Muslim American communities’ response to queer visibility

Abstract

Muslims in the U.S. are comparatively well-educated, economically indistinct from the rest of the population, with a set of attitudes broadly compatible with the political mainstream. One of the few issue areas on which they stand out as distinctly conservative is on homosexuality, where rates of “disapproval” are at the same level as among evangelical Protestants. This view is reflected in the positions taken by most organized Muslim groups in the U.S., and almost certainly by the vast majority of religious leaders. There are indications of Muslims adapting their faith to the western context, and to intergenerational change in attitudes to sexual diversity. However, increasing sensitivity among American Muslims to the distrust or disdain to which their faith is subject, and to the heightened sense of scrutiny that they experience, may well be contributing to a retention of selective moral traditionalism.