Writer, Educator, Community Organizer
There are many parallels between transgender and disabled experience. Our bodies are medicalized and modeled as deviations from an idealized body — a platonic ideal “able” or “cisgender” existence — and the further we deviate from that ideal, the less acceptable we are in society. We rely on a system of gatekeepers and are often coerced …
Continue reading "Here’s What Disabled Trans People Want You to Know (Buzzfeed)"
An in-depth interview with Masjid al-Rabia's Zaynab Shahar and Myself is in Newcity in print and online! Check the interview out here.
As millions of people lined busy streets in gayborhoods across the world for Pride weekend, 1.7 billion people began celebrating Eid al-Fitr — where after a long hot month of fasting from dawn to sunset Muslims throw a three-day party (in some places it lasts over ten) celebrating community, good food and impeccable outfits. As …
Continue reading "Celebrating Queer Muslim Joy with #PrEIDe (Autostraddle)"
The LGBTQ Muslim Community isn’t an infant. It’s a phoenix. My latest essay--on the past, present and future of LGBTQ Muslim organizing--is up as the first in Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity's Azaan program! The full essay can be found on the MASGD website here.
I'm honored to be named among Chicago's 30 Under 30 by the Windy City Times! This is a testament to the momentum the inclusive & accessible Muslim movement has gained over the last year. Pride Mubarak!
"My experience is not unique. It’s repeated countless times by other Muslims with marginalized experiences and identities. Visibility is a first step but if we do not have safer, healthy communities where difference is celebrated, it means nothing in the end." My newest essay--on being in the closet, coming out, and becoming a visible LGBTQ …
My contribution to the Human Rights Campaign's Ramadan Reflections campaign--here in full. You can find the essay on the HRC Website here. We Must Seek Justice, Wherever We Are This summer, we launched a program for incarcerated LGBTQ Muslims at Masjid al-Rabia. A collection of shared resources, advocacy work, and a pen pal program for …
Continue reading "Seek Justice, Wherever You Are (HRC Ramadan Reflections)"
LGBTQ Muslims are already a part of your world. We have communities and lives of our own, and in the ever-expanding multicultural world we live in it is becoming more necessary than ever to learn how to be better for our global community. SO: Speak out! Get on social media and say nice things about …
Continue reading "8 Ways YOU Can Support LGBTQ Muslims this Ramadan (Autostraddle)"
This summer, Everyone is Gay and Masjid al-Rabia have partnered to create the Longest Days, Sacred Nights campaign--an entire month of programming for LGBTQ Muslim youth. The first piece in this month of programming: my open letter to LGBTQ Muslim youth. Ramadan can be hard, especially so for the most marginalized in our communities. …
Continue reading "Longest Days, Sacred Nights: A Queer/Trans Muslim Ramadan"
Refusal to acknowledge the existence of LGBTQ Muslims has real-world consequences. My common-sense argument in favor of LGBTQ Muslim inclusion is up on Equality for HER today!
