Isolated, Invisible, and in the Closet: The Life Story of a Scottish Muslim Lesbian

Abstract

In the last three decades, there has been a significant growth in the literature on lesbian identity and relationships, but the study of lesbians from a Muslim background is conspicuously absent. This article was prompted partly by the relative absence of research into the lives of Muslim lesbians in Britain, and partly by the fact that much of the literature on Islam and homosexuality has tended to focus on homosexual men, ignoring the position of lesbian sexuality in Islam. It also charts the difficulties faced by a heterosexual researcher in conducting an interview with a lesbian and calls attention to the invisibility of self-identified Muslim lesbians in Glasgow. The life story interview is used to explore the very hidden and untold story of a Muslim lesbian; as such the article draws heavily on the subject's narrative.