Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity

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The Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD), founded in 2013, is an American support and advocacy organization for LGBTQ Muslims.

Contents

History

The Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity was launched in January 2013 in Atlanta. [1] The organization was formed by members of the Queer Muslim Working Group, with the support of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Several initial MASGD members previously had been involved with the Al-Fatiha Foundation, including Faisal Alam, Urooj Arshad, [2] Tynan Power, and Imam Daayiee Abdullah. [3] Co-founders include Raquel Saraswati, [4] Yas Ahmed, [5] Imi Rashid and Sahar Shafqat. [6]

In 2016, The Advocate magazine named four MASGD steering committee members in its list of "21 LGBT Muslims Who Are Changing the World." [7] MASGD is currently led by Mx. Yaffa AS. [8] As of late 2022, MASGD is one of the few entirely Global Majority and Trans Muslim orgs.

Mission

The mission of MASGD is to support, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ Muslims. The mission statement goes on to say: "In our work, we challenge root causes of oppression, including misogyny, racism, capitalism, and xenophobia. We celebrate gender and sexual diversity within Muslim communities and promote an understanding of Islam that is centered on inclusion, justice, and equity." [9]

Retreat

The first project of MASGD was an LGBTQ+ Muslim Retreat. The first Retreat was held in 2011, under the auspices of the Queer Muslim Working Group. Since then, the Retreat has been held each May. In 2013, the Retreat welcomed a total of 85 adults, including both LGBTQ+ Muslims and their partners. [10] In 2023, MASGD hosted its first Black QTM retreat.

Related Research Articles

Within the Muslim world, sentiment towards LGBTQ people varies and has varied between societies and individual Muslims, but is contemporarily negative. While colloquial and in many cases de facto official acceptance of at least some homosexual behavior was commonplace in pre-modern periods, later developments, starting from the 19th-century, have created a generally hostile environment for LGBTQ people. Most Muslim-majority countries have opposed moves to advance LGBTQ rights and recognition at the United Nations (UN), including within the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ community</span> Community and culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay–straight alliance</span> Student groups supporting LGBT youth

A gay–straight alliance, gender–sexuality alliance (GSA) or queer–straight alliance (QSA) is a student-led or community-based organization, found in middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. These are primarily in the United States and Canada. Gay–straight alliance is intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and all LGBTQ+ individuals, children, teenagers, and youth as well as their cisgender heterosexual allies. The first GSAs were established in the 1980s. Scientific studies show that GSAs have positive academic, health, and social impacts on schoolchildren of a minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Numerous judicial decisions in United States federal and state court jurisdictions have upheld the establishment of GSAs in schools, and the right to use that name for them.

The Al-Fatiha Foundation was an organization which advanced the civil, political, and legal rights of LGBTQ+ Muslims. It was founded in 1997 by Faisal Alam, a Pakistani American LGBTQ+ rights activist, and was registered as a nonprofit organization in the United States until 2011.

Faisal Alam is a gay Pakistani American man who founded the Al-Fatiha Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing the cause of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Muslims.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education and the LGBT community</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in the Middle East</span>

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The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) is an American federation of Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian. and Pacific Islander LGBTQ organizations. NQAPIA was formed in 2007, as an outgrowth of the LGBT APA Roundtable working groups at the 2005 National Gay Lesbian Task Force Creating Change Conference in Oakland, California. NQAPIA seeks to build the capacity of local LGBT AAPI organizations, invigorate grassroots organizing, develop leadership, and challenge homophobia, racism, and anti-immigrant bias. The organization "focuses on grass-roots organizing and leadership development."

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Urooj Arshad is an American activist who was a co-founder the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, where she is also a member of the steering committee.

References

  1. "Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity". Muslimalliance.org. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
  2. Parsons, Monique (January 17, 2018). "The Influential Network for a New Generation of American Muslim Leaders". WWRN - World-wide Religious News.
  3. "The Progressive Muslim Movement". OutSmart Magazine. October 1, 2013. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
  4. "Raquel Saraswati". Family Equality Council. Archived from the original on January 26, 2019. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  5. Kini, Aditi Natasha; Trykowski, Tyler (February 7, 2018). "A New Exhibit Explores the Art and Identity of Queer Muslims". Vice.
  6. Alpert, Megan (June 14, 2016). "LGBT and Muslim Communities Warn Against Demonizing of Both After Orlando Shooting". Foreign Policy.
  7. Jacob Ogles (December 20, 2016). "21 LGBT Muslims Who Are Changing the World". The Advocate.
  8. Yaffa A.S., Mx. (2022-10-02). "Beyond Utopia: The Building Utopia Guide for Queer and Trans Muslims". Peace Review. 34 (4): 541–552. doi:10.1080/10402659.2022.2132818. ISSN   1040-2659.
  9. "Our Mission". themasgd.org. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  10. "The Washington Post". The Washington Post . 2013-05-30. Retrieved 2013-11-18.