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 To non-Muslim gay activists, Islam is Victorian, an outmoded, outdated, and "exotic" Middle Eastern religion.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.