What 's like to be gay and Mlim | CNN

Contents:

• WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY AND MLIM AMERI
• CAN ONE BE MLIM AND GAY?
• IN A SURVEY OF AMERIN MLIMS, 0% INTIFIED AS LBIAN OR GAY. HERE’S THE STORY BEHD THAT STATISTIC
• CAN A MLIM BE GAY?
• AFFIRMG MOSQU HELP GAY MLIMS RENCILE FAH, SEXUALY
• WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND MLIM

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY AND MLIM AMERI

The Orlando shootg was a hate crime agast gay people – even if, once emerged that the attacker had been a Mlim, many people claimed this as a terrorist attack rather than a hate crime. Sce the massacre there has been a lot of speculatn about Islam and homosexualy and there are fears that one man’s spible act of terrorism uld fan the flam of Islamophobia and other forms of social excln, leadg to disrd and unrt an era of elevated Islamophobia.

It is difficult to fe the “Islamic posn” on homosexualy, as a monolhic phenomenon, simply bee Islam is a very diverse fah group wh some 1. In most Mlim untri, homosexualy is illegal and some untri, cludg Iran and Sdi Arabia, is punishable by ath. 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. Many scholars also ce the Ahadh (statements attributed to the Prophet Muhammed) that are nmnatory of homosexualy.

CAN ONE BE MLIM AND GAY?

Theologil and legal nmnatns of homosexualy n engenr perceptns at a social level that homosexualy is wrong and that should not be permted. In 2009, a Gallup survey revealed negative attus towards homosexualy among European Mlims.

In France, 35% of Mlims viewed homosexualy as “morally acceptable” (vers 78% of the general public). In the UK, none of the Mlim rponnts viewed homosexualy as morally acceptable (vers 58% of the general public who did). The rults found that 18% of the Brish Mlim rponnts agreed that homosexualy should be legal Bra while the majory (52%) disagreed.

IN A SURVEY OF AMERIN MLIMS, 0% INTIFIED AS LBIAN OR GAY. HERE’S THE STORY BEHD THAT STATISTIC

Conversely, only 5% of the general public thought homosexualy should be illegal. Furthermore, 47% of the Brish Mlim rponnts dited that they did not believe that was acceptable for a gay person to bee a teacher. The data suggt that there are low levels of acceptance of homosexualy Mlim muni the UK.

In my rearch to attus ncerng homosexualy among sampl of first and send-generatn Brish Mlims of Pakistani scent, I found that attus tend to be largely negative. Although rearch to attus towards homosexualy the general populatn pots to mographic variabl, such as age and level of tn, as key termants of the nature of attus, this has not been the se my own work wh Brish Mlims. Mlims of var ag, tn levels and soc-enomic backgrounds have participated my studi and generally perceive homosexualy negative terms.

Many terviewe draw upon holy scripture as the basis of their views regardg homosexualy.

CAN A MLIM BE GAY?

There appears to be a sire not to “re-terpret” holy scripture – to acmodate homosexualy – bee of the divy of s orig.

Moreover, there was a fundamental rejectn of sentialist arguments ncerng the origs of sexual orientatn – that people are born gay and that they do not “choose” to be gay – and terviewe often argued that people had “chosen” to be gay. Ined, prev rearch has shown that believg the sentialist argument regardg homosexualy is rrelated wh ls discrimatn and greater acceptance. Although many Brish Mlims may disapprove of the ncept of homosexualy, several dividuals reported posive first-hand experienc of ntact wh LGBT people.

Homosexualy is wrong, I believe … I have a gay neighbour and he liv wh his partner.

AFFIRMG MOSQU HELP GAY MLIMS RENCILE FAH, SEXUALY

Some people spoke fondly of their LGBT iends, neighbours and acquatanc, suggtg that first-hand ntact may challenge homophobia which exists at an abstract, nceptual level.

WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND MLIM

It was difficult for Brish Mlim terviewe to accept homosexualy given the overwhelmg “evince” of s prohibn Islam. This led some dividuals to view endorsement of homosexualy as a vlatn of their relig fah and s norms:.

Put simply, the acceptance or endorsement of homosexualy was perceived as ntraveng key tes of Islam. Clearly, the stigma attached to homosexualy Islamic muni n have profound effects for those Mlims who also self-intify as gay. For almost a , I have been rearchg the social psychologil aspects of beg Mlim and gay.