Mission America

Christian Commentary on the Culture

Cozy or Conflicted? The Homosexual/Islam Relationship

If you want to understand why “LGBTQ” activists are so hostile to the faithful Christian church, look at their interactions with another religious group: Islam.

It comes down to a perception of shared victimhood, and who they consider their oppressors to be.

Homosexual activist groups and leaders of the Islamic community realize they occupy the same leftist American sandbox and have actually been playing rather well together in recent years, even sharing a few toys.

And at least one recent survey shows acceptance of homosexuality by American Muslims growing at a more rapid pace than it is among evangelical Christians.

However, the Islam-“gay” relationship just became more strained, although you would never know if you relied on the mainstream media. It’s a story you’d think would be given Charlottesville-level hysteria, but no—what we are hearing is mostly silence.

You have to read sites tracking both movements to find out what’s going on. In this case, American Spectator and then the Clarion Project revealed that a homosexual exhibit was recently expelled from the convention of the Islamic Society of North America, ISNA.

Isn’t this blatant intolerance and bigotry, the kind of response that brings bullhorns and lawsuits, email and phone death threats?  Only if the group is Christian, I guess.

If the repudiation comes from the largest Islamic organization in the U.S., the Human Rights Campaign contains its rage and tries to understand.

ISNA holds a convention every year attended by about 15,000 and has ties to the radical Muslim Brotherhood, implicated as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial.

Guess who had an exhibit booth at the ISNA Chicago convention in July? The largest homosexual group in the country, the Human Rights Campaign, HRC. And joining them was a group called Muslims for Progressive Values, MPV, which advocates “equality” for homosexuality and for women.

The exhibit opened, but once conservative (Salafist) Muslims read the content of the “LGBTQ” brochures, complaints were made. ISNA hemmed and hawed, but finally asked the homosexual contingent to leave. Where are their liberal allies, screaming about bigotry?

But then, it’s probably important to maintain the appearance of a coalition since these two movements share a common goal -- to destroy Western civilization.

ISNA has paradoxically backed the Human Rights Campaign on certain “non-discrimination” policy campaigns, including ENDA legislation, and is considered a general supporter of so-called “LGBTQ” rights as long the people in question are not Muslims.

As a matter of fact, last year’s ISNA convention featured a panel discussion entitled, “Lead the Conversation: Addressing LGBTQ Issues” led by Muslim Youth of North America.

The guy representing the progressive Muslims at this exhibit was Frank Parmir from Ohio. I recall seeing the “Muslims for Progressive Values” banner in a recent Columbus homosexual “pride” parade, and my immediate thought was how dangerous their position is. I mean, Christians object strongly to this sin, but our faith offers the hope for redemption from homosexual sin or gender confusion.

Islam frequently offers known homosexuals a quick trip off the edge of the roof. Or a one-way trip to a concentration camp, like the one reported earlier this year in Chechnya.

The Human Rights Campaign itself recognizes the tenuous nature of its alliance, even stating on its web site this reality about Islam:

“Depending on nationality, generation, family upbringing, and cultural influences, Islamic individuals and institutions fall along a wide spectrum, from welcoming and inclusive to a level of rejection that can be marked by a range of actions ranging from social sequestration to physical violence.”

Yet HRC celebrates the growing “inclusion” in America of “LGBTQ individuals” and the existence of “unity mosques” in Atlanta, Columbus (OH), and Los Angeles.

Still, according to the few reports available, the July exhibit was closed down because the ISNA convention was “religious, private and family-oriented,” with the real sticking point contained in a brochure HRC and MPV offered about homosexual “rights” and women’s equality.

Can’t have these uppity women wanting to own property, drive a car, get an education, select mates of their own choosing, avoid genital mutilation, or become followers of Jesus, can we?

It’s a ripple in an otherwise growing partnership between the two movements, however. Even though the MPV group issued a press release expressing outrage over the hypocrisy of the expulsion, HRC remained mostly silent.

HRC’s goal, despite a kid-gloves approach toward Muslims in America, is to penetrate the inner circles of the faith. This is evident in the brochure recently published by HRC, “Coming Home to Islam and to Self.”

HRC congratulated Muslim leaders for their statement of “LGBTQ” solidarity   following the Orlando shooting of homosexual nightclub patrons last year by a Muslim. HRC helped organize a statement of unity with Muslims  by liberal groups and then co-sponsored an event in Los Angeles about Islamophobia and homophobia several weeks later, commiserating about their movements’ common problems with what they call “hate.”

Can you ever imagine any homosexual activist group commiserating with Christian groups unjustly placed on the SPLC “hate” list? No, because they helped put us there.

But back to the ISNA convention incident. Once again, the double standard of the left is astounding. The Human Rights Campaign should be loudly protesting this “discrimination.” Where are their press releases, their demonstrations at mosques?

We know the answer. The coalition that opposes the truth of Jesus Christ will remain mostly unified, even if they have their own squabbles. The big enemy is the Christian witness in America and the religious liberty guaranteed in our Constitution.

Oh, and is there a funding stream for the Human Rights Campaign from the largest Muslim group in the country? It would not be at all surprising to find out that the answer to that question is, yes.

And so the manipulation of truth continues.