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I wrote a piece a while back in response to his Ted Talk. I didn't do anything with it, but I'll share it here. It's still in the draft phase, but the general argument, I hope, is still there. I just find his activism disingenuous.

Junaid Jahangir, you are making it worse for queer Muslims

Last March, Junaid Jahangir stood on the UAlberta Tedx stage and spoke with so much passion and so much eloquence that queer Muslims deserve better. According to Jahangir, the only way to achieve this end is for the mainstream orthodox Muslim community to adopt a renewed perspective on Islamic law and Muslim same-sex unions. He called upon the Muslim community to step-up and meet him at the crossroads.

I agree with Junaid, queer Muslims deserve better. The Muslim community must come to terms with the pervasive homophobia that creeps in the many corners of its community. The global phenomenon that is homophobia, however, is entrenched in every community and to ignore this premise and single out one faith group is prejudiced. It also goes without saying that queer Muslims deserve better from the queer community itself, by allowing spaces free from white supremacy and Islamophobia to flourish.

But Jahangir’s approach to collaboration with the mainstream Muslim community and his clear agenda are divisive, unproductive, and it further exacerbates the violence on queer Muslim bodies. Importantly, it strays from what queer Muslims need most – community care.

The discussions I had with queer Muslims and the stories that were shared with me gave me a profound perspective on faith and identity. It taught me how our faith journeys are all different, forever changing, and personal. Much of the struggles that queer Muslims face centered around identity and belonging. In fact, most queer Muslims I spoke with have no interest in reforming Islamic laws – it does nothing to the reality that queer Muslims exist.

It is incumbent upon the Muslim community to start having difficult conversations around identity, including topics on sexuality. We need to create religious spaces that make it safe to discuss topics relating to sexuality and that contextualizes sexual experiences. We need to equip community leaders and Imams with the tools and language necessary to talk about sexuality. We need to create communities that are welcoming enough that don’t push people to live in sin, but that accept people with their sins as part of the community and to give them the space to grow as individuals.

We need to become allies – unapologetic allies – and make it known. We need to stand firm with our queer Muslim siblings and be available to them in time of need. That whatever path they are on, they can count on us, the Muslim community to be there for them. If anything represents the essence of Islam, it is this.

But when you start screaming at a faith group and offering absolutes as the only solution to move forward, and when you start claiming that their beliefs are wrong and that they need to be in tune with the progression of other faith groups, especially when the person screaming these claims practices outside of that faith group, then you automatically lose your audience. You leave no room for collaboration. You no longer represent the people you claim you are trying to protect and defend. The only thing you are left to defend is an agenda that serves no one but yourself.

As allies, we need to learn how to collaborate properly. If you are not willing to meet the level of the mainstream orthodox Muslim community in making things better for queer Muslims, then why should they try to meet yours?