Documentary explores the struggles of gay and lesbian Muslims
Posted on June 27, 2008
Filed Under Gay News Blog
Parvez Sharma believes the gay and lesbian Muslims in A Jihad for Love, his new documentary, are an unlikely but compelling group of storytellers.
While discussing the challenges of being gay Muslims, they also are giving audiences a glimpse into the world of Islam.
“I think the greatest stories of empowerment about a religion can be told through their most vulnerable minorities,” Sharma said. “And I realize that deeply with gay and lesbian Muslims. … These are people who are deeply religious and who, in spite of all the condemnations and sometimes interference by the state and by governments, have held on to their faith. And they talk about Islam in such a profound and beautiful way.”
Their stories gave Sharma, who came out as a gay man when he was 19 and living in his native India, more strength in his own Muslim identity, he said.
A Jihad for Love is the story of gay and lesbian Muslims in 12 countries. Sharma, 34, spent nearly six years filming the documentary that is showing at the Angelika Film Center at least through July 3.
His subjects include a gay imam in South Africa, a young Egyptian who was jailed and tortured and who finally fled to France, a lesbian couple in Turkey and a gay Iranian who fled his country and eventually found asylum in Canada. Some of the interviews and filming in mosques had to be done in secret, and the faces of many of his storytellers were blurred to hide their identity.
Sharma, who was in Houston for the opening of the film here, held question-and-answer sessions after several weekend screenings.
Documentary explores the struggles of gay and lesbian Muslims
Houston Chronicle, United States -
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