‘Ex-Muslim’ group bats away Islamophobia claims ahead of Pride in London march
A secular group called the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) has batted away accusations of Islamophobia before it takes to the streets this weekend at Pride in London.
The group, made up of ānon-believers, atheists, and ex-Muslimsā, is one of the official parade groups for this yearās Pride march, which takes place tomorrow.
Although Pride is already regularly attended by openly Muslim LGBT groups every year, the group hopes to protest in favour of LGBT Muslims, LGBT people in Muslim countries, and also draw parallels between the LGBT rights and āex-Muslimā movements.
Co-founder of CEMB Maryam Namazie told PinkNews: āOne of the problems is the use of this term āIslamophobiaā.
āIt gives the impression that criticism of Islam or the political Islamic movement or Islamic State is akin to bigotry and racism. What weāre saying is that it isnāt. Weāre obviously opposed to bigotry ourselves.
āWe need to stand up to racism and bigotry and at the same time we should be able to criticise religion and the religious rightā¦ people should be allowed to criticise without threat or intimidation.ā
Challenged on the provocative term āex-Muslimsā, she noted that ex-Catholic, ex-Jehovahās Witness and ex-Jewish groups exist.
Namazie added: āWhen you can be killed for leaving Islam, for renouncing it, for criticising it, itās important to say what you are as a way of challenging those that want to see you dead.
āItās very comparable to the gay rights movement and to the demand for LGBT rights.
āPeople would say, āItās your sexuality, itās your business, why are you coming out into the street and putting it in everyoneās face? Why canāt you just privately be gay?ā.
āThe point is if youāre discriminated against, if you can be killed for it then coming out is a form of resistance, it has to be done as a way of challenging the status quo.ā
She said: āThere are a lot of us who donāt want to be Muslim but weāre not able to say that openly because of the threat ā Itās punishable by death in 13 countries ā 14 if you include Islamic State territories.
āThere are a lot of people born and raised in this country who are pretending to be Muslims when theyāre not ā if you want to defend the right to religion you also have to defend the right to be free from religion.ā
The groupās Pride Parade organiser Daniel Fitzgerald added: āWhat what we see time as again is many well-meaning white liberals round on and attack some of our members and even call them Islamophobes and racists.
āHello! Theyāre not white. Toronto Pride had a largely Iranian group of people from Muslim heritage ā some were ex-Muslim, some still identified as Muslim, and quite a few were refugees as well.ā
He added: āThey were rounded on by antifa and accused of racism, Islamophobia, anti-Muslim bigotry. The response was that theyāre from the Middle East! Theyāre refugees!
āSalman, who was one of the main organisers for the group there, said, āWhy donāt you ever argue the case for gay Muslims in Islamic countries, you never, ever flag up thatā.ā
Asked if mainstream Muslim thought would echo the shift in that of other major religions and move towards greater acceptance of LGBT people and LGBT rights, Namazie said: āIf there is any positive change itās because of a challenge that has taken place.
āWe talk about how gay rights have been normalised in this country to a certain extent, but itās been fought for tooth and nail, hasnāt it?
āIt hasnāt been handed over. The Anglican Church hasnāt said, āEverybodyās equal and we agree with itā. Theyāre still trying to push for their own position whether they can.ā
