SHAHMIR SANNI

WHISTLEBLOWER TURNED DATA PRIVACY AND LGBTQ ACTIVIST

In Britain, religious freedom should not impose on the rights of minority groups. The normalisation of homophobia is a direct result of the British media and politicians seriously putting transgender identity up for debate when it should be treated as just as unquestionable as someone saying they are gay, bisexual or intersex. However, it must be acknowledged that pink- washing and white- washing are a serious problem when it comes to addressing issues like this. A lack of nuance in our criticism of communities such as Parkfield School will endanger LGBTQ Muslims in particular. If you want to address the communityrelated problems of Birmingham and Manchester, then let LGBTQ Muslims, Jews and Christians ( particularly people of colour) do it. Popular LGBTQ voices should lend support to queer members of these communities to engage in this debate rather than give themselves a platform to slander those communities without actually presenting concrete, nuanced solutions. Critiquing the Parkfield community with white supremacist rhetoric such as “send them home if they don’t like it” is regressive and endangers LGBTQ Muslims — and I’ve seen too much of this from within our community. First and foremost, we should be ensuring that LGBTQ

Muslims are protected.

“SAYING ‘ SEND THEM HOME IF THEY DON’T LIKE IT’, IS REGRESSIVE AND CAN ENDANGER LGBTQ MUSLIMS”