Shahamat Uddin moved to the United States recently to look for a better future after living in fear for his life as a marginalized gay man in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. The numerous instances of violence and persecution of the LGBT+ community in Bangladesh shocked Shahamat.
The murder of Xulhaz Mannan in 2016 was perhaps the most disturbing incident. Mannan and another LGBT+ activist, Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, were hacked to death in Mannan's apartment by men armed with machetes. Al-Qaida in Bangladesh eventually claimed responsibility for the murders. Mannan had founded Bangladesh's first, and only, LGBT+ magazine, Roopbaan.
The attack forced many members of Bangladesh's LGBT+ community to go into hiding or flee abroad after religious extremist groups published their names on a "hit list." Several activists erased their social media traces. Homosexuality is illegal under Bangladeshi law.
'The Queer Muslim Project'
Mannan's advocacy for LGBT+ rights had inspired Shahamat deeply. He, too, wanted a platform where he could express himself freely. Eventually, Shahamat stumbled upon an online community of Muslim LGBT+ individuals from South Asia called "The Queer Muslim Project."
"To be Queer is to be a political troublemaker. I love you Xulhaz and it is because of you, I know why God would make us Brown, Muslim, Queer - troublemakers," reads one of Shahamat's posts. The project is an online series of testimonies that caters to all LGBT+ Muslims in South Asia.
Rafiul Alom Rahman, a former scholar of sociology from the University of Texas at Austin, started the project in 2017 when he was studying the intersection of religion and sexuality. He dropped out of the Ph.D. program and came back to India to set up the platform.
"There is very limited space in mainstream Islamic theology to talk about gender and queer rights. So, I wanted a space where queer Muslims could come together and exchange ideas within the space of faith," he told DW.
This space is not limited to social media. There are workshops, consultations and meet-ups where community members share experiences. Before the coronavirus pandemic, some of the events took place in India's capital, New Delhi. But they now mostly happen over video conferencing from around the world.
"It has been an eye-opener. When we heard people's powerful and heartbreaking stories of being at odds with their identity, we realized there was a need for mental health support and community space," said Rahman. Read more via DW