Creating a space for a frequently ostracized community to celebrate their entire identity, Muslim Pride is an annual show celebrating queer Muslim culture.
The first Muslim Pride was organized as a completely virtual event in 2020 and has grown to be an annual in-person showcase that has graced Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre for the past two years.
“It’s very rare for the queer and trans Muslim community to come together and set up an event,” Muslim Pride curator Urvah Khan told Queer & Now.
“Because traditional Islam or like, what some people will say is their version of Islam would say that you can’t be queer and Muslim. However, I believe that Islam is not a monolith,” Khan explained. “I believe in a very tolerant, accepting and forever evolving Islam. So that is why these events are rare. Because it’s like a taboo. Like you can’t put the words Muslim and Pride together, but we did.
Khan explained that this posed some challenges when she first began organizing Muslim Pride events, with many performers with Muslim backgrounds telling her they no longer identified with the religion due to their 2SLGBTQ+ identity.
“These folks have been made to feel like there’s no space in Islam for them. It’s kind of like what I felt as well growing up, that Islam was this piece of gold, and I was not pure enough for it.”
Khan was born in Pakistan and grew up in Abu Dhabi before moving to Canada at the age of 14. She struggled with her identity as a queer Muslim, eventually leaving Islam and exploring other religions before returning.
“I came to a point where I can accept that my religion is mine, my spiritual beliefs are mine, and yours can be yours, yours don’t have to be like mine,” she explained.
Khan then began working with Unity Mosque, a mosque in Toronto that is welcoming to queer communities. This led her to the realization that there needed to be more representation of queer Muslim identities to prevent future generations from having similar experiences.
“If you talk to most queer and trans Muslim folks, they’ll tell you we’ve never had idols to look up to,” she explained. “So, most folks who perform on this platform, and are a part of the organizing party such as myself, we do it because we want the future kids to have idols to look up to. And they can see that we exist, we’re here.”
CURATING QUEER EVENTS IN PAKISTAN
Khan’s organizing is not limited to this side of the Atlantic, she has also organized events in Pakistan. Khan has organized six Pakistani versions of her annual Scrapfest, facing some severe obstacles and backlash during the last two.
The fifth event was set to be held at a public venue in Karachi, but Khan explained that Scrapfest was then banned by the provincial high court. Khan explained that after the first ban she was scared, but took all 16 artists underground so they could record a performance and post it online despite directives to cancel their event.
“So, we didn’t stop, we did what we were supposed to, and I think that was so rock and roll. And I feel like that’s true punk, that’s true culture shifting,” Khan explained. “I believe that culture and religion have to evolve, and they have to catch up with the times and they have to keep moving forward.”
She then returned to Pakistan with plans to host an event at a private space later the same year, but was told she was barred from doing so.
“There were threats of protests and there was so much pressure from people contacting the government [that] the deputy commissioner of Lahore banned the event on a private level, making Scrapfest officially an illegal event.”
Despite this, she repeated her previous tactics, recording performances and uploading the show online. Khan explained that she knows she is risking her safety with her acts of rebellion, but doesn’t have any plans to stop.
“I guess one thing that works in my benefit is that I am a Canadian citizen. And if you’re going to take out a Canadian citizen, you will be making me a legend, you will really be disturbing a lot of sh*t,” Khan explained.
“I think that’s something that’s protected me is my Canadian nationality and its privilege. And I’m using that privilege to not just to my advantage but I’m also sharing that with my people, for them to stand on my privilege and showcase their art.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING SPACE FOR QUEER MUSLIMS
Artists and attendees at this year’s Muslim Pride event in Toronto echoed Khan’s sentiment, sharing the importance of creating safe spaces for queer Muslim communities, and representation for future generations.
“As a Muslim-born performer it’s really important to celebrate our culture and show society and the general queer community that a lot of queer Muslims do exist,” host Halal Bae told Queer & Now.
“It really helps break down that anxiety and those boundaries that I think the Muslim community has set up for themselves,” Bae explained. “There are a lot of people who are culturally Muslim but not necessarily practicing and they’re not able to be open and celebrated with their queerness. I think that [celebrating] it really helps people who are anxious or closeted or whatever to come out, to support, to be a part of it.”
“But also it really pushes our families to open their eyes and to be able to understand that there is so much more to Muslim or queer identities.”
Lady Like is a Toronto artist who performed at their first Muslim Pride event this year. They echoed the importance of queer Muslim spaces.
“It shows people our culture and brings a different level of diversity to pride, so people can see that we are here. We exist, we matter, we all matter,” Lady Like told Queer & Now. “It feels great to be someone who represents something like that, being comfortable in the skin that you’re in.”
“My family knows that I do drag and they try to get me to quit on a daily basis because they don’t understand what we do, and what it is,” Lady Like explained.
“I still do it because drag is my happy place and they might not understand it or want me to do it, but I still do it because it matters,” they explained, adding that drag allows them to explore their identity in a way they may not be able to in their day-to-day.
“Being born in Iran, born in a Muslim family, [I] didn’t exactly get that opportunity, and being born female, even though I identify as non-binary now. For me drag lets me express myself in ways that I didn’t get to when I was younger, because I couldn’t always be myself.”
However, the struggles associated with not being understood by their own family have given the artist an important perspective on the importance of representation.
“Having that experience of not being understood by my own family helps me be able to represent for other community members so they know they have someone to relate to.”
“In many Muslim countries around the world queer people cannot be themselves so to have an event like this where we can celebrate Pride is really important. It makes us feel seen and visible. For many of us Canada may not be our own home, but it makes us feel more at home to have an event like this,” Tanveer, who moved to Canada from Bangladesh and was in attendance, told Queer & Now.
“The most important thing about these kinds of events is not feeling alone,” Asmaa, who was also in attendance, said. “You feel welcome, like it’s OK to [be] both [queer and Muslim].”
“A lot of people find home in religion. They find it very peaceful and still being able to follow it but being yourself as well is like the ultimate coming into who you are as a person and that’s the most beautiful thing.”
