Speaker Addresses Challenges of Being Gay and Muslim
By Julie Appel
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 19, 2007
Nearly 200 people gathered in Roone Arledge Auditorium on Wednesday night to a speech given by Faisal Alam, founder of Al- Fatiha, a group that provides support and resources to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer members of the Islamic faith.
The talk and subsequent question-and-answer session, sponsored by Queer Awareness Month and the Organization of Pakistani Students, among others, covered a wide range of topics from Alam’s experience as a gay Muslim to the portrayal of Muslims in the media post Sept. 11.
While the Muslim Students Association chose not to co-sponsor the event on the grounds that it cannot speak for its constituents on a religious issue, it did help publicize the event by putting up flyers and sending out a message to all members of the group.
“They [MSA] handled it marvelously, and it speaks very highly of them that they want to represent their faith as truly as possible,” said Joseph Daniels, CC ’09, one of the organizers of this event and a member of the QUAM board.
“I needed to somehow integrate my sexuality with my faith, and I knew I couldn’t pick one over the other,” said Alam. “I promised myself and God that I would never let what happened to me happen to anyone else ever again in our community.”
Members of the QUAM board said the event was integral to one of the primary aims of this year’s QUAM—reaching out to a wide range of campus groups.
“We made it our singular goal to reach out and form relationships with student groups and departments with which we had not previously worked,” said Daniels.
One of the main topics covered in Alam’s talk was his struggle of bringing together his sexuality and his faith.
“Homosexuality does not exist in Islam,” he said. “As I began to realize that they were talking to me, this was where the conflict between my sexuality and faith began to take place.”
He also emphasized the surprised reaction he gets from many people when they hear about Al-Fatiha.
“When you think of Islam and Muslims you probably don’t think of gay Muslims,” he said. “I still have people coming up to me that are just astounded that there is an organization that exists for LGBT and queer Muslims.”
Alam noted that the Pakistani Students Association was the first South Asian group that had cosponsored an event at which he had spoken. “That’s really, really exciting that those connections are being made, and it’s also exciting that a lot of the Muslim students on campus are here today,” Alam said.
He ended the speech by stressing the importance of hope for those struggling to reconcile their sexuality and their faith.
“We have to live the change, and then go a step further. We have to begin to change the communities we belong to,” he said. “That is the only way that I believe that social change can happen in this world and that we can begin to see a world that is filled with equality and liberation.”
While the event was reminiscent of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments on homosexuality in Iran—in which he denied that homosexuality existed in the country—Amal’s visit was planned before the president was invited to campus.
“It’s funny that an offhand remark that is really not significant in terms of anything is giving this [event] publicity,” said Cyrus Ebnesajjad, CC ’09 and one of the event’s organizers.
Julie Appel can be reached at julie.appel@columbiaspectator.
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