I hated gay people

Dear friends , For a long time, I hated gay people – and I hated myself for being gay. My name is Tugay and I'm a 20-year-old Muslim man from Berlin. Growing up in a conservative Turkish family, I was taught that being gay is forbidden. I was very religious and followed extremist preachers. When I realized I was gay, I tried to "cure" myself by praying away what I thought was a "sickness." There was nobody I could talk to about the conflict between my religious beliefs and my sexual orientation. The local Imams called me "dirty" and banned me from my mosque. I was so lost and hopeless, without any community of my own. Thankfully, the Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque in Berlin opened – a groundbreaking place welcoming LGBT+ Muslims to pray. For the first time in my life I felt truly accepted. And now the founder of the mosque wants to create a center for LGBT+ Muslims which will offer counseling for people like me, training for LGBT+ Imams, and will advocate for an LGBT+ inclusive interpretation of the Quran. This work can save lives, but they don't have the funds to do it. Luc, can you chip in €5 to protect and empower LGBT+ Muslims? For many, being a gay Muslim isn't easy, even in a liberal country like Germany. Some Muslim communities discriminate against LGBT+ members and exclude those who dare to come out publicly. The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs, which funds 900 mosques in Germany, fuels prejudices by saying that Islam does not allow for people to be gay and compares it with the religiously banned acts of drinking alcohol or eating pork. Seyran Ateş, the founder of the Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque, experienced this intolerance firsthand last year when the mosque opened. She was sent thousands of hate messages and death threats. She needed a personal security guard to leave the house. Because of discrimination like this, many people like me stay in the shadows, torn between their religious community and their identity. Seyran's center will be the first project in the country to offer much-needed counseling to LGBT+ Muslims and help them reintegrate into their communities. Can you help make the center come true by chipping in today? Thanks for going All Out, Tugay, LGBT+ Coordinator Ibn Ruschd-Goethe mosque SOURCES:  ● The Berlin mosque breaking Islamic taboos – BBC, 07 August 2017  ● By Taking a Bullet, a Muslim Woman Finds Her Calling – The New York Times, 22 June, 2018  ● Forbidden love – Is Islam homophobic? (in German) – Jäger & Sammler, 26 March 2018 Want to support All Out's ongoing work? Our tiny team stretches every dollar to make it count. DONATE TODAY

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