Author Topic: Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco  (Read 148 times)

Real American

  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 2702
  • Karma: -448
Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« on: May 09, 2003, 03:32:24 PM »
http://www.metimes.com/2K1/issue200...uslims_come.htm
Click on link for photo


Gay Muslims come out in San Francisco parade
Andrew Quinn SAN FRANCISCO




For Naveed Merchant, marching down San Francisco's Market Street on June 24 in the city's annual Gay Pride parade marks a crucial moment, a public declaration of his long-concealed identity.

STORY WAS CENSORED FROM THIS WEEK'S EDITION

But unlike many of the thousands of marchers strutting their stuff beneath fluttering rainbow flags, Merchant's secret is not that he is gay.

It's that he is Muslim.

"I don't think I'm going to be the same person when I go back to Los Angeles," the young Pakistani-American said on June 22 as he discussed his feelings about taking part in the parade. "I am not going to be in the closet about being Muslim anymore."

For Merchant, and several dozen other gay Muslims, San Francisco's Gay Pride celebration is a chance to raise the flag for one of the world's most invisible populations – gay and lesbian followers of Islam.

"This is all about visibility, about the fact that we finally have a place at the table," said Faisal Alam, the 26-year-old founder of the Al Fatiha Foundation, a growing nonprofit group devoted to supporting and encouraging Muslims who are attempting to reconcile their faith with their sexual identity.

"For a long time nobody knew that there could be such a thing as a gay Muslim. Well, here we are."

San Francisco's Gay Pride festival celebrates everything from the "Dykes on Bikes" lesbian motorcycle squad to the smiling parents of "Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays" (PFLAG) – spiced with rowdy contingents of drag queens, leather fetishists and exhibitionists of every stripe.

But for participants in Al Fatiha's show of solidarity, the parade marked an important step toward fighting their way back toward religious faith, even in a religion that condemns their very existence.

"I didn't need a ++fatwa (religious decree) on my life. I wanted to kill myself, and I tried," Merchant said. "But Allah did not want me dead. And I'm realizing now that being gay and being Muslim are both just metaphors for something very intrinsic: a desire for love, a desire for spirituality and a desire for a connection with God."

For Muslim gays or lesbians there have traditionally been few places to turn.

Most religious leaders and scholars agree that Islam holds no place for homosexuality, condemning it as a grievous sin that under some Islamic governments is punishable by death.

"There is no room to be Muslim and gay at the same time," said Dr. Taha Jabir Al Alwani, president of the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Virginia.

"If they want to be gay, they must be far from Islamic religion and the Muslim community. If they want to be Muslims, they should treat themselves and become clean from this kind of sin. There can be no compromise in this."

Islam is not alone in this prohibition, which also holds for Catholics, Mormons and several Protestant denominations.

But while Western societies offer a range of spiritual alternatives for gay Christians, Jews and others who seek to maintain some form of religious faith, Islam has traditionally closed the door to even the notion of homosexuality.

"If gays want to say that Islam discriminates, that is fine. We discriminate, and we are proud of this. And there is no Muslim group in the world that does not have the same position on this sin," Al Alwani said.

The Al Fatiha Foundation, established in 1997, is aimed at giving some breathing room for gay and lesbian Muslims. Launched as a simple Internet discussion group, the foundation now boasts more than 275 subscribers to its updates from more than 20 countries around the world. Its Web site is http://www.al-fatiha.net.

Alam, who began the group in an effort to find ways of reconciling his own Muslim faith with his gay identity, says he believes the foundation has touched thousands, many of them living in countries where being publicly gay or lesbian could result in ostracism, lashings or even death.

For Alam and others, Islam's strict ban on homosexuality is a human – rather than a divine - edict.

"There are lots of gray areas in Islam, but people want this to be a black and white issue," Alam said. "But what we are trying to do now is build ourselves as a movement before we confront the orthodox interpretation of God's word."

Reuters
 
 

Quakaveli

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2003, 03:35:00 PM »
ALLAH HATES HIM
 

TheSheriff

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2003, 03:38:50 PM »
yes, because all muslims are the same, every american loves apple pie, and every english person is either a cockney or a royal...

what a retarded thread...I'll leave it for now, as it intrigues me to see how much guano ends up on you for this.
 

Quakaveli

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2003, 04:19:25 PM »
yes, because all muslims are the same, every american loves apple pie, and every english person is either a cockney or a royal...

what a retarded thread...I'll leave it for now, as it intrigues me to see how much guano ends up on you for this.

were u referring to me?? it was a joke owen  ::)
 

KING VerbalAssaulta

  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 1063
  • Karma: -169
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2003, 04:26:27 PM »
hey maybe the faghan himself was there  8)
 

TheSheriff

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2003, 04:34:12 PM »
were u referring to me?? it was a joke owen  ::)

It was nothing to do with you.
 

TilMakaveliReturns

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2003, 04:41:21 PM »
Rasta I gotta give you props for one thing.... for having a lil BITCH (VerbalAssaulta) on your side who will lick your balls at any moment.
 

Quakaveli

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2003, 04:48:30 PM »
Rasta I gotta give you props for one thing.... for having a lil BITCH (VerbalAssaulta) on your side who will lick your balls at any moment.

Just because someone hates tech he is on my nuts, riiight?

I seeeeeeeeeeeeee....(in non-understanding, the point you made is idiotic to even comment on type of way)
« Last Edit: May 09, 2003, 04:49:18 PM by Rasta Quake »
 

TilMakaveliReturns

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2003, 04:53:50 PM »
Nope, not because he hates Tech, but because he seems to follow up on every single one of your posts, and defends you all the time. I know it sounds cute... but I think he really cares about you
 

Quakaveli

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2003, 05:07:08 PM »
Nope, not because he hates Tech, but because he seems to follow up on every single one of your posts, and defends you all the time. I know it sounds cute... but I think he really cares about you

*Cough* hypocrit *Cough*

 

Quakaveli

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2003, 05:08:12 PM »
oh wait...lemme respond to ur next couple responses before hand..

*Cough NIK *COUGH

----
Oh yeah KEEP MAKIN DAT EXCUSE ("I know him in real life, yes really I do!!!, I suck him off on a weekly basis you cow worshippin retard*"
« Last Edit: May 09, 2003, 05:08:41 PM by Rasta Quake »
 

TilMakaveliReturns

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2003, 05:13:55 PM »
Um I never "protected" NIK did I? Then shut your fuckin mouth monkey face.... Dude can you for one second just look at your pic down there....LMAO.... I cant see how you still havent comitted suicide cuz I sure would if I looked that ugly...
 

TheSheriff

  • Guest
Re:Gay Muslims Strut Their Stuff In San Francisco
« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2003, 05:20:18 PM »
LOCKED

And don't even ask why.