Tag: muslim

New Jersey has been known to have some of the more splashy and ostentatious weddings around, but the celebration of Amit Shah and Aditya Madiraju’s union was an entirely different kind of affair. These two smolderingly handsome men not only wanted a traditional Hindu ceremony, but their sharp eye for detail, as well as the distinctly vibrant imagery in their pictures, has given the world a look at a truly unique love affair.  First some detail (courtesy of their equally...

Iqra – played by actress Priya Davdra – will come out as gay in a storyline this summer, after it’s revealed that she’s been sending flirtatious messages to other women. A source told The Sun: “Iqra has been fighting to keep her sexuality quiet, but eventually the truth will emerge.” The character won’t be the show’s first gay Muslim, but she will be the first Muslim lesbian. It was announced earlier this year that Eastenders would introduce a queer bar in...

A Tennessee district attorney who argued last year that the reason he would not prosecute a domestic violence case between a gay couple as a regular assault is that “there’s no marriage to protect,” now says the criticism he has received from his controversial remarks are infringing upon his religious rights. Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott argued in court this week that his public statements doubting whether Muslims and LGBT individuals are entitled to legal protections, should not be...

The Dutch Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Netherlands is partially responsible for the July 1995 deaths of 300 Muslims in Srebrenica. Relatives of the victims first sued the Netherlands in 2007, arguing that the country is accountable for the deaths of 300 Muslim men because its troops expelled them from their UN base on July 13, 1995, knowing they would be killed. Some 8,000 Muslims — mostly boys and men — were killed by Bosnian Serbs in the July...

Bilal Hassani, a 19-year-old from Paris, recently won France’s selection contest for Eurovision with his song “Roi.” Hassani was born to a Muslim family of Moroccan origin, is gay and performs in colorful wigs and heavy makeup. He was well-known in France before the contest as an internet personality and for performing in a song contest for youth when he was 15. The gender-bending singer,has received hateful messages and threats due to his sexuality and appearance and for his planned trip to...

Though he decried England's "mass fornication," Umar Haque had been searching for transgender sex workers. A British supporter of Islamic State has been found guilty of planning numerous terror attacks in London, including violent assaults on gay bars and public monuments. Umar Haque, 25, was an Islamic studies teacher at a private school and worked at a mosque, both in East London, where he attempted to turn students into a “child army” to carry out attacks. Haque, 25, kept a notebook...

In Muslim cultures, homosexuality was once considered the most normal thing in the world – so what changed? Islam once considered homosexuality to be one of the most normal things in the world. The Ottoman Empire, the seat of power in the Muslim world, didn’t view lesbian or gay sex as taboo for centuries. They formally ruled gay sex wasn’t a crime in 1858. But as Christians came over from the west to colonize, they infected Islam with homophobia. The truth is many...

Alfred MacDonald pointed out to a friend that in some Muslim countries he could be killed for being LGBTI Alfred MacDonald left University of Texas at San Antonio after feeling ‘difficult to stay motivated’. He had made the comments during an out-of-class conversation with another graduate student. They had been discussing the ‘religious leanings of philosophy professors.’ He pointed out that in some Muslim countries, he could be executed for being bisexual. A few days after the conversation, he was called in for...

'Queer Muslims exist and there's nothing you can do to change that and we need to be heard' Fahad Ali, a 24-year-old university student has been a queer activist for a long time, but now his Muslim faith and queer identity are colliding thanks to Australia’s postal survey on marriage equality. ‘Muslims have a bit of an issue with homosexuality and that’s just the case. But something like this (postal survey) allows us to begin to have the discussion, that’s never...

"The man tried to attack us several times, spat in our faces and shouted that he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and he would kill us." A group of five LGBT Syrian refugees say they were thrown out of a Zara store in Amsterdam after enduring a homophobic attack by another customer. One member of the group, Tarek Almolki, told Dutch newspaper Het Parool that security staff at the clothing retailer looked the other way when a man in...

A loving mother has allegedly been forced to resign from her high-ranking post in a Muslim group because her son is gay. Siddika Reza defied her peers by refusing to condemn her son, Ali Reza, when he came out as gay. Earlier this month she attended the same-sex wedding of her son, speaking openly about her joy for the happy couple. Following the wedding she has become the target of public condemnation from leaders of their Shia Ithna-Asheri sect, also known as...

“We got death threats, really bad ones.” A gay Muslim couple have spoken up about the online abuse they received after sharing pictures of their wedding online. Jahed ‘Jay’ Choudhury and Sean Rogan appeared on Victoria Derbyshire on BBC News today (July 14) to discuss the abuse they have received. The couple posted images of their wedding online in order to educate those from religious backgrounds about homosexuality. They wanted to show that homosexuality and religion don’t have to be mutually exclusive. However,...

"We're going to show the whole world that you can be gay and Muslim." A gay Muslim man says he hopes his wedding to his partner of two years can inspire other Muslims struggling to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. Jahed Choudhury, 24, married his boyfriend Sean Rogan, 19, in a beautiful ceremony in Walsall registry office wearing traditional Muslim attire. The pair first met when Jahed was crying on a bench in Darlaston after being ostracised from his community and...

A man, who attacked a couple holding hands for the first time in public, has been jailed. Faisal Ahmed has been handed a 20-week prison sentence, of which ten must be served in jail, for shouting “you fu**ing gay boy” at Sam Martin and his partner Tom Davies. Mr Martin and Mr Davies were returning home from a night out last November when the 32-year-old, who claimed to have been on an alcohol “binge” at the time, grabbed Mr Martin by...