Intersections Releases Report on LGBT Communities Role In Islam

NEW YORK, NY— American Muslims from across the country engaged in an open conversation about the role of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons in the Islamic faith, as a part of a report just published by Intersections International, a New York-based multi-cultural, multi-faith NGO dedicated to promoting justice, reconciliation and peace.

In the 70-page report, “Muslim LGBT Inclusion Project,” Intersections answers how and under what circumstances the voices of LGBT Muslims can be articulated in the wider Muslim community. The report is based on conversations with hundreds of Islamic religious practitioners, laypeople, theologians and academics. Covering topics including the role of the mosque, the Qur’an, Allah and sociocultural issues that affect the Muslim and LGBT community, the report also includes three scholarly articles: “The Name Game: Understanding Tensions in Identity and Muslim Homosexuality,” “Islam and Same-Sex Sexuality in History: Cultural and Religious Perspectives,” and “Contemporary Developments within Muslim Societies and Communities regarding LGBT Identity and Rights.”

The report found that in the American context, the language of inclusion has the most resonance when discussed from the perspective of civil rights. Although there is an emerging theological conversation around the role of LGBT persons in Islam, the greatest debates are happening amongst the “unmosqued”—that is, conversations outside of the physical Mosque. The key elements around the debate focus on questions of authority and interpretation, which are larger ongoing discussions in the Muslim context. Dr. Hussein Rashid, a scholar of Islam who contributed to the report, related that “the arc we are seeing amongst American Muslims mirrors that of other religious communities that are struggling with questions of inclusion.”

The study concluded that there is genuine interest among American Muslims to continue an expanded dialogue on this issue within their communities. The study also recommends a two-track follow-up: Queer Muslims need to be equipped to service their community more effectively and need support sensitizing the wider Muslim community to their specific needs.

As scholar Munir Shaikh outlines in the report, “LGBT Muslims will become more visible and vocal in the coming years. Their struggle is two-fold: overcoming a type of homophobia among coreligionists that is ironically more a product of modernity than of Islamic civilization, and overcoming Islamophobia within the broader gay community.”

The report’s methodology consisted of commissioning three scholarly articles; two dozen one-on-one conversations with Muslim theologians, religious practitioners, academics and laypeople; and hosting of six “discreet conversations” in U.S. cities with high Muslim populations, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dearborn, MI. Each gathering included 6-12 participants of diverse demographics. Ages ranged from 19-68; half were American and half were natives of 13 foreign countries, and the majority considered themselves politically moderate.

To read Intersections International’s “Muslim LGBT Inclusion Project” report, click here.