A Malaysian minister on Wednesday said he had ordered the removal of portraits of two lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists from a public photography exhibition, as they promoted LGBT activities.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is routinely persecuted in Muslim-majority Malaysia, where sodomy is a crime and is seen as a threat to conservative values.

Domestic media quoted Mujahid Yusof Rawa, the minister of Islamic affairs, as saying he ordered the removal from an exhibition in the northern state of Penang because promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activities was not in line with government policy.

“I have consistently repeated in parliament that we do not support the promotion of LGBT culture in Malaysia,” he told reporters in the lobby of parliament, the Star newspaper said.

Reuters could not reach the minister by telephone after office hours to seek a comment.

Nisha Ayub, one of the activists whose portrait was removed, expressed concern, asking for the government to explain its stance “towards minorities like us”.

“They talk about rights as a citizen of Malaysia but yet they are denying people like me to even express our love to our own country,” Nisha, a transgender activist, said in a post on social media site Facebook.

On social media, the sponsor of the exhibition also expressed shock at the minister’s move.

“False religiosity and political insecurity is not what the New Malaysia is about and can accept,” said Vinod Sekhar, adding that Malaysia’s diversity, acceptance of differences and human values made it a wonderful country.

Activists say intolerance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has grown in Malaysia in recent years.

In February, a newspaper article detailing how to identify lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals sparked outrage on social media.

Last year, the health ministry drew criticism from activists and campaigners over a contest on ways to “prevent” homosexuality and transgenderism. In 2015, Malaysia’s highest court upheld a ban on cross-dressing.

Ruling party lawmakers were among those who criticised Wednesday’s decision.

“This incident is indicative of a larger issue, where we continue to deny the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community their rights, opting instead to marginalize and discriminate them,” said Charles Santiago, a member of the ruling coalition.

On Monday, Mujahid provoked anger from women’s rights groups when he said the government was working on a dress code for Muslim women in the private sector to keep them from facing discrimination.

The non-profit Women’s Aid Organization said it rejected efforts to police women’s clothing and freedom of expression.

“Restricting what women wear is, in and of itself, discriminatory, and this policy would end up discriminating against women who do not conform to the code,” it said in a statement.

Muslims make up 60 percent of Malaysia’s population of 32 million, with substantial Buddhist, Christian and Hindu minorities.

In recent years, there’s been a significant rise in homophobic hate crime in the UK. According to the latest figures in fact, one in four members of the LGBTQI community have been victim to hate crime as a result of their sexual orientation.

As with any form of hate crime, the emotional, psychological and physical effects of such harassment are harrowing. However, homophobic attitudes do not simply manifest themselves in verbally and physically abusive attacks by strangers on the street.

They are of course the end of the line of a spectrum of homophobic views which are evident in the discriminatory behaviour and social attitudes of non-LGBTQI peers. And as documented by the NHS, homophobic discrimination and bullying can (and does) lead to poor mental health amongst members of the LGBTQI community. This can include depression and even suicidal thoughts.

Gay or Muslim: An invented dichotomy

It’s exactly these social attitudes which we need to address within the Muslim community. As a “straight” Muslim, I’m calling on the Muslim community to tackle the last “unspoken taboo”: faith and sexuality.

You see, as soon as the words “gay”, “LGBT”, “lesbian” or “homosexual” enter into the conversation, many Muslims will sit up in a certain panicked gaze. For the created dichotomy of Muslim or gay is the “norm” in many circles. They may shout: “You can’t be Muslim and gay!” and feel this is totally appropriate and “correct”. For such people, if you are gay then you are “not Muslim”. Now, I’m not discussing the intricate details of fiqh, Islamic law, history and Qur’anic interpretation in regards to sexual identity (I’m not a scholar and in-depth unbiased scholarship is in fact already lacking in this issue). Instead, I’m highlighting the harmful social attitudes prevalent within the Muslim community and the way that LGBTQI Muslims are in most cases denied the right to “mainstream” community life. In explicit terms, the LGBTQI community at large is denied the right to simply stand as Muslim and gay.

Whether or not you see homosexuality as “haram” (sinful), let’s just acknowledge the fact that you do not often see the same exclusionary and judgemental behaviour towards Muslims who drink, gamble or commit adultery. Such takfiri judgement (declaring someone to be non-Muslim) seems to be almost exclusively reserved for people who are deemed “too different” and who engage in beliefs and practices far from the “normalised” notion of what “Islam” is and what is “compatible” with such “Islam” (note that there is no one “Islam” – Islam is diverse in scholarly tradition and history). This is exactly the same kind of takfiri behaviour we see in relation to Muslims outside the Sunni majority within certain circles and with certain individuals.

Within many Muslim circles, there is little/no room for basic tolerance of the LGBTQI community as Muslim. This does therefore not extend to acceptance (and logically neither agreement) of belief in regards to how they practice their faith and accept/live their sexuality.

Excluded: Little room for queer tolerance

What am I basing this on? Well this is not simply a reflection of a range of social experiences both within LGBTQI friendly and “mainstream” circles I have witnessed and lived but also the self-profession of non-queer Muslims themselves.

Back in 2016 for example, a survey undertaken for a Channel 4 documentary found that half of all British Muslims believe that homosexuality should be illegal. Even more shocking than this disregard for diversity of opinion and practice is the fact that almost 50% of participants also stated that they did not believe it was acceptable for a member of the LGBTQI community to work as a teacher.

It has of course been noted that similar views would also be expressed from members of other (orthodox traditions) and whilst that is undoubtedly true, I have also witnessed for myself the range of LGBTQI friendly spaces within the Christian and Jewish communities. Yet there are sadly few such examples within the British or global Muslim community. Social attitudes which demonise members of the LGBTQI community are prevalent in many Muslim circles.

Organisations such as Imaan – Europe’s largest organisation working to support LGBTQI Muslims – make up a very small body of organisations who work to tackle the issues faced by the LGBTQI Muslim community and offer a safe space of tolerance and belonging. Imaan for example is not generally welcomed within the wider Muslim community and that’s the major indicative point here of the reality faced by the Muslim LGBTQI community.

Dishonour: Denial to death

The issues at hand and consequence are real, complex and wide-ranging for the victims. They include the denial of basic freedoms/rights and extend to explicit abuse, ranging from stigma and taboo – with the takfiri notions of “he/she is not Muslim” – to even violent attacks.

Not only are many denied the right to acceptance – or at least a sense of tolerance or diversity – but also the right to join a community, to pray in congregation, to be loved, accepted and even enjoin in the right to family and to life.

Sons and daughters who bravely “come out” to their families or who are “exposed”, instead of acceptance and love (even more so tolerance) face family rejection. They are often simply disowned with many facing verbal or physical abuse. They may even pushed into marriage and at worst become victims of an honour killing as Peter Tatchell of The Peter Tatchell Foundation explains:

 “…LGBT Muslims are some of the most victimised people in Britain today. While not all Muslims are homophobic, a disproportionate number LGBT Muslims are pushed out of their homes by their families, ostracised by their communities and banned from worshipping at their mosque… We had reported to us a case of a gay Muslim man from the Midlands who was lured back to Pakistan on the pretext of a family reunion. When he got there he was hacked to death for being gay.”

We can clearly see that there is a real problem here ranging with non-tolerance at the very bottom of the scale, to violent murder at the very far end.

Moving forward: Critical literary engagement

There are two issues at hand first. Firstly, no matter your beliefs, such abhorrent violent behaviour is morally repugnant. Everyone has the right to practice their faith, to live safely and to be free from abuse.

Secondly, the other issue which has so far been ignored by a large segment of the Muslim community is that of accepting sexual diversity – not merely condemning street-based attacks and even murder. Given how crucial sexuality is to human identity and one’s emotional and psychological wellbeing, we need to actively engage in discourse on sexual diversity – examining the Qur’an and hadith and Islamic history.

In a previous interview with Islamic feminist and scholar Dr Amina Wadud, Dr Wadud informed me about her latest piece of key research on sexual diversity in Islam and why such work is so crucial:

“I believe that certain things are outdated and we need to figure out how to address them succinctly and not to defer to past – even intellectual – engagements as if the matter is closed… We have growing diversities in our community and… whenever I describe the research project I always say sexual diversity and human dignity… I want to bring the conversation to hopefully a more nuanced way and just make it possible for us to open up to have some genuine conversations.”

Having genuine conversations is such a seemingly small yet massive step for our community. This indeed is exactly the kind of work we need and I for one welcome such scholarship, discussion and engagement.

Indeed, the time has come. Enough is enough. We cannot ignore the needs of our brothers and sisters of faith within the LGBTQI community. It’s time we stepped out into the open and spoke about this crucial issue. Sexuality should not be a taboo. It’s a reality. I therefore call on faith leaders to welcome Muslims of all backgrounds – regardless of sexual identity, gender, ethnicity, age or religious “sect” – into their mosque. Allah Almighty is the Creator and Allah is our judge, not us.

To start with, I recommend the training provided by Faith and Belief Forum. For non-faith leaders, I advise getting to know the people who are so often stigmatised and hear about their experiences, their realities and their needs. By simply standing with them, we can start to break this outdated, closeted, ill-informed taboo.

By Elizabeth Arif-Fear, Founder of Voice of Salam

Turkish police deployed in central Istanbul on Sunday to enforce a ban on the city’s annual gay and transgender pride march, blocking off a main street and dispersing groups of demonstrators who gathered nearby.

Police with riot shields and helmets sealed off entrances to Istiklal Street, where organisers had planned to hold the march before authorities announced the ban on Saturday, citing security concerns after threats from an ultra-nationalist group.

Small groups of people gathered in sidestreets waving rainbow flags, symbols of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride. Police fired rubber bullets to disperse one group, witnesses said, and detained several people.

Footage posted on the internet also appeared to show them firing tear gas at one location.

Istanbul’s pride march attracted tens of thousands of people in the past, making it one of the biggest in the Muslim world. But in 2015 it was broken up by police and it was banned last year and again this year after threats from the ultra-nationalist Alperen Hearths group.

The Istanbul governor’s office said it decided to prevent the demonstration out of concern for the security of marchers, tourists and residents.

“The true reason for the reactions towards a march that took place in peace for 12 years is hate,” organisers said.

“Our security cannot be provided by imprisoning us behind walls, asking us to hide,” they added. “Our security will be provided by recognising us in the constitution, by securing justice, by equality and freedom.”

Istanbul has traditionally been seen as a relative safe haven by members of the gay community from elsewhere in the Middle East, including refugees from Syria and Iraq.

But although homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey, unlike many other Muslim countries, homophobia remains widespread. Critics say President Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party have shown little interest in expanding rights for minorities, gays and women, and are intolerant of dissent.

An opinion article about life as a gay Qatari has stirred debate about the limits of tolerance in the conservative Gulf Arab country which is due to host the 2022 soccer World Cup.

The unprecedented public insight into homosexuality in a country where gay sex is punishable by jail, was published on the website of English-language Doha News on Friday, written by a man identified only as Majid.

“It is very jarring living here, it is traumatising to see that you are the cause of your parents’ anguish,” he wrote.

“I have become fearful of people knowing about me. We are seen as fair game.”

Islamic-based legal codes govern the tiny, gas-rich peninsula which has been urged by gay rights groups to accept homosexual fans during the World Cup in 2022 when Qatar becomes the first Middle Eastern or Muslim country to host the tournament.

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter said in 2010 that gay men coming to watch the football “should refrain from any sexual activities,” but he did not expect there to be any discrimination.

Doha News said the article was intended to start a discussion on homosexuality as “Qatar matured and prepared for the World Cup.”

But there was a backlash, with some Qataris saying the soccer tournament must not be used as an excuse for importing Western values.

“Qatar has an Islamic identity and we must prevent threats or abuse to that under any pretext,” said Ahmed al-Sowaidi, a 43-year-old secondary school teacher in Doha. “The World Cup should not result in Western concepts being forced upon us.”

Social media users adopted the hashtag “Stop promoters of vice in Qatar” to say the article was obscene and called on the government to close the paper.

Doha News’s editor defended the piece.

“It seemed the time was right to open a discussion on the matter. It is a testament to media freedom in Qatar that we can have this debate at all,” Shabina Khatri said.

An official at Qatar’s Ministry of Youth and Sport said the World Cup would be “inclusive of people and cultures and uphold the essence of Qatar’s own traditions.”

“These two things are not mutually exclusive,” said the official, who did not directly address whether the tournament would welcome gay guests.

Openly gay performers, including singer George Michael, have played concerts in Qatar. But in January, Qatar banned from cinemas “The Danish Girl,” a movie starring Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne about an artist who undergoes a sex change.