Love

Even on my mini vacation-I cannot resist sharing the following emails with you all...including the first one that brought tears to my eyes...

Salaam alykum
My name is Asmaa. I am a lesbian muslim from Canada. I have been suicidal for the past years. Because I thought I was the only homosexual muslim in the world. Thank you for letting me know that I'm not alone. And I can still be a lesbian if I was a muslim. The muslim community around the world needs to wake up and realize there are gays and lesbians in there community. And not punish theme for who they are. Keep up the good work
P.S
Asmaa

Dear Parvez,
We spoke briefly after your screening of A Jihad For Love on Tuesday. I found it extremely moving. I'm half-Egyptian and gay and feel very lucky to have been born in a country where my sexuality is not a crime. I was so devastated by the film, I had to leave in the middle of the Q & A. You've articulated through your film, an oppression that feeds off of silence. Thank you.
Best,
Chris

Sakura says:
Hi,
I think it's fantastic that a film like this exist. Because for one, there's finally a piece of media out there that doesn't portray Muslims as terrorists. It seems that gay Muslims are invisible.
Keep up the good work

Anonymous (In response to my 'Am I Homophobic' post) says...
I agree totally. I think that the Western queer 'community' is insular: we don't give a damn about queers in other parts of the world who are suffering. I wish that we would turn our focus to the sufferings of queers the worldover instead of just fighting for our rights to have the trappings of a middle class existence. It's pride weekend where I live in London and I can't bare yet another day of flagrant hedonism whilst our brothers and sisters are executed or tortured in Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria, and countless other countries.