In 2013, a secret Facebook group was created called ‘Sydney Queer Muslims’.
The group was unsearchable for safety reasons and operated as an informal social club for Muslim members of the LGBTQI+ community.
During this time, Siobhan Irving, was just beginning her PHD looking at gender and sexual diversity among Muslim communities in Singapore and Sydney, and she was invited to join the group.
In 2016, the Pulse Nightclub mass shooting occurred in the US city of Orlando. Gunman Omar Mateen, who pledged allegiance to IS, killed 49 people and wounded 53 others when he opened fire inside the gay club.
The attack was the deadliest terrorist attack against the LGBTIQ+ community in the US and resulted in a flood of commentary around Islam and homosexuality.
People hold candles during an memorial service for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shootings in 2016. The gunman beat his wife while she was pregnant. Source: Getty Images North America
“A core group of us within this social club on Facebook decided [after the attack] 'oh well we should probably step up and actually become an organisation',” Dr Irving told SBS Arabic24.
“We wanted to show publicly that some people are able to be Muslim and not heterosexual and not gendered and this is not problematic for them and it doesn't result in mental health issues.”
She said the aim of the group was to be a visible example of people who "make it work, who can reconcile their sexuality and their faith".
Working on her project and being an academic advisor to the group, Dr Irving documented a common experience among gay Muslims in Australia – Islamophobia from fellow members of the LGBTQI+ community.
“Now I’m not saying that mainstream queer communities are very Islamophobic because I think it is a little bit more subtle than the Islamophobia that you find in society at large here in Australia.”
She said that this experience was not just in these spaces, but also from people who were in supportive positions, service providers and organisations that exist to help people.
“There is a presumption that Islam is the problem, if you can give up being Muslim, your problem will go away. If you can give up Islam and If you can give up your community, you can become ‘one of us’.”
“They don't understand that [religion] is part of the person that they are trying to help, so they are trying to amputate it out by presuming that it is a problem and this creates trauma for the poor queer Muslim seeking help.”
ACON is a NSW organisation established in 1985 to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
As the organisation grew, their work did as well, and they are now working with people from different communities, to ensure their voices and health needs are represented.
ACON is a supporter of ‘Sydney Queer Muslims’ and provides the group with financial support and access to their meeting space.
The group is part of ACON’s programs and services tailored to support people from diverse backgrounds.
Tim Wark, a peer education program manager at ACON, said some communities do in fact feel under-represented.
“Despite our multicultural society, ACON understands that some LGBTQ people from diverse cultural backgrounds and/or religious affiliations may still feel under-represented in public discourse.
“We not only ensure people of diverse sexualities and genders who are also culturally and linguistically diverse are represented, but they are also engaged in a meaningful way.”
Dr Irving said that there are improvements happening in the community that the group is helping to facilitate.
“We ran workshops where we invite mental health care providers and invite representatives from some of these organisations to come and learn not just about Islam but learn about Islamic diversity,” she said.
She said there was also a need to highlight that some LGBTIQ+ people have different ways of “celebrating” their sexuality.
“Many people within the queer community believe that the only way to be healthy, the only way to live a happy satisfying life, is to be out, is to be very public about your sexuality,” she said.
“We speak about this as 'coming out' and is something to be celebrated and often times people from the Muslim community, they are more comfortable instead of inviting people into their universe."
Dr Irving said that although their sexuality might be a core part of their identity, some people choose not to put it on display.
“This kind of perspective is sometimes seen very badly within mainstream queer spaces who don't understand why you don’t want to celebrate your identity.
“It is like you are being told how to be queer, and that is something a lot of us struggle with.”
She said the group is not made of people who are at the same stage; some of them are fully reconciled with their faith and their sexuality and some are still struggling, but it is a space where people can be in without judgment and with full support.
“The only thing that we are vocal about is violence, we are very strongly against any form of violence and we will never make excuses for any form of violence."
She said the stand goes for physical and psychological violence: “We think it is ok if you are a queer Muslim and you don't want to make waves in your community and your family, we accept that and we respect that."
