Queer Muslim Quotes

“And just like that, the medical exam is over. I pass.
. I have owned my queerness,
and in doing so, accepted it for what it is: a miracle. A difficult miracle, like Musa's.
One that I didn't ask for, had no choice but to receive. Sent from God, who made the heavens and the earth and who does
not make mistakes. God, who has my back. God, who answered.”
― Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

“There is an inherent quietness to reading that I hoped would create space for people to absorb, reflect, consider. Or, if they shared my views, to feel a little less alone in the crushing powerlessness of pointless fights.”
― Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

“But the doctor who calls me into her office is browner than I'd expected from her anglicized name..."I'm definitely not pregnant because
I'm gay." ... "Tell me something. Why? What kind of gay are you? Why do you still veil?"

My skin crawls, not with humiliation but with anger. What does it matter that I'm gay? That I'm not out to my parents? That I wear hijab and don't participate in a particular kind of gay nightlife culture? This is the kind of gay l've grown into, this is what my queerness looks like and I have nothing to prove.”
― Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

“It's not like I'm hiding that I'm gay from this friend, it's not that I don't want to tell her. It's just that the more l've grown into my queerness, the less I want to come out to straight people.

It's been a few years since my early experiences coming out, two years since I came out to Billy's mom, and a few months since I came out to my friends from the mosque. But every telling still feels like a momentous act of vulnerability, a venture into the unknown. How will the person react? What if they're homophobic? What if they're Islamophobic? Will they be supportive?

I've learned to reframe telling people as inviting in, instead of coming out-inviting into a place of trust, a space for building-and it feels like a waste of emotional energy to tell straight people whom I don't expect to understand my queerness, don't intend to count on for advice or support in this area.

But what I've been noticing about people I haven't invited into my queerness is that it introduces a barrier between us. What do I talk to these people about? How do I share feelings and intimacies without revealing this huge part of myself? Who am I without this queerness that now pervades my life, my politics, my everything?”
― Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

“I'm on my second helping when my friend tells me that she wants to get mar-ried. Now that she has a stable job, her next endeavor is to put serious effort into this whole finding a guy and getting married thing. I'm not surprised, but l'm definitely curious about how she's navigating halal dating. Very poorly, she says.”
― Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

“Four times facing the very real fear that this could all end, this life I'm beginning to build for myself in the U.S., this country that doesn't want me, after growing up in a country that didn't want me. It's terrifying that this life I'm living could all be over because of the suspicions of a midlevel visa employee, a missed expiration date, or a government policy change. Four times facing these fears head-on and decades of feeling them in my body, burning on low in the back of my mind. This could all be taken away from you, Lamya. You could have to
leave.”
― Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues