A pro gay group is trying to raise money to put on a UK festival to celebrate “LGBT Muslim” culture.
Imaan – which describes itself as a group of LGBT Muslims – hoped to crowdfund £5,000 to put on the festival. It has already reached that target with the help, it seems, of mainly non-Muslim donors judging by the list of named supporters.
Joy Muhammad, of Imaan, told the BBC: “We’ve had Bi Pride, we’ve had Black Pride, we have Trans Pride. So now we’ve got Muslim LGBTQI Pride. It’ll celebrate the diversity within the BAME community and the LGBT community to show we’re not all the same, we don’t have just one identity. We all have different identities.”
She added that the Muslim community’s attitude to any sexuality can make things difficult for some LGBT people.
“I wouldn’t openly discuss certain topics within the Muslim community – and sexuality is one of them. But then again sexual orientation – whether queer or straight – isn’t really discussed in the first place. There are a lot of conservative circles within the Muslim community for cultural reasons.”
Homosexual acts are strictly prohibited in Islam by unanimous consensus of mainstream scholars.
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