Hi Irfan,

Thank you for your feedback..

I understand these beliefs are very important to you and are a part of your identity. However, your beliefs may be so strong that you cannot detach yourself from what you have been taught to be able to criticize and/or analyze your situation in a more global way.

I do not want to enter into a discussion about right versus wrong or why a religion believes in one thing over another.

I would like to clarify the response I posted because it seems it has been misinterpreted. Firstly there are all sorts of religions in the world: they are very prevalent in most populations. Religion is a human belief system that is based on many complex historic and cultural issues. However, its existence has caused many disagreements, conflicts and wars.

I would also like to clarify that I did not say you should or should not believe. According to Canadian laws, religious belief is a personal choice, you have the right to believe or not believe in religion, furthermore you can practice your religion as long as it doesn’t impose or supersede on other people’s beliefs. Since I am not a specialist in religion and know very little about Islam and the Quran (Koran), I cannot analyze this further. In my opinion, anyone who tells you exactly how you should think or what you should think is partly controlling you.

Some worshipers of religions have opened their institutions, in limited form, to non-heterosexuals. Some of these are newer religions or are worshipers of different faiths who believe in and practice a more open and more inclusive form of their religion.

Unfortunately, many non-heterosexual Muslims and Arabs have to hide that they are bisexual or homosexual for reasons of personal safety, strong religious convictions and beliefs, or other reasons. Yet other Muslims and Arabs choose to abandon their religion because they are not receiving acceptance from their communities. Helem is one organization that deals with issues between religion and being a non-heterosexual.

Every religion has elements that are positive and other elements that are negative. I have heard that non-heterosexuals who want to continue practicing their religious beliefs, focus on the positive and inclusive messages from their religion and ignore the negative elements. In North-America some of my friends have decided to become spiritual or practice things like meditation instead of religion, yet others have completely abandoned religion. I personally know some Muslims who have chosen not to be religious, they do not pray and they do not go to a mosque. Some homosexual Catholics also have ex-communized themselves because they do not believe in the religion their parents choose for them, others still believe while disregarding some elements of Catholic faith, such as the Pope being opposed to contraception and gay marriage.

Please read our other articles on alterheros.com and consult scientific books on homosexuality and nature. Here is also research you can do on the internet. Search for Arsham Parsi who was part of the Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO). There is also El-Farouk Khaki of the organization Salaam Canada, you can read more about him in this newspaper article.

Also look for the video documentary film “A Jihad for Love”, by Muslim filmmaker Parvez Sharma who traveled discovering the stories of lesbian and gay Muslims. It has been filmed over 5 1/2 years, in 12 countries and 9 languages.

Good luck at making your own choices and drawing your own conclusions.

JP, for AlterHeros