Queer/Muslim/Canadian: understanding queer Muslim experiences and finding pathways to belonging with heteronormative Muslim communities


Momin Rahman, Trent University

Canada has increasingly seen Muslim groups organize against LGBTQ/queer rights, most recently in 2023 when Muslim organizations took a leading role in the Million Children March against LGBTQ issues in education. Moreover, what happened in Canada is simply another iteration of global examples of mutual antipathy between Muslims and queers. This orthodoxy, however, relies upon Muslim disavowals of sexual diversity within their own communities. In this paper I detail the qualitative results of a large scale study conducted on the experiences and identities of queer Muslims in Canada and explore the possibilities for recognition from mainstream Muslim communities. I begin with a brief discussion of my theoretical model of homocolonialism and queer Muslim intersectionality that frames the standpoint methodology of centring queer Muslim knowledge. I also point out how this approach can refine dominant assumptions about identity categories and their experiences of oppression. I then provide a summary of the demographics of our interview data and then I illustrate the five core thematic clusters in our results, drawing on the specific interviews. These comprise the two main cluster themes of identity intersections and spirituality, as well as three further clusters centred on family relationships, the absence of community groups and the overarching culture of Islamophobia and homophobia experienced in the west and through Muslim communities. I conclude with an illustration of where there are shared areas for anti-oppression between queer Muslims, mainstream LGBTQ populations and mainstream heteronormative Muslims, as a beginning to identifying how we might build such understanding and alliances.

This paper will be presented at the following session: