In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful

***PRESS RELEASE***
Al-Fatiha Foundation (LGBTQ Muslims & Friends)

Contact:
Faisal Alam
Founder & Director
US Tel. (212) 752-3188
Email: gaymuslims@yahoo.com

LGBTQ Muslims & Friends Begin To Create A Community

And we (have) created you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another
- The Holy Quran (49:13)

We offer a safe space for gay Muslims to interact with other gay Muslims
Husayn, co-coordinator, First North American Conference for LGBTQ Muslims & Friends

June 15, 1999 Al-Fatiha Foundation, an international organization dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning
(LGBTQ) Muslims and their friends held its first North American conference over the US Memorial Day weekend (May 28-31, 1999)
at the Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center in New York City.

With more than 60 people in attendance, the conference drew participants from all over the United States and Canada, including
international participants from England and the Netherlands. The historic conference, which is believed to be the first of its kind in
North America, brought participants from California, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Toronto,
Pennsylvania, Texas, Oregon Washington DC, and Vancouver!

A reception was held on Friday evening, May 28, in a neighborhood garden in the East Village. To welcome conference attendees to
New York City, Faisal Alam, co-coordinator of the conference and founder of Al-Fatiha Foundation noted the importance of the event
by stating, We have come together on this historic occasion to learn from one another. By sharing our experiences we can begin to
understand that identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender and practicing Islam are not exclusive to one another! Allah
(God) does not hate us for who we are. Only people can do that.

Conference session and workshop topics included: Reconciling Homosexuality with the Religion of Islam, Human Rights: The
Persecution of Gay Muslims, Progressive Islam: A Myth, Dream or Reality, Coming Out: Where No One Has Gone Before,
Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (LBT) Women & Islam, Multiple Identities: Religion vs. Culture, Dating 101: A Queer Muslim
Perspective, The Silent Epidemic: HIV/AIDS and Muslims, and Immigration & Asylum Issues Faced by LGBTQ Muslims.

Most workshops were moderated and facilitated by Al-Fatiha members. The keynote speaker was Dr. Ghazala Anwar. Dr. Anwar,
who holds a PhD in religion, has taught at numerous colleges including Colgate, Franklin & Marshall and Temple. Her areas of study
include Islamic Jurisprudence and Hadith Methodology and she has written several articles, including one on female homosexuality
and Islam, in the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. Dr. Anwar is also a member of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). She
sits on the steering committee on Lesbian, Feminist Issues and Religion. Dr. Anwar made several presentations during the conference,
often linking the suffering and oppression of LGBTQ Muslims to that of Muslim women and non-Muslim minorities in Islamic
countries. The root of this intolerance lies in a literal and selective interpretation and understanding of Islamic sources from those
who have no personal experience of the presence of God and His compassion which overrides all other Divine attributes, Anwar said.
She further stated that Hatred or denigration of those whom God made different whether in gender, sexual orientation or religious
belief and practice ensues from putting other than God at the center of ones heart and worship. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Muslims are to be judged by the quality of their faith, the purity of their intentions and the goodness and selflessness of
their actions as any other Muslim or human being. They have the God-given right to be treated in the manner that God commanded us
to treat each other. She went on to say that, The larger Muslim community has to come to the recognition that homophobia and not
homosexuality is the sin. And the LGBTQ Muslim community has before it the task of regaining its self worth, dignity and identity as
Muslims, while working out sexual and family ethics in accordance with the principles underlining Islamic teachings.

A particularly important and interesting plenary session was entitled: Reconciling Religion: An Interfaith Perspective on
Homosexuality. Panelists included a gay Orthodox Rabbi, a Presbyterian Minister, a board & trustee member of a Baptist Church,
and representatives from Integrity (LGBT Episcopalians), Dignity (LGBT Catholics), the Lesbian & Gay Catholic Ministry, and the
Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (an LGBT Synagogue in NY City). Al-Fatiha strives to create a dialogue with its brothers and
sisters of other faiths, noted Faisal Alam. The rhetoric that is used in Muslim communities to condemn homosexuality is almost
identical to the attitudes that most denominations of Christianity and Judaism had before, while some still continue to have today, he
continued. After briefly explaining their religions perspective on the issues of homosexuality, panelists spoke of their own
experiences being gay while maintaining a firm presence in their spiritual and religious communities. Alam went on to state that
Our struggles are connected and they began in the same place! We can learn a lot from each other.

Representatives from the following organizations also made presentations: Amnesty International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights
Program, International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Lesbian & Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, Asian Pacific
Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Equal Partners in Faith, Political Research Associates, The Policy Institute of the National Gay &
Lesbian Task Force, Spiritual Rainbow, The Jerusalem Open House, South Asian Lesbian & Gay Association, Gay & Lesbian Arab
Society. Since its inception Al-Fatiha has received tremendous support from the LGBT community and from mainstream progressive
& interfaith organizations in the US and abroad. Work has already begun with numerous organizations around the world to bring to
light the unique dilemmas facing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning Muslim community.

Coordinators said that the three day conference had two goals: to bring lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ)
Muslims together to fight the isolation they feel in their daily lives, and to begin a discussion around the problems and dilemmas
affecting LGBTQ Muslims. I feel that we have accomplish these goals, Alam said. Some of us are discussing these issues for the
first time in our lives. This conference has changed the feelings of isolation for many participants. Husayn, an active member of Al-
Fatiha, co-coordinator of the conference, and a recent convert to Islam said, We offer a safe space for gay Muslims to interact with
other gay Muslims.

The conference was dedicated to the memory of people who have been oppressed, killed, beaten, tortured, ostracized, or discriminated
against because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. To honor their memory, a memorial service and candle light vigil
was held. Participants walked from the Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center to a pier in NY City holding candles. A prayer
service was held at the pier. Additionally two memorial sheets were displayed, where people wrote messages of support and
remembrance. Entitled Celebration and Grief, the memorials celebrate the lives of LGBT Muslims in the world while the other is
in remembrance of those that have been oppressed and for those that have died from the HIV virus.

The Al-Fatiha Foundation started as an email discussion group for gay Muslims in November of 1997. It now has more than 250
subscribers from over twenty countries, from many ethnic & racial backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities, and religions.
In October of 1998, 45 members of the online forum met in Boston, Massachusetts, USA at the First International Retreat for Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Muslims. Participants came from all over the US and included four international
attendees (from Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Canada). Since its inception, Al-Fatiha has grown to include two official
chapters in Toronto & New York City. Six chapters will open within the next year in San Francisco, California; Detroit, Michigan;
Chicago, Illinois; Vancouver, Canada; Washington DC; Boston, Massachusetts. In the next two years the Al-Fatiha Foundation hopes
to connect with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Muslims abroad to start local support & discussion groups in cities around the
world in: Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Cairo, Egypt; Capetown, South Africa; Dacca, Bangladesh; Istanbul, Turkey; Jakarta,
Indonesia; Jerusalem, Israel; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and London, England.

The second North American conference for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) Muslims & friends will be
held in the year 2001 at a location and dates that have not yet been decided. The second international retreat for LGBTQ Muslims and
friends will be held in London, England in June of the year 2000.

Transcripts from the conference plenary sessions and photos are available upon request.

For more information about our activities, please contact us at:

Al-Fatiha Foundation Telephone & Fax: (212) 752-3188

405 Park Avenue, Suite 1500 Email: gaymulsims@yahoo.com
New York, NY 10022 Web: http://www.al-fatiha.org

The Al-Fatiha Foundation is an international organization dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Muslims,
including those questioning their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and their friends. Al-Fatihas goal is to provide a safe space
and a forum for LGBTQ Muslims to address issues of common concern, share individual experiences & institutional resources. By
using their knowledge, faith in Islam and belief in Allah (God), members of the Al-Fatiha Foundation support LGBTQ Muslims in
reconciling their sexual orientation/gender identity with Islam. In harmony with its efforts to provide a place for Muslims to examine
these issues, Al-Fatiha promotes the Islamic notions of social justice, peace, and tolerance through its work, to bring all closer to a
world that is free from prejudice, discrimination, homophobia, sexism, intolerance, and xenophobia.

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