brialavellan:

I am gay and I am Muslim. This crime hurts me in so many ways.

My faith was not responsible for this crime. This man was. The Quran and the hadith are clear. He committed a horrific atrocity againist innocent people during the holiest month and then killed himself so he would not face justice in this world. I hope Allah (swt) will judge him severely and swiftly. I hope the victims will find peace, and this criminal will pay.

And I see you. The hypocrites blaming my faith. Trying to convince me Islam is my enemy. You are my enemy - the ones who make me choose between my faith and my sexuality. You are my enemy - the conservative Christians who tell me I am an abomination or a predator. You are my enemy - the atheists and ex-religious who leap at the chance to blame Islam and not homophobia - who were silent in the face of my oppression when the oppressor’s name was familiar and his skin was white.

But I also see you, the Muslims who say “Islam would never condone this.” Because you are right. ISLAM WOULD NEVER CONDONE THIS. But YOU did. When you were silent when we cried for acceptance. When we told you we were afraid to come out to our families. When you made us choose our faith vs. our sexuality. When we told you the Quran and hadith do not condemn homosexuality but you insisted it did. When you insisted that you “loved the sinner and not the sin” - not realizing that you cannot separate who I love from who I am. When you allowed the homophobia to fester, the kind of poison that compels one of our own to go to a gay nightclub and slaughter us like animals.

I am not your toy or your political tool. I am not an abomination. I am not haraam. I am a person. I want to live, I want to love, I want to feel safe in this world. I just want to BE - without hiding aspects of who I am to feel safe.