Support for Israel in the gay community is something that can be explained like this:
1. The gay community is majority white, most Americans in general feel that Israel is justified in their response to Hezbollah and the killing of Lebanese civilians is Hezbollah's fault since they use "human shields."
2. Israel is a homophobic society, but in a nation of soldier-citizens, there is no "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Gays can openly serve in the IDF, not so in the US, gays face legalized discrimination if they come out, I used the "gay card" to get discharged earlier, my separation papers say "not recommended for retention." I can never serve my country again until the Pentagon reverses its discriminatory practices against homosexuals.
3. Jews are very vocal and integral to the gay community, Muslims are sadly in the closet! There was no gay Muslim civil rights movement represented at San Diego Pride (cough cough, al Fatiha).
4. American Ashkenazim Judaism is divided into three branches, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. Reformed Jews allow lesbian female rabbis in their synagogues.
5. Islamophobia is also at play, Islam is seen by many as a sexually repressive and misogynistic religion. The veil does not bode well with many strong lesbian feminists who see Muslim women as prisoners to the veil and their husbands/close male relatives.
6. Islam is not a post-modern religion where gender is seen as a social construction and the divisions between "men" and "women" are artificial, cultural remnants. In the mainstream activist gay community, this is so. In Islam, there is gender equality, but both "men" and "women" serve different roles. The man must pray communally in the mosque, for women this is optional since she is the household manager. Gender apartheid in the mosque is seen as legitimate forms of worship to most Muslims, given the body mechanics required in the salaat.
7. To non-Muslim gay activists, Islam is Victorian, an outmoded, outdated, and "exotic" Middle Eastern religion.
8. In the gay ghetto of Hillcrest, Middle Eastern establishments call themselves "Mediterranean (Lebanese)," "Persian (Iranian)," etc. These names are used to dissociate these owners with the problematic oppressive schemes in vogue in the Muslim world today.
9. Islam is not oppressive, Muslims are!
The more I learn about Islam and the more I get involved in my faith, I notice this schizophrenia developing in me, and on the one hand I love Islam and on the other I feel embarassed and ashamed sometimes when Muslims engage in horrendous acts. This is my form of internalized Islamophobia.
These are the some of the reasons why.
10. The white majority gay community in the West is racist and classist and body image fascist!
Gay North Africans in Paris experience this, gay South Asians in England feel the alienation, gay Turks in Germany understand, etc.
This is the dilemma of the gay Muslim in the West, in our religious communities we are placed in the closet, in the gay Western community, we are "exotic haram boys" for the pleasure of white sugar daddies.
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Facebook
Technorati
GustavoMustafa
Interesting post.
Do you believe it is necessary for Muslim leaders to legitimize "gay lifestyle" or "gay rights" or do you believe that is the place of secular society (or both or neither)?
What is your take on how the "gay Western community" feels about this on the whole?
Educate me.
GustavoMustafa: Your post "My hypothesis why the Gay Comm. is Pro-Israeli" makes excellent points. I read your posts with interest. I am reminded of something I read in Jung's autobiographical "Memories, Dreams, Reflections." He mentions that, during a long stay in Egypt, the Muslim guide that he employed made it know to Jung that he was open to sexual activity, if Jung had any interest. It was just a passing remark in Jung's narrative. A close woman friend of mine, who lives in an Islamic country, has an interest in males, but also engages in sexual activity with other women. I imagine that living in a society where the genders are separated and cloistered leads to more homoerotic activity than might occur if the same person lived in a society where they are free to date the opposite sex.
I recently read a definition of happiness as a HARMONY between and individual and the circumstances of their day-to-day life. I do not believe that any of us can really "choose" our sexual orientation. Rather, sexuality is a mystery, which emerges in the personality as early as age 4 or 5. I know that is when I first became conscious of sexual feelings, though, in the mid 1950s, no one spoke openly of such things, so I had no idea what it was that I was experiencing. I thought such feelings and pleasures were some grand secret known only to me which no one else had ever experienced. Actually, I wrote about these early memories and experiences at my website.ÂÂ
Oops! I was all set just now to ramble on some more, but I remember thatLaury prefers that I link to my message board, and place the bulk of comments, so as not to clutter up these threads. So, I am reposting this at
http://literarydiscussions.myfreeforum.org/ftopic1064.phpÂÂ
and shall continue my train of thought there.ÂÂ
Intol,
I could write an entire dissertation on this subject.
But I feel that Muslims need to first address issues of gender before they can address issues of sexuality.
Sitaram,
Thanks for sparing me your lenghty postings, :0)
Teasing man.
Gustavo --
You make some excellent points. Basically the Gay community follows its milieu. The Gay community in America is very zionist because America is itself. Still, what can we do about that? As you say, GLBT Jews have long been out and active, both in the Gay community and in the Jewish community where they have been pushing for acceptance.
We have to do the same! That means being out among our Muslim friends and being out and active in the Gay community as Muslims. I have tried working with Al-Fatiha, and to make a long story short, what we have to do is to network and organize locally. Never mind Al-Fatiha. We have yahoo groups that connect us internationally, but what do we have at a local level? Not much, but those yahoo groups provide a place where we can reach out and start something.
There are other particular problems in organizing GLBT Muslims. Basically most who were raised Muslim have rejected their religion to be free in their sexuality, or repress their sexuality in favor of their religion. I have a lot of friends from South Asia and the Mid-East, but they don't identify at all with the religion and most of my local GLBT Muslim friends are -- like myself -- white converts. That means we never had to wrestle with the conflicts that people raised as Muslims, especially immigrants, have had to deal with. Who are we to tell them anything?
Anyway, even with that and other issues to deal with, challenging the gay community's zionism is a bit down the road as an issue for GLBT Muslims, but those who are concerned about that can network with gay and gay-friendly anti-zionists. (In San Francisco we have Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism in Palestine -- QUIT Palestine!) And in my pro-Palestine work here I've found gays and gay-friendly folks everywhere among Palestinian and pro-Palestine groups.
GLBT Support for Israel is broad, but shallow (like too much in our community!) If we can organize and speak up as Muslims and/or as anti-Zionists we can help build pro-Palestinian sentiment. In 2009 I organized a pro-Palestine contingent in the SF GLBT Pride Parade and we were generally well received.
It's a long, slow, uphill struggle to be sure, but with work and persistence we can do it!
Wow, this is an old posting and forgot I even posted it.
I am different, being multicultural, though my Muslim roots are Persian ethnically, I grew up essentially "white" in America.
I'm primarily monolingual like most Americans and I dabbled in gay activism, but quickly fell out of it.
I interacted with Alam, founder of al Fatiha on AIM, however, I believe visibility and not simply interacting anonymously on the Internet is the way to go.
Many gay Muslims I know live openly to some extent to their family. In my family, it is a matter that is never directly addressed, but silently acknowledged.
I find it interesting that whites would convert to Islam given the social issues among cultural Muslims. But even if the Middle East had remained Christian, I think gender issues would still be problematic when compared to Western norms.
I live in San Diego. I would love to interact with someone doing something tangible.
Pride events are a reality in Turkey, which is majority Muslim and in countries like India in cities like Mumbai, home to a significant Muslim minority. Change is slowly coming.
Alam fails to realize that visibility is key to any success. It doesn't need to be flamboyant in fashion, but just making your presence known can change minds.
In Western societies, Muslim queers have legal protections even if some in their community may act belligerently. I know of Muslim women who hang out at the gay ghetto in San Diego for social reasons.
Many Muslims on college campuses who are politically active, have interacted with queer activists, and so this could be the starting point for many.
Gustavo I haven't spoken to you in over a year but maybe you can find something useful in these two post I made on youtube. There is a very semi-open and large gay community and Beirut and Casablanca.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z17wWDmXO1c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYRKBKBhqX8