Better
Muslim Than Gay: Muslim American Today - Annoyed? Sure
29 September 2010By Melody Moezzi
Lately I've been hearing a lot about how much my
people are under attack in America today. The thing
is, though, as an American Muslim, I don't really feel
under attack. Annoyed? Sure. But attacked? No.
Despite all the controversy surrounding the
construction of the Park51 Center in downtown
Manhattan, for example, the fact remains that it will
still be built. Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama
have both staunchly defended our right to build it and
most of the center's most vociferous opponents have
either never set foot in Manhattan or belong to some
extremist political or religious group — the exact
same kind of group from which they claim to be
"protecting" Americans by protesting the construction
of the center. In short, no matter how loudly these
bigots protest or how viciously they insult us, we
still have the law and our leaders on our side.
Meanwhile, I just had lunch with a friend who can't
even get married or serve openly in the military in
this country, who has nowhere near the same 14th
Amendment equal protection rights that I do as a
Muslim American woman, and who can no longer afford
his HIV medications because his social security
payments are too high for him to qualify for Medicaid.
Just like me, my friend is an American citizen, but
unlike me, he doesn't share the same rights and
privileges that said citizenship ought to guarantee.
Given the option, my Muslim faith teaches me to fight
blatant injustice over irritating bombast any day, so
today, that means that my friend's predicaments take
some serious precedence over my own. I don't care how
loudly or callously people insult me, so long as they
can't control or significantly restrict my rights in a
way where I have no legitimate means of legal
recourse.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that it's easy
being a Muslim American today. Far from it. What I am
saying, however, is that as a Muslim American, my
obligation is to defend the rights of the most
marginalized and persecuted citizens living in my
great country — and as it stands, despite all the
nasty name-calling, I'm not one of those citizens.
It is from this position of relative privilege that I
sense a strong religious and civic obligation to
address the most pressing injustices that face our
nation today and beseech the rest of my community to
do the same. I know that many Muslims, as well as Jews
and Christians, may think that homosexuality is wrong
based on their readings of their religious texts. And
while I wholeheartedly disagree with them, I still
appeal to them to follow the greater teachings of our
respective faiths. Is it not a greater sin to deny
people their basic human and civil rights based on an
alleged sin that only God is qualified to judge?
As a Muslim, it is my sacred duty to promote peace,
justice and compassion above all other moral values,
and as such, I am obligated to fight for the rights of
the most persecuted among us. Likewise, as an American
citizen and an attorney who has taken a solemn oath to
support and defend the U.S. Constitution, I feel
equally bound to concentrate my energies where they
are most urgently needed.
So, in keeping with the lessons of my respective legal
and religious educations, I hope you'll forgive me if
I ignore the epithets directed at me and my people for
now and focus on fighting for my friend's right to
marry his partner, share his health insurance, serve
his country with honor and enjoy all the basic civil
liberties that I already do.
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