Interviews, press...

INTERVIEWS, PRESS STUFF AND MORE...
interviews with imams, imaan members, press articles about sexuality and Islam etc...

PS. neither IMAAN LIBRARY nor IMAAN itself takes any responsibility for the views expressed here
(more links under the theology and theory section)

'GAY MUSLIMS NEED SUPPORT' Inayat Bunglawala, 2009

'Gay Muslims need support' Discrimination based on sexuality is as wrong as that based on religion...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/oct/05/gay-muslims-support

'Gay Muslim story for EastEnders' 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8072720.stm

'Homosexual and 'passionate about Islam' 2006

'Homosexual and 'passionate about Islam' Interview with Ubaid (former secretary of Imaan) 2006

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13712248/

'Imams join plea for gay tolerance' 2003

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/sep/26/religion.gayrights

'Interview with Imam Muhsin Henricks,'

http://www.al-bab.com/arab/articles/text/gt_may2007.htm.

'Iran set to allow first transsexual marriage' 2009.

http://lgbtbangladesh.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/iran-set-to-allow-first-transsexual-marriage/

'QUEER MUSLIMS COMING OUT ALL OVER!' 2005

'QUEER MUSLIMS COMING OUT ALL OVER!' 2005 (originally published in gay times, 2005)

http://queerjihad.blogspot.com/2005/09/queer-muslims-are-all-over.html

'Queer Sexuality and Identity in the Qur’an and hadith,'

Malik, F., 2003. 'Queer Sexuality and Identity in the Qur’an and hadith,'

http://www.well.com/user/aquarius/Qur'annotes.htm,

'What's wrong with being gay and Muslim?'

Whitaker, B., 2006 'What's wrong with being gay and Muslim?' The Guardian Online,

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_whitaker/2006/05/whats_wrong_with_being_gay_and.html

'finding God or is God finding me?' Nadiyah

I am currently enrolled in a class at a university. It is Islam. I had my doubts at first, but one day, when we all were in class and I was listening to a Recitation of the Holy Qur'an, it felt like a burst of light and joy was coming from my heart. I literally had no idea what was going on, but I let myself feel it. I had tears streaming down my face, and it we were only about ten minutes or so into it, and the Sura was finished. The professor was done giving the example. I wiped my eyes and pretended nobody had saw anything - which was very likely, as I sat in the North East corner of the room (the Qibla, interestingly enough), and behind everyone in the dark.

I wanted to know: is there a place in Islam for me?

I am not ready to say that I am not Queer. God made me this way...

http://www.progressiveislam.org/finding_god_or_god_finding_me

Aliyah's Choice: The LA Times' Profile of a Lesbian Muslim, 2009

It wasn’t but several years ago when a Google search for “gay Muslims” or “lesbian Muslims” turned up few results on actual people, mainly just pages on why homosexuality is a sin in Islam and perhaps one or two articles, usually focusing on men. Since then there’s been an increase in profiles on people who struggle to reconcile — or not reconcile — the two identities. Films like Parvez Sharma’s A Jihad for Love (2007) and the Channel 4 documentary Gay Muslims (2006) have added to coverage on the topic.

Aliyah on her wedding day. Image via LA Times article.Recently the LA Times ran a story on 22-year-old Aliyah Bacchus, who faces this struggle. Writer Erika Hayasaki introduces the topic thus: “Aliyah Bacchus returns home to offer a choice: Accept her sexuality — as she has — or lose her forever.” She recounts Aliyah’s story: wearing the abaya to high school, her unhappy marriage at 17, and her realization and identification as gay...

http://muslimahmediawatch.org/2009/01/aliyahs-choice-the-la-times-profile-of-a-lesbian-muslim/

INTERVIEW WITH Bushra Rehman 'The Invisible Queer Muslim'

Since September 11, 2001, I’ve felt torn between my loyalties to Muslims who don’t understand my queerness and queers who don’t understand my Muslimness.

It all came to a head when I gave a poetry reading at an Ohio university with the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. The next day, I visited a class with the other writers.

While the class was mostly white, there were also two Muslim women wearing headscarves and three African-American students in one corner. At first, I talked about the detentions and hate crimes after 9-11, but that wasn’t what the class wanted to hear. They wanted to hear about my queerness. ...

http://backup.curvemag.com/Detailed/382.html

Imam Daayiee Abdullah, youtube video

http://www.queerty.com/gay-muslim-talks-sex-20080109/

Interview with Imam Muhsin Hendricks, 2007

Interview with Imam Muhsin Hendricks, openly gay Imam, founder of the Inner Circle, South Africa,,, 2007

http://theinnercircle.org.za/?p=960

Junaid Bin Jahangir, ''Muslim Scholar and Gay?''

Junaid Bin Jahangir was such a devout Muslim that when he arrived in Canada he ate only yogurt for two days until he was sure which food followed halal dietary rules.The university student prayed five times a day, and joined a local mosque.Then one day, at age 27, he started to wonder why he had never been with a girl...

http://mmabbasi.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/muslim-scholar-and-gay-junaid-bin-jahangir/

LGBT Muslims condemn ban on homophobic preacher,

Article in PinkNews, February 7, 2008.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6792.html

Life as a queer Muslim, IMAAN member, 2008

I became a member of Imaan 18 months ago, when I stumbled upon their online forum almost randomly. I remember the moment so clearly, I kept pressing the back button on my browser, retracing the small steps from Google, thinking how come it took me so long, why didn't I find this before? I'd spent a lot of time in Muslim countries before that day, but had never...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/04/gayrights-islam

Outcast Heroes: the story of gay Muslims

includes bits about history of Al-Fatiha UK

http://www.johannhari.com/2004/05/20/outcast-heroes-the-story-of-gay-muslims

Rashida X (former-chairperson of Imaan)

Rashida X (former-chairperson of Imaan) talks about her experiences and brief history of Imaan, in edited collection called THE WAY WE ARE NOW
her chapter can be read online here... http://books.google.com/books?id=ONBzmR_cnQQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=ONBzmR_cnQQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Stolen Moments in Shiraz' story about lesbian love in Iran

http://huriyahmag.com/summer/features.afdhere.htm

different perspectives on sexuality, islam and eastenders 2009

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/29/gay-muslims-britain

interview with Imam Daayiee Abdullah, 2006

interview with Imam Daayiee Abdullah, 2006... Openly Gay Imam, US

http://www.metroweekly.com/feature/?ak=2458

interview with tanvir alim about BoB (Boys of Bangladesh)

'Tanvir Alim a prominent Gay Rights Activist from Bangladesh shares his views on the mindset of the Homosexuals in this pre-dominantly Islamic society. He also gives a vivid description about the contribution of BoB towards educating the gays about their rights and aspirations.'

http://lgbtbangladesh.wordpress.com/gays-of-bangladesh/tanvir-alim/

overview from 'religious tolerance' website

overview of homosexuality and islam, online from 'Religioustolerance'

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_isla.htm