Same-Sex Weddings…At a Mosque?

April 29, 2013 by 15 Comments

When Washington voters approved a referendum last November legalizing same-sex marriage, I bet most people didn’t expect to see them performed at a Muslim mosque. But that is exactly what is happening now, mostly in secrecy because they fear reprisals from the more reactionary members of Islam:

A Washington Imam has become a local hero amongst the gay community as he quietly conducts marriage ceremonies for gay Muslim couples.

Imam Daayiee Abdullah is a progressive Muslim and America’s first openly gay Imam. The African-American Islamic convert is a specialist in Sharia law: however, his interpretation of the Koran differs from the mainstream Islamic view of homosexuality.

The Washington Post conducted an interview with Abdullah who runs Washington’s Light of Reform Mosque. He said “if you have any same-sex marriage, I’m available.” The Imam revealed he has conducted low-profile wedding ceremonies for gay Muslim couples, which could lead to repercussions if details emerged.

Abdullah is part of a group called Muslims for Progressive Values, which takes a much more liberal stance on Islam and the Quran than you may be used to. As I have argued repeatedly, it’s important to remember that there is no single Islam, there are many Islams, just as there are many Christianities.

Filed Under: Equality 15 Comments
About Ed Brayton

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

  • JustaTech

    Uh, which Washington? Washington DC (since the piece is from the Lifestyle section of hte Washington Post), or Washington State, which did vote for same-sex marriage in November (more recently than DC)? I’m not sure that Washington State has a large enough Muslim community to have this much diversity (although I am always happy to be pleasently surprised).

  • http://en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/User:Modusoperandi Modusoperandi

    AHA SEE YOU DIDNT LISSEN BUT I TOLD YOU! THE HOMO-MUSLIM ALLIANCE, HERE, IN AMERICA! TO THE RAMPARTS, PATROITS!

  • regexp

    @JustTech

    Washington DC. And I would venture to guess Washington State has just as large of Muslim community as DC does… if not larger.

  • http://www.thelosersleague.com theschwa

    Can either man in a gay marriage divorce via text? I assume such text divorces are not available in lesbian marriages, since only the a man can use that, right?

  • jasonfailes

    To the extent that they ignore their holey books, both Christians and Muslims can live peacefully in modern pluralistic societies.

  • http://rhapsodies.wpmorse.com/ montanto

    Seattle, at least, has a large and active one.

  • Rip Steakface

    Confirming there’s a very much present Muslim community in Washington state. I’ve known children raised Islamic all through school, going back to at least 2nd grade.

  • Nemo

    D.C. locals seldom refer to it as “Washington”, except in certain limited contexts. It’s normally “D.C.” or “The District”.

  • http://haphazardhermit.blogspot.com/ michaeld

    Hm…. you know this might just be the first piece of evidence for that liberal-Muslim alliance to destroy america.

  • Michael Heath

    Digital Journal (the article Ed links to above):

    The Imam revealed he has conducted low-profile wedding ceremonies for gay Muslim couples, which could lead to repercussions if details emerged.

    One Muslim man who was married to his partner by Abdullah explained: “Our relatives could be killed, their homes destroyed back in the Middle East if our wedding was on the Internet.”

    An attribute of religion that illustrates why we need to:

    a) do a better job of advocating for secular moral codes which are not dependent on religion and,

    b) convince people we’d all be better off forsaking religion.

    Some of the so-called new atheists distinguish themselves within the freethinking community by correctly pointing out this abhorrent attribute which is far too prevalent within the Muslim community; particularly inside Islamist states. And while those atheists are factually correct, a fact far too many liberals refuse to accept; these new atheists do fail to also consider and frame their criticisms of Muslims within the different types of atrocities Christians commit. Like react to 3000 people dying in 9/11 by getting the U.S. to kill and maim hundreds of thousands of Iraqis while displacing millions.

  • Shplane, Spess Alium

    Yep. Holy hucksters who ignore large portions of their hateful, bullshit religion sure are quite a bit better than the ones who actually hate who it tells them to hate.

  • laurentweppe

    You know, I wondered how long it would take until some wankers came and, annoyed by the fact that they can’t paint with the same brush all these foreigners who dare to not hail from the same socio-cultural tribe as them, proclaimed from the heights of their pretend-erudition that Muslims who are not hateful bigots are in fact not Real True Muslims™.

    Ed post: 29 April at 2:36 pm

    Shplane comment: 29 april at 10:13

    Eight hours.

    That’s actually longer than what I expected.

  • iangould

    “Yep. Holy hucksters who ignore large portions of their hateful, bullshit religion sure are quite a bit better than the ones who actually hate who it tells them to hate.”

    Right, because Osama bin Laden obviously represents the “right’ interpretation of islam.

    Just as Stalin represents the “right” interpretation of atheism.

  • jnorris

    The perfect wedding gift for Homo-Muslim couples are matching pressure cookers.

  • jnorris

    D.C. locals seldom refer to it as “Washington”, except in certain limited contexts. It’s normally “D.C.” or “The District”.

    Or as I like to call it: FEMA Camp #1.