A Jihad for Love

Lately I have been hooked on the absolute godsend that is 4oD. I mean, what could possibly be more fun than catching up on episodes of the Inbetweeners or Misfits? Or broadening one's horizons with shows such as Queer As Folk? (I was too young to even know of its existence when it was first broadcast).

This morning, having woken up at quarter to 6 and looking for something new to watch, I happened to come across "A Jihad for Love". And so I decided to watch it. (If you reside in the UK you can watch it on 4oD right now).

Being the absolute geek/Wikipedia addict I am, I had come across this film's name before whilst researching something or another related to homosexuality, purely for self-enrichment of course.

If I must explain what this film is about, it is basically a documentary revolving around the lives of homosexual Muslims in various settings, including a Pakistani imam based in South Africa, a Turkish lesbian couple, a bunch of Iranian men fleeing to Turkey to seek asylum in Canada, homosexual Muslims in India and LGBT Arabs living in France. Also, as the title suggests, the film explores the "jihad" that defines the relationship between their sexuality and their religion, each person having their own different take on the matter.

If I must be honest, the film only served to strengthen my atheism as someone who was raised as a Muslim. I totally understood the feelings of the people depicted in this film and what they were going through, whilst also feeling intense anger towards the heterosexist clerics who were oppressing them. I found myself heatedly debating with the computer screen about why homosexuality is not wrong and why using the Qur'an to discriminate against homosexuals is complete and utter hypocrisy.

The reasons for my atheism mainly revolve around the paradox of free will as well as my alienation from religion as a whole through my experiences with it. But it is not my job, of course, to be forcing my beliefs on others. The whole topic of homosexuality and Islam does, nevertheless, beg the following question:

If Allah truly does exist, why would Allah have created us the way we are if he didn't want us to be homosexual (or bi or trans)?

First post!

Merhaba ve hoş geldiniz =).

Hello my beautiful LGBTQ brothers and sisters, and my equally beautiful straight allies.

As you may have gathered, this is an LGBT-themed blog. Whilst I shall not be disclosing my true identity at this point in time (as I am, unfortunately, not out of the closet to my family), please refer to me by my pseudonym, Andrew Wells.

Despite only being 19 years old and still being, in many respects, a "gay baby", I have become somewhat militant as a result of my psychological experiences in coming to terms with my sexuality and having to deal with ingrained homophobia from my parents as well as society as a whole.

As someone who has grown up in the UK I feel more comfortable writing in English. However, for those LGBT members of the Turkish community who don't speak English as a first language/fluently, I also recognise the importance of providing them information in their own language. As such this blog will take a slightly bilingual feel, with the occasional post written in Turkish.

It is often said that LGBTs constitute approximately 4% of all humanity. Given the fact that there are approximately 300,000 Turks in the UK, this would account for 12,000 LGBT Turks, a number which must not be ignored. And yet LGBT recognition and support is unfortunately lacking in the Turkish community. It really is about time we all came together and stood up, shaking off our invisibility and shame. We must be strong. We must fight.

I love you all, and I wish you luck.

Oh, and if you have ANY suggestions at all, please feel free to comment =).