Masterlist of literature about/including LGBTQ+ Muslims

allahmademequeer:

(To be updated continuously. Please let me know if there’s anything I should add/remove!)

Note: While many of these are centered around Arab, desi (South Asian), or other “Islamic” cultures, it’s important to remember that not all people of these ethnicities are Muslim, and not all Muslims are POC.

Fiction

Books:

A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar (a book about growing up Egyptian-Palestinian in 1970s, protagonist is bisexual)

Bilal’s Bread: A Novel by Sulayman X (about a Kurdish-American refugee family and the secrets that one boy keeps) and Adventures of a Bird-Shit Foreigner (about a mixed-race Thai teenager who is kicked out of his family)

If You Could Be Mine and Tell Me Again What a Crush Should Feel Like by Sara Farizan (young adult books about Iranian/Iranian-American girls who like girls)

Loving You Wasn’t Enough by Fatima Warsame (romance with two college-aged Somali Muslim girls)

Moon at Nine by Deborah Ellis (young adult romance featuring teenage girls in 1980s Iran and the dire consequences of their relationship)

Sex and Desperate Hearts by S. Akshash (a collection of two short stories about gay Muslim men) 

Sex and Desperate Hearts: Short Fused (features Fatima Thompson, an activist who talks about coming out and living as a Muslim in America.  Includes continuation of stories from first book.)

The Writing on My Forehead by Nafisa Haji (Pakistani-American protagonist navigating family and culture, minor gay character)

The Taqwacores by Micheal Muhammad Knight (novel about an “Islamic punk” subculture, featuring queer characters)

The City of Devi by Manil Suri (Indian novel with a gay Muslim man as one of the main characters in a love triangle)

Two Gay Muslim Couples by Ali (about two pairs of gay men living in the Muslim world)

The When We Wake series by Karen Healey (protagonist’s best friend is Muslim and attracted to multiple genders)

Other:

150 days by KnightJJ (webcomic where an Arab Muslim finds a Chinese prince in the desert and proceeds to fall in love with him)

Non-fiction

General books:

Assorted memoirs by Abdellah Taia (the first openly gay Moroccan intellectual, covers issues of culture, identity, and East/West relations. Most are in the original French)

Bareed Mista3jil (stories of LGBTQ+ Lebanese women)

Gay Travels in the Muslim World by Michael Luongo (tells the stories of both Muslim and non-Muslim gay men in the Muslim world)

Homosexuality and Islam: Critical Reflection on Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims  by Scott Siraj Al-Haqq Kugle (scholarly work that challenges hetero/cissexist interpretations of scripture)

Hussein & the Nomad and Khalil & Majnun by Rahal Eks (memoirs from a gay Sufi man living in Morocco, exploring spirituality and love)

Illegal Citizens: Queer Lives in the Muslim World by Afdhere Jama (stories about queer people in countries where same-sex activity is forbidden)

Living Out Islam: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims by Scott Siraj Al-Haqq Kugle (personal stories of LGBTQ+ Muslims)

Love, Inshallah and Salaam, Love by Nura Masnavi and Ayesha Mattu (queer-inclusive anthologies about the love lives of American Muslim women and men, respectively)

Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, compiled by Omid Safi (anthology of writings by various authors on progressive Islam)

Queer Jihad: LGBT Muslims on Coming Out, Activism, and the Faith by Afdhere Jama (a look at the lives of queer Muslims, mostly activists working towards ending homophobia)

Sex, Longing, and Not Belonging: A Gay Muslim’s  Quest for Love and Meaning by Balruddin Khan (memoir from a Pakistani gay man)

Wanting in Arabic: Poems by Trish Salah (poetry about trans and racial identity by an Arab author)

Shorter pieces:

“Brown and Queer in America” by Mona M. (about the intersection of brown culture and sexual identity)

Collection of articles on LGBTQ+ in the Middle East and North Africa (compiled by Muftah, which strives to provide a diverse voice in a Western-dominated media)

“Coming Out in the Muslim Community” by Ramy Eletreby (the author’s personal coming out story and how it affected his relationships with people)

“How to De-queer Your Apartment,” “A Very Queer Ramadan,” and “Not Your Tragic Queer Muslim Story” , “Yes, It’s Possible to be Queer and a Muslim at The Same Time,” “A Personal History of Islamophobia in America” by Lamya H. (”creative nonfiction”-type essays that delve into the author’s identity as a queer person and/or Muslim)

“Muslim, Queer, and Feminist: It’s as complicated as it sounds” by Aaminah Khan (reflection on the author’s journey to faith and intertwining of identities)

Scholarly works:

Assorted publications by Andrew Yip (studies about queer people of faith, many of which from 2004 to 2010 focus on Muslims)

“ Azima ila Hayati–An invitation in to my life: Narrative Conversations about Sexual Identity,” by Sekneh Hammoud-Becket (article about the concept of “the closet”, analysis here)

Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800 by Khaled El-Rouayheb (explores the concept of homosexuality in pre-colonial times)

Desiring Arabs (Google Drive) by Joseph Massad (chronicles the Arabs’ change in attitudes towards their sexual desires, from the 1800s to the present)

Female Homosexuality in the Middle East: Histories and Representations by Samar Habib (traces the history of female homosexuality from the 9th century to today)

“Gay Imperialism: Gender and Sexuality Discourse in the ‘War on Terror’” (Google Drive) by Jin Haritaworn, Tamsila Tauqir, and Esra Erdem (relatively easy-to-read overview of gay imperialist politics and queer Muslim affairs)

“Gay Rights as Human Rights: Pinkwashing Homonationalism” by Maya Mikdashi (article on Western-imposed “rights” for queer Palestinians while they are occupied and denied other human rights)

“Homonationalism and the Death of the Radical Queer” by Haley O’Shaughnessy (discusses the gay rights’ movement search for inclusion rather than revolution, and how it is tied up with American homonationalism)

“Islamic Texts: A Source for Acceptance of Queer Individuals into Mainstream Muslim Society” (PDF) by Imam Muhsin Hendriks (overview of the arguments for a queer-supportive interpretation of Quran and Hadith)

Queer Beirut by Sofian Merabet (ethnographic study of queer lives in the Middle East)

“Queers of War: Normalizing Lesbians and Gays in the US War Machine” (PDF) by Hilary King (considers American sexual rights discourses in the broader context of imperialism)

“Seeking home: The lives of gay and transgender asylum seekers of the Middle East” by Nicole Crowder (article about Arabs cast out for their sexual/gender identities)

“Sodomized by Religion”: Fictional Representations of Queer Muslims in the West (PDF) by Ibrahim Abraham (analyzes the “hybrid identity” of queer Muslims as depicted in two films and two novels)

Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times by Jaspir Puar (examines the role of the white gay movement in reinforcing racist and Islamophobic attitudes)

Magazines/publications

Kaos GL (run by Turkish LGBT organization since 1994)

My.Kali (Jordan, online and in print bi-monthly)

Q-Magazine (Kosovo, bilingual: English and Albanian, sadly seems to be inactive but there are old issues available)

Roopban (Bengali, new magazine, contact on Facebook if you want a copy)

Totally Radical Muslims zine (pieces by queer and other marginalized Muslims)

Other

The Empire of Sexuality: An Interview with Joseph Massad (transcript where an academic challenges Western sexual identity politics & the imposition of the hetero-homo binary)

**Warning: The comments on all the web-based pieces are infuriating**

Kimberlé Crenshaw on intersectionality: “I wanted to come up with an everyday metaphor that anyone could use”

How Gay Life in America Has Changed Over 50 Years

micdotcom:

This is how that night at Stonewall really went down

In Stonewall, the white, fictional main character Danny is handed a brick to throw through a window and start the rioting. Of course this is completely whitewashed. In a documentary about Marsha P Johnson’s life historian David Carter explains what really happened — and Johnson discusses her experience at Stonewall.

Every Every Every Generation Has Been the Me Me Me Generation

riot grrrl

“What is Riot Grrl Anyway?”, várias autoras, 1993

Riot Grrrl was an underground feminist movement that began in the early nineties, which was closely tied to punk music, radical politics, and a DIY aesthetic. Riot Grrrl activism involved meetings, the creation of zines, and a nationwide network of support for women in music. While some say the movement lasted until the mid-90s, others contend it never ended. With the popularity of Sara Marcus‘s recently published book Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution, it seems there may be some truth to that statement. And there are many zines, which tell the tale of the origins of the movement. In 1993, according to a Canadian newspaper (as mentioned in Girls to the Front), 40,000 zines were published in North America.

(fonte)

“Bikini Kill” #1 e #2, de  Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail e Kathy Wilcox, da banda Bikini Kill

“i’m so fucking beautiful” #2 de Nomy Lamm, c. 1990

“Gunk” #4 de Ramdasha Bikceem, c. 1990

“More Than A Feeling”, de Bridie, 2001

Flyers de Kathleen Hanna, 1989

cartaz/anúncio de “Julie Ruin” (um dos projectos de Kathleen Hanna

Bikini Kill a actuar em Sydney, 1997

Crítica a “The Feminine Mystique”

“Friedan’s famous phrase, “the problem that has no name,” often quoted to describe the condition of women in this society, actually referred to the plight of a select group of college-educated, middle- and upper-class, married white women—housewives bored with leisure, with the home, with children, with buying products, who wanted more out of life. Friedan concludes her first chapter by stating: “We can no longer ignore that voice within women that says: ‘I want something more than my husband and my children and my house.’” That “more” she defined as careers. She did not discuss who would be called in to take care of the children and maintain the home if more women like herself were freed from their house labor and given equal access with white men to the professions. She did not speak of the needs of women without men, without children, without homes. She ignored the existence of all non-white women and poor white women. She did not tell readers whether it was more fulfilling to be a maid, a babysitter, a factory worker, a clerk, or a prostitute than to be a leisure-class housewife.
… When Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique, more than one-third of all women were in the work force. Although many women longed to be housewives, only women with leisure time and money could actually shape their identities on the model of the feminine mystique.

… From her early writing, it appears that Friedan never wondered whether or not the plight of college-educated white housewives was an adequate reference point by which to gauge the impact of sexism or sexist oppression on the lives of women in American society. Nor did she move beyond her own life experience to acquire an expanded perspective on the lives of women in the United States. I say this not to discredit her work. It remains a useful discussion of the impact of sexist discrimination on a select group of women. Examined from a different perspective, it can also be seen as a case study of narcissism, insensitivity, sentimentality, and self-indulgence, which reaches its peak when Friedan, in a chapter titled “Progressive Dehumanization,” makes a comparison between the psychological effects of isolation on white housewives and the impact of confinement on the self-concept of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps.”

Excerto da introdução do livro From Margin to Center, de bell hooks (sic), 1984

Ms.

When Ms. was launched as a “one-shot” sample insert in New York magazine in December 1971, few realised it would become the landmark institution in both women’s rights and American journalism that it is today.

The founders of Ms., many of whom are now household names, helped to shape contemporary feminism. According to founding editor Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Ms.’ authors translated “a movement into a magazine.”

Ms. was a brazen act of independence in the 1970s. At the time, the fledgling feminist movement was either denigrated or dismissed in the mainstream media — if it was mentioned at all. Most magazines for women were limited to advice about saving marriages, raising babies, or using the right cosmetics.

When the Ms. preview debuted-carrying articles on subjects such as the housewife’s moment of truth, “de-sexing” the English language, and abortion, the syndicated columnist James J. Kilpatrick jeered that it was a “C-sharp on an un-tuned piano,” a note “of petulance, of bitchiness, or nervous fingernails screeching across a blackboard.”

And after the first regular issue hit the newsstands in July 1972, the network news anchor Harry Reasoner challenged, “I’ll give it six months before they run out of things to say.”

But Ms. struck a chord with women. Its 300,000 “one-shot” test copies sold out nationwide in eight days. It generated an astonishing 26,000 subscription orders and over 20,000 reader letters within weeks. By the time Ms. celebrated its 15th anniversary in 1987, Reasoner, media soothsayers, and the nation had all been pressed to change their tune.

Ms. was the first U.S. magazine to feature prominent American women demanding the repeal of laws that criminalized abortion, the first to explain and advocate for the ERA [Equal Rights Amendment], to rate presidential candidates on women’s issues, to put domestic violence and sexual harassment on the cover of a women’s magazine, to feature feminist protest of pornography, to commission and feature a national study on date rape, and to blow the whistle on the undue influence of advertising on magazine journalism.

Ms. was the first national magazine to make feminist voices audible, feminist journalism tenable, and a feminist worldview available to the public.

Today, the magazine remains an interactive enterprise in which an unusually diverse readership is simultaneously engaged with each other and the world. The modern Ms. boasts the most extensive coverage of international women’s issues of any magazine available in the United States.

And the magazine’s time-honored traditions-an emphasis on in-depth investigative reporting and feminist political analysis, the Ms. Women of the Year Awards, and the renowned “No Comment” section-have been supplemented with discussion of such subjects as environmental feminism, women’s work styles, and the politics of emerging technologies, bringing a new generation of writers and readers together to create the feminism of the future.

- texto retirado de http://msmagazine.com/blog/about/