Gay and lesbian Muslims are holding a two-day conference in Detroit this weekend featuring a gay Muslim leader who grew up in Detroit.
Called the “Queer Muslim Gathering,” the event is hosted by Kick, an African-American gay and lesbian group based in Detroit, and Muslims for Progressive Values.
“We feel it is important for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered) Muslims to be included as equals into the straight Muslim society,” said Imam Daayiee Abdullah of Washington, D.C., director of LGBT outreach with Muslims for Progressive Values, based in Los Angeles.
Abdullah, who grew up a Southern Baptist in Detroit and later converted to Islam, is the imam of Light of Reform Mosque in Washington, D.C., which has gay members.
He said he wants to empower gay Muslims, “to educate them on their Islamic rights, to debunk homophobic theories.”
The conference starts tonight with a meet-and-greet followed by an all-day workshop. Topics to be discussed at the conference are homosexuality and the Quran, Islam’s holy book; how to develop prayer spaces for gay Muslims; and debating what is halal, or legally permissible in Islam.
Curtis Lipscomb, executive director of Kick, said the conference is trying to “promote an egalitarian Islam where all are welcome, regardless of race, denomination or sexual orientation.”
“We confidently believe that in the next 20 years, this Islam will be the norm in America.”
The gay Muslim conference is the latest event in metro Detroit dealing with gays and Islam. In January, Faisal Alam, a gay Muslim leader from Atlanta who founded the gay Muslim group Al-Fatiha, spoke at the Dearborn campus of the University of Michigan. Also, Al-Gamea, a gay and lesbian Arab-American group based in Hazel Park that was founded in 2004, has ongoing events.
Imam Abdullah said that the anti-gay views among some Muslims are rooted in what he believes are misguided “cultural interpretations,” rather than the truth of “God’s message to all of humankind.”