Homosexuality: “We’re here, we’re queer, takbir!”: Gay Muslims come out

Although the major schools of Islamic thought, both Sunni and Shi’a, are unanimous in their position on homosexuality – it is forbidden and unnatural, a view shared by mainstream Judaism and Christianity – gays have lived in the Muslim world for centuries. As long as they kept to themselves or stayed within certain roles (the wedding-dancer hijras of Pakistan and Afghan halekon come to mind), they were left alone.

However, this delicate balance is now being shaken by an new generation of outspoken gay Muslims who – through mailing lists, books, websites such as Queer Jihad, international conferences, and online testimonials – are asserting a gay Muslim identity that presents a new challenge to mainstream American Muslims.

“Being gay and Muslim is not an oxymoron,” says Faisal Alam, founder of the gay Muslim group Al-Fatiha. “We are living proof that it’s not.” But Muslim leaders remain unconvinced. “If one considers it acceptable in Islam [to be gay], then he or she is not considered to be a Muslim by consensus of the scholars,” says Hamza Yusuf, a leading American Muslim scholar and founder of the Zaytuna Institute. “On this I know no debate whatsoever.”

So far, the movement has been ignored by the Muslim world or treated as a fringe group, but as Alam and others (including a gay imam) seek to redefine Islam’s stance on homosexuality, perhaps another “clash of civilizations” is in the making.

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.