ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the place of queer Muslims within the contemporary LGBT+ movement in the UK. Queer Muslims, historically coded as an irreconcilable binary, are excluded from some LGBT+ emancipation narratives and queer spaces because of Islamophobic and racist tropes. Queer Muslims are similarly excluded from some religious spaces due to homophobia. Queer Muslims thus have to defend and justify their identity from outside detractors and those within their own communities, while also trying to find a voice and place within a movement that has historically neglected them. Through interviews, participant observation at a queer Muslim conference, and analysis of LGBT+ rights organisation Stonewall, this chapter sets out to understand the politics behind their unique positionality. The chapter argues that the rise in autonomous queer Muslim organising is a reflection of their historic marginalisation within the wider LGBT+ movement, despite the latter’s increasing turn towards intersectionality and coalitional forms of activism.
