Defending Rights & Inclusion
LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion are increasingly being used as wedge issues in the pursuit of ultra-conservative Muslim and right-wing political aspirations alike. Recently there are countless book bans within k-12 schools; Muslim sign-on statements seeding homophobia; and efforts to spur community divisiveness through organizing parents around “parent choice” and “religious freedom”, illustrating that solidarity for queer and trans Muslims is not only needed, but a necessity in building stronger Muslim communities.
These times also demonstrate that progressive Muslims must lead the work in defending rights and inclusion for ALL Muslims. This work must be done in ways the hold historic and cultural nuance; understand pinkwashing; and ensure anti-Muslim racism is not perpetuated in defense of queer people.
Spotlight Dearborn: LGBTQI+ rights and racial justice within and for Arab and Muslim communities.
For the Binat, Accountability for Dearborn, and Queer Crescent came together in the Fall of 2022 to call on our communities to stand with LGBTQI+ people and communities, and to express deep support for the safety and well-being of LGBTQI+ people in our Muslim and Arab communities.
We made this call for solidarity in the wake of attempts to remove and ban LGBTQI+ identity-affirming books from Dearborn Unified School District school libraries, and homophobic and transphobic statements made to justify this erasure.