Muslim radio host schools caller who says you can’t be gay and Muslim

PinkNews logo on a pink background surrounded by illustrated line drawings of a rainbow, pride flag, unicorn and more.

A Muslim radio host has schooled a caller who said that you cannot be both gay and Muslim.

LBC host Maajid Nawaz was discussing a gay Muslim man who tied the knot with his partner when the caller, Korum, phoned in.

The caller, who is a practising Muslim, told Nawaz that while he did not hold a grudge against gay people or same-sex marriage, he felt that faith and sexuality could not be intersectional.

He said: “I have nothing against gay marriage, gay rights or anything like that.

“That’s someone else’s life, that’s between them and God.”

“I’m a firm believer that, yes, you’re entitled to your rights and your life as well. But if you’re gay, you can’t call yourself Muslim!”

The comments left the host astonished, but the caller went on to try and justify himself.

“It’s like saying I’m a vegetarian but then say I’m going to eat piri-piri chicken,” he added.

Nawaz then begins to school the caller on why his thought process is not right.


“You’re either a vegetarian or you’re not. I don’t describe myself as practising or devout, but you do. Who are you to declare Jahed Choudhury suddenly a non-Muslim because he does something you do not approve of?”

The caller tries to justify himself even further by claiming that the Quran states that you cannoy be both gay and Muslim, a statement that is disregarded by Nawaz.

Nawaz retorts: “The Quran says. Where does it say that?”

“You’re on national radio, you just told the whole world that the Quran says if you’re gay you’re not Muslim but you don’t think that creates Islamaphobia? Anti-Muslim bigotry? because people think Muslims are illiberal and bigoted.”

Muslim radio host schools caller who says you can’t be gay and Muslim

Jahed Choudhury, 24, and Sean Rogan, 19, tied the knot last week in a ceremony in the West Midlands.

The pair donned Islamic garb for the marriage ceremony, which was carried out in Walsall registry office.

The story has received widespread media coverage for its rarety.

However the happy couple have since been targetted with hundreds of messages of vile abuse by online trolls, some from fellow Muslims.