I was trying to figure out what to write about for this weeks blog. I began a search on the world wide web and I came across a documentary on the LOGO website called "A Jihad for Love". In this documentary they revealed the lives of gay and lesbian Muslims living in the southeast Asia. This amazing film showed social struggle as well as the religious conflict they were faced with in accepting their sexuality. I was really moved by the film-in many of the Muslim states being a homosexual is a capital punishment and they can be stoned to death and or even sentenced to jail.
The word "jihad" is thrown around in the American media as if it is a bad word but in actuality the word literally means"struggle". The one thing that stuck out to me while I was watching the films was the fact that even though the people they were interviewing were not accepted in the Muslim community they still had a very strong sense of religion and were not going to give up their religion. In essence they were not being accepted by their "God" and not worthy of love. Being Muslim and homosexual is a subject that is not discussed because it is taboo therefore no attention is being paid to the subject. A lot of them are forced to flee their countries and move to Europe and North America where it is not illegal to be a homosexual. But after 9/11 it is difficult for Muslims all over so moving is not necessarily the best thing given the racial profiling they often face. They are faced with daily fear of incarceration, death, and shame in the name of their sexuality.
An amazing film it opened my eyes to their "jihad" and showed that at the end of the day everyone is looking for acceptance and peace.
