Thanks Zahra for sending the article my way. I personally have major concerns with the Muslim community when it comes to LGBTQ issues. A part of me knows that it is not my place to ask anyone to question something they hold such a strong conviction about especially because it is within the bounds of their interpretation of Allah’s words. However, I can’t understand how a group of people who claim to stand against oppression and injustice can sit quietly by as every year, in this country and others, LBGTQ people are constantly oppressed, murdered, raped, and unjustly arrested just because of the way they just are. Put aside the issue about whether they were born that way or if it is a matter of choice or whether they have a disease or abnormality, something genetically wrong with them, a mutation that causes them to be that way and therefore require some type of therapy (when I hear people say this I want to punch them). This is about another human who deserves the same rights we are all entitled to. As Irshad Manji says, “I am not asking you to accept gay people, I am just asking you not to hurt them.”
Honestly, inside what I’m thinking is to ask you to stop being such hypocrites because as you protest about Palestine and other injustices you can turn a blind eye to the MANY injustices here in the country you live in. And yes, I am quite aware about the story of Luq thanks. I’d like to remind you that there are different interpretations. I’m not asking anything from anyone. Just for discussion. After reading the article I wonder what does the Muslim community (at least the one that reads this blog) think about this issue?
Not too long ago a couple of Muslims girls and I were having a discussion about this topic. The question came up about our children and what if they were gay. I think that for us, whether we believed homosexuality was wrong or not, we all agreed we wouldn’t want our children to be gay because of the negative social implications that accompany being LBGTQ such as injustice, inequality, oppression and sometimes death. That’s just sad.
Here are some excerpts from the article titled “How to Kill a Transperson by Ceridwen Troy:
“On Saturday, Sanesha Stewart, a transwoman of color living in the Bronx, was murdered in her own apartment. She was 25 years old. Her accused killer, Steve McMillan, had known her for months, yet when he was arrested, he claimed to have been enraged to find out that she was what the media coverage called not really a woman. He stabbed her over and over again in the chest and throat. She tried to fight him off; there were defensive wounds found on her hands.
On Tuesday, eighth-grader Lawrence King was in a classroom in Oxnard, Calif. He was openly gay, and often came to school in gender-bending clothing, makeup, jewelry and shoes. According to another student, it was freaking the guys out. One of them shot Lawrence in the head. He was declared brain-dead on Wednesday.
It is easy to look at cases like this and think, how tragic. How random. How senseless.
But then, you forget how easy it is to kill a transgender person.
You forget that all across this nation, faith leaders of all stripes, men and women who claim to speak for God Himself, call us sinners, call us abominations, call us evil.
You forget that at best the media depicts us as something to be pitied, something that our families must be strong and overcome. At worst, they depict us as abnormal, exploiting our bodies for ratings, exploiting the publics fear of us for shock value.
You forget that on a good day, law enforcement agents are neglectful of us, and that far more frequently they join in our harassment. You forget the transwomen of color who are rounded up on suspicions of prostitution. You forget the beatings that go uninvestigated. You forget the molestation and rape we face when we are arrested.
You forget the medical establishment that drains our wallets for the therapy and hormones and surgeries they tell us we need. You forget the way we are then refused treatment when we are dying, dying of treatable diseases, dying of easily patched wounds.
You forget that, by the law of the land, it is legal in the majority of states to deny us employment, to deny us service, to deny us housing.
You forget the shelters and the rape crisis centers that will not allow us through their doors.
You forget that many of us do not even have family to turn to when we are at our most desperate.
You forget that the leaders of our own community have told us that it is not time for us to have rights, that it is not pragmatic for us to be considered worthy of the same respect as other human beings.”
Read the rest of the article here.
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