There have been “countless” same-sex marriages between gay and lesbian Muslims, Britain’s first Muslim drag queen says.
According to Asifa Lahore, 34, the country has a “thriving” Muslim LGBT community.
Ms Lahore was brought up in west London by a devout Muslim family with a Pakistani background. She was born Asif Quraishi and married another gay man of Pakistani heritage in July 2014, months after same-sex marriages were permitted in March that year.
Ms Lahore appeared on Channel 4’s Muslim Drag Queens in 2015, billed as Britain’s first Muslim drag performer. She began the process of gender transition to become a woman this year.
She spoke to The Times about her same-sex wedding after Jahed Choudhury, 24, claimed last week that his wedding to Sean Rogan, 19, at a register office in Walsall last month was the first same-sex marriage in the UK involving a Muslim. “There are countless,” Ms Lahore said. “In the last three years I’ve been to dozens of gay Muslim, same-sex marriages. I attended one last Thursday, of two gay British Bangladeshi guys.
“In south Asian Muslim culture, marriage is very much a milestone. Even if you identify as LGBT, marriage plays a big part in your upbringing and your psyche and I think LGBT Muslims in Britain are taking real advantage of equal marriage.”
Ms Lahore estimated that there were thousands of gay and transgender Muslims in Britain, some of whom have not felt able to come out.
She said of Mr Chaudhury’s belief that he was the first Muslim in a same-sex marriage: “I’m glad this young boy has declared so openly about his marriage, but want him to know there have been others before him and will be many more.”
As a young gay man, when known as Asif, she entered into a civil partnership with another gay man in 2009 in a large ceremony. The pair married five years later in 2014 in a smaller ceremony attended by close family and a few friends.
Ms Lahore said that in her youth, her family had taken her to see a GP and an imam to seek to address her sexuality and had tried to arrange a marriage with a Muslim woman. It was suggested that she could continue any gay relationships in secret “on the side”.
The young Asif refused and made a public commitment to her gay partner. The couple met while at university and are going through an “amicable” divorce, after Ms Lahore’s husband said that he would prefer not to be married to a woman after Ms Lahore’s transition.
Ms Lahore, who describes herself as an activist for LGBT Muslims, said: “We live in a country where we now have access to equal rights and they should be exercised. It would break my heart if there were LGBT Muslims out there who didn’t feel they were able to marry.
“Never feel like you’re on your own or that you’re the only one. There’s many more people in the exact same boat as you. Britain is a thriving country for the LGBT Muslim community.”