers of arrts would ll that to qutn. Some of the most btal Arab regim (Iraq unr Saddam Hse and Syria unr the Assads, for example) also showed ltle tert attackg gay people – probably bee they had other thgs to worry Syrian refugee Subhi Nahas wh the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, durg an rmal meetg on the persecutn of LGBT people by Isis. For those ught, the effect on their liv is tastrophic but the law is not much of a terrent and for those who are discreet about their sexualy the risk of arrt is the vast majory who intify as gay, lbian or transgenr the attus of fay and society are a much bigger one issue that affects all gay people – everywhere – at some pot their liv is g out.
In Egypt and Lebanon – predomantly Mlim untri wh a large Christian populatn – attus towards homosexualy among Christians are not very different om those among Mlims. Also, ’s clear that the prophet Muhammad never specified a punishment for homosexualy; wasn’t until some years after his ath that Mlims began discsg what a suable punishment might nmnatns of homosexualy, like those Christiany, are based maly on the story about God’s punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah which is reunted the Qur’an as well as the Old Ttament.
Although Mlim societi today n be scribed as generally homophobic, ’s a mistake to view homophobia as a self-ntaed problem: ’s part of a syndrome which the rights of dividuals are subsumed the perceived terts of the muny and – often – matag an “Islamic” ethos. “Transgenr” is a broad term which clus tersex people (whose blogil sex is unclear or was wrongly assigned at birth), those wh genr dysphoria (who feel like “a man trapped a woman’s body”, or vice versa) and may also clu others who simply get pleasure or satisfactn om police e a water nnon to disperse LGBT rights activists before a Gay Pri para central Istanbul, Turkey. There were also many who found the ncept of genr dysphoria difficult to grasp and some characterised her as a gay man who was tryg to game the affair rulted a fatwa om Muhammad Tantawi, Egypt’s grand mufti, which is still ced s across the regn today.
CAN A MLIM BE GAY?
There are plenty of trans people who simply wish to be accepted as they are – whout surgery – and the Iranian system don’t really provi for, the difference between beg transgenr and gay is not well unrstood Iran, even wh the medil profsn, and there have been reports of gay men beg prsured to surgery as a way of “regularisg” their legal posn and avoidg the risk of executn. My Kali, a Jordanian magaze which aims “to addrs homophobia and transphobia and empower the youth to fy mastream genr bari the Arab world” has been published regularly sce far, no one has attempted to hold a Pri para an Arab untry, though there have been paras the Turkish cy of Istanbul sce 2003 (not whout opposn).
MAJORY OF U.S. MLIMS NOW SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE, WHILE WHE EVANGELIL CHRISTIANS REMA OPPOSED
However, there have been activi Lebanon and elsewhere lked to IDAHOT, the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia and Transphobia, which is viewed as ls likely to aroe hostily. Relativ of 26 men who were arrted a televised raid by police lookg for gay people at a Cairo public bathhoe celebrate after the urt acquted them. Far om wng praise for exposg “the secret behd the spreadg of Aids Egypt”, the programme’s prenter was roundgly nmned and later ran to legal April, the thori Amman, Jordan, ncelled a ncert by Mashrou’ Leila, a popular Lebane rock band wh an openly gay sger, jt a few days before was due to take place.
Such was the outcry on social media that the thori rcd their cisn 24 hours later – though too late to reanise the ncert as origally the relig ont, prevailg Islamic views of homosexualy have been challenged here and there, but not on a sle that is likely to make much difference. There are a handful of gay-iendly mosqu and a few openly gay imams – cludg Muhs Hendricks South Ai, Daayiee Abdullah the US, and Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, a French-Algerian, very noticeably, are the diaspora rather than the Mlim heartlands, but the diaspora is where Islam is forced to nont realy – not the untri where is protected and illtratn of where this n lead me Bra 2007 over the Sexual Orientatn Regulatns – a measure maly tend to prevent bs om discrimatg agast gay people. Recently Council of Imams Queensland print Yuf Peer said gay marriage was unacceptable to Islam, and that Mlims should rpect LGBTQI people but "nmn only their actns" the statement om the Natnal Imams Council was unambiguo: "Islam plac the fay un at the heart of a healthy society, and this ntext, the right of children to be red for and raised by both a mother and father is one that mt be protected.
Consens 'difficult' to achieveAs Ri Jaspal, Profsor of Psychology & Sexual Health om De Montfort Universy poted out, is difficult to fe a sgle Islamic posn on homosexualy, bee Islam is diverse, wh about 1. 6 billn followers across six all, while homosexualy is illegal most Islamic untri cludg Iran and Sdi Arabia, is not others such as Jordan and Mr Jaspal wrote for The Conversatn: "Most Islamic scholars are agreement that homosexualy is patible wh Islamic theology. "They tend to draw on the story of Lot the Koran [also the Old Ttament] which reunts the stctn of the tribe of Lot allegedly due to their engagement homosexual acts as 'evince' for God's nmnatn of homosexualy.
MLIMS WHO STRONGLY FAVOR OR FAVOR GAY MARRIAGE
"There are many of who, whilst believg that the act of homosexualy is forbidn, unrstand that we nnot judge someone and that the issue of relign is separate om the civil laws that should be passed to ensure equaly before the law, " she said. "'Many gay Mlims live fear'Mr Ali said he is aware that his views are the mory the Mlim muny, and that a lot of LGBTI Mlims stggle to fd a place their muny of live fear, he said, and have to "endure vlence om their fai".
Atralia's first — and only — openly gay imam, Melbourne's Nur Warsame, received ath threats after g out and tablishg an LGBT iendly recently told the ABC: "I want to be known as an pennt Imam who is sympathetic. Attendg a gay marriage is punishable acrdg to Sharia law and Mlims mt therefore rea om attendg same-sex culture believ that all ccial elements of pannship and love, marriage is nothg more than lerally a ntract between a man and a woman which the groom provis mahr to the bri return for exclive sexual accs.
It is a ntract that mak reproductn and sex legal the ey of God and legimate the ey of the marriage is based on a ntract premised vagal terurse as well as fancial obligatn between a man and a woman, gay upl nnot engage any marriage. It is also forbidn for any Mlim believer to be volve by attendg or takg part such a marriage foc on the actns of the Sharia meang that the clatns or the sir of havg or attendg a gay weddg have no legal substance and is nsired haram.