An Open Letter to American Muslims on Same Sex Marriage Reza Aslan and Hasan Minhaj urge support from American Muslims for LGBT rights within Islam

posted on: Jul 8, 2015

Two of America’s most well known Muslims are taking on the fight for marriage equality in hopes of reigniting a national dialogue about civil rights advocacy within Islam. In an open letter addressed to America’s Muslim communities, internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions Reza Aslan and Daily Show correspondent Hasan Minhaj urge support from Muslim Americans for same sex marriage, arguing that “challenging the status quo for the betterment of society is one of the very foundations on which Islam was built.”

The letter comes on the heels of the Supreme Court’s historic ruling to legally recognize same-sex marriage nationwide. The 5-4 decision on June 26 has since raised conversations about the acceptance of LGBT rights within American faith communities. A study conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute last April found that 42% of Muslim Americans support same-sex marriage. Anti-Islam sentiment is still at unprecedented levels in the U.S., Aslan and Minhaj note, with more than half of Americans holding a negative view towards Muslims.

“We shouldn’t be perpetuating our marginalization by marginalizing others,” the letter argues. “Rejecting the right to same sex marriage, but then expecting empathy for our own community’s struggle, is hypocritical.”

Citing the already existing groundswell of support for LGBT rights amongst progressive Muslim communities (including United States Congressmen Keith Ellison and Andre Carson, as well as openly gay Imam Daayiee Abdullah), Aslan and Minhaj contend that simply tolerating LGBT communities is not enough. “Tolerating another community only stirs up concealed fear toward the marginalize and apathy toward the political process… We have to do more than tolerate. We have to embrace. We have to fight for the right of others to live their lives as freely as we want to live ours.”

Read Reza Aslan and Hasan Minhaj’s full open letter to American Muslims on same sex marriage here. More information can be found on Our Fellow American Muslims, a new site set up by Aslan and Minhaj to continue the conversation on LGBT issues in Islam.