MMW thanks Melinda for the tip!
Australia’s TV show Kick presents Australia’s first Middle Eastern lesbian: Layla.
This article touches on Kick, its history, and its newest character, Layla, and examines issues of how her sexuality is discussed on the television show. I’ve been watching this on 
YouTube (there are links to the different episodes in chronological order at the bottom of the post), and as far as Layla’s sexuality is concerned, I think it’s done really well. While the show does focus on her relationship with a colleague, it doesn’t present that as her only facet. There are plenty of scenes with her family, and sex doesn’t seem to be the primary focus of the show.
Overall, Kick does well in being consistent with ethnicity in its casting: all the Middle Eastern characters except for one (Layla’s brother Osama is played by Stephen Lopez) are filled by Middle Eastern actors. Layla herself is played by gorgeous Nicole Chamoun.
Also, I really appreciate that Layla’s mother and sister are shown without their headscarves at home, where they normally wouldn’t wear them. I value this about Little Mosque on the Prairie, too. A lot of non-Muslims assume that hejabis wear headscarves all the time: in the shower, to sleep, etc. Showing women with headscarves in the home is just reinforcing this idea. Kick and LMOTP do us a favor, I think, by illustrating the fact that hejabis don’t wear scarves at home (unless non-family males are present).
One thing that bothered me a little was the fact that Layla’s mother and sister wear headscarves, but Layla does not. As far as I’m aware, this hasn’t been discussed in the show. The lack of headscarf could be used to “mark” Layla as different. The characters of her mother and sister aren’t very deeply developed in the program, but their underdeveloped characters don’t present any problems in the plot, so they remain unmarked. Layla’s lack of headscarf could symbolize her difference from her family (her homosexuality, her refusal to comply with her mother’s wishes that she marry, etc.).
Kick does an excellent job is portraying Layla as a regular human, presenting her conflicts between her feelings and her family and their traditions as painful, but not sensational or exotic. I’d be interested to see what the Middle Eastern LGBT community has to say about this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W12AK_-5AIo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg0E7jP29Fc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzmPQ_eBzUY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMsZHj3b_wk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FsFXognyzc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fWgXC-o_p4
Regarding your comment about women not wearing headscarves at home: is this true in the Middle East as well? I was just speaking with an Egyptian Muslim woman yesterday, and I got the distinct impression that women who wear hajib in Egypt *usually* also wear it at home. (I live in Cairo so this isn’t so out of context.) Another woman commented that women in Saudi Arabia transition more easily to western countries because they can easily take off the burqa and then stay uncovered. But women with headscarves tend to wear them everywhere, even outside of the Egypt, because they always wear them here. I could have misunderstood the whole conversation, though.I have also heard many Egyptian Muslim women who don’t wear hajib express concern over how many women now do. They’ve said there’s been a huge increase even in the past few years. And they said never before did you see any women here fully covered, but now you do. (I’m sure this is probably old news to you, but as a new arrival to Egypt, it’s all new to me.)
You might want to have longer discussions with these women, because a lot of what you’re telling me isn’t my personal experience.The main purpose of wearing a headscarf is usually to hide a woman’s hair (sometimes considered a sexual attribute) from men who the women are not related to; if a woman is around men who she’s related to and cannot marry, why would she wear it?
Wow, a whole article! Very cool. Thanks for posting YouTube links.I’m not sure what to think about the fact Layla doesn’t wear hijab while her female relatives do. I don’t like the implication that being gay makes someone “less Muslim” (since of course the hijab is associated with religiosity in people’s minds), but a hijabi lesbian would be much more controversial, I’m sure. Then again, Layla doesn’t drink alcohol, although her brother does, so perhaps it’s just a spectrum of personal choices and religion. I’m glad “Kick” shows Muslims having fun and being normal people – the hijabis too! It shows hijabis singing and dancing, breaking the myth that all they do is pray and serve their husbands.Overall, it seems like a pretty good show. I just hope the ultra-conservative Muslim community doesn’t take offense at Layla’s relationship with Jackie and condemn the show, destroying any chance for progress that could be made in people’s thinking about gay Muslims and Muslims in general.