Pro-Gay Rights Muslim Wins Primary in Iowa

Pro-Gay Rights Muslim Wins Primary

Posted in: Features
Jason Hamza Van Boom

Tom Vilsack speaks with Iowa State Representative Ako Abdul-Samad at the 2009 Hall of Fame Ceremony.

Religion has always been part of the same-sex marriage debate, but it was part of this campaign in a unique way.

Ako Abdul-Samad, a Muslim incumbent in the Iowa state legislature (and one of nine Muslim state legislators in the entire United States) easily defeated his challenger Clair Rudison Jr, a Christian minister, in Iowa's Democratic primary on June 8. In the battle to represent House District 66 in Des Moines, Abdul-Samad got 74% of the vote to Rudison's 25%.

The newspaper Iowa Independent called this primary battle "ground zero for gay marriage debate." In 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the state cannot deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Rudison attacked Abdul-Samad for not supporting a state referendum that would overturn the court's decision.

Consequently, major Iowa organizations on opposite sides of the marriage debate took sides. Iowa Family Political Action Committee, an arm of the socially conservative Iowa Family Policy Center, gave Rudison his largest single donation. In response, Iowa's largest LGBT-rights organization One Iowa, supported Abdul-Samad through its Fairness Fund PAC.

"This race is important and marriage equality is at the center of it," said Ashlan Shaw, an intern at Fairness Fund. "This election is crucial for keeping a pro-equality, community advocate in House District 66 and preventing discrimination from being written into the constitution."

Religion has always been part of the same-sex marriage debate, but it was part of this campaign in a unique way. Abdul-Samad is Iowa's only Muslim to hold an elected state office. He is the CEO/Founder of Creative Visions Human Development Center, has published a book of spiritual poetry, and helped produce an Islamic DVD with Lisa Killinger called "Men are from Marwa, Women are from Safa." Rudison is an ordained Christian minister who served as pastor of a Baptist church in Fort Dodge, Iowa, before moving to Des Moines to serve with Iowa Missionary and Educational Baptist State Convention.

20+ LGBT Rights Groups & Allies Join Outcry Against Anti-Immigrant Measure in Arizona

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights groups and allies join outcry against anti-immigrant measure in Arizona

(New York, June 7, 2010) — More than 20 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality groups and allies today issued the following joint statement:

Arizona's S.B. 1070 takes the state down a path that will lead to racial profiling, discrimination and anti-immigrant extremism. We stand in solidarity with other individuals, organizations and local governments in rejecting the misrepresentation of immigrants put forth in this unjust and ill-conceived measure.

S.B. 1070 essentially declares an entire class of people to be inherently criminal on the basis of their race and appearance. The consequences of S.B. 1070 are grave and troubling: the inevitability of racial profiling and infringement of civil liberties; the strong probability of violence and harassment against individuals and their families; and the reversal of progress toward creating a more inclusive society.

We also note that this bill was signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer, the same governor who last year stripped away earned health insurance benefits from the same-sex domestic partners of state employees. Brewer's actions as governor demonstrate, at best, callous indifference—and at worst, willful malice—toward immigrants and LGBT people alike.

All Arizona families—lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight—have reason to be alarmed. The state's new law threatens to tear apart families, separate children from their parents and rip apart loving couples who are building their lives together. The LGBT community knows all too well how easily people who "look different" or "act different" can be singled out for harassment and persecution. LGBT immigrants will be doubly vulnerable under this law, which gives license to discriminate.

We are united in our determination to stand for political and legislative change that will ensure just treatment of immigrants, people of color, and all people in Arizona. Such justice requires the repeal of S.B. 1070 and the passage and implementation of comprehensive federal immigration reform.

Today we join with groups such as Service Employees International Union, League of United Latin American Citizens, Asian American Justice Center, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Council of La Raza, National Action Network, the National Puerto Rican Coalition, and many others in the boycott against the state of Arizona until S.B. 1070 is repealed, overturned by the courts, or superseded by comprehensive federal immigration reform.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund
Human Rights Campaign
GLAAD
Immigration Equality
National Black Justice Coalition
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
International Foundation for Gender Education
Family Equality Council
Two Spirit Press Room
Equality Federation
National Minority AIDS Council
National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce®
Freedom to Marry
Gay Men's Health Crisis
Lambda Legal
BiNet USA
International Federation of Black Prides, Inc.
Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals
UNID@S
SAGE
Atticus Circle
National Center for Lesbian Rights

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Contact: Jonathan Adams 212-809-8585 ext 267; jadams@lambdalegal.org

AP Yogyakarta panel pics

Twilight Zone / The Moroccan Model - Jewish & Muslim Coexistence

A visit to the Jewish community of Morocco reveals surprising coexistence.

By Gideon Levy

In a small room within a large house − its construction nearly complete − with a breathtaking view of a valley of argan trees, a Moroccan carpenter planes doors made of local cedar wood. It seems unlikely that he knows exactly what he is making. In fact, for the past few weeks he has been building the holy ark for the synagogue of the Moroccan community of Kfar Sava. When the ark is ready, the owner of the house, Claude Senouf, a Jewish painter and journalist, will ship it to the central Israeli city, where it will be dedicated in honor of his grandfather, Raoul, who was one of Morocco’s moneyed elite. By then, too, the construction of Senouf’s magnificent home in western Morocco, not far from the town of Essaouira on the Atlantic coast, will be finished.

Full Article from Haaretz in Israel - May 7, 2010

Afghan Airforce Includes Female Pilot

Female Pilot Helps Afghan Air Force Take Off

From CNN - May 7, 2010

Decades ago, Afghanistan's air force was in full operation. Today, that air force is being rebuilt, with some of the same helicopters and some of the same pilots as well - including the first woman in the Afghan Air Corps and currently the only one.

The only time Capt. Latifa Nabizada left the force was to flee to Pakistan when the Taliban took over in the 1990s - a woman pilot was a prime target for them.

"I wanted to be a pilot since I was a child," she says. "I also, as a woman, felt it was a responsibility to serve my country. So I joined 20 years ago. ... I stayed in because it's the love of my life, and I still feel the responsibility to not give it up."

Today, she is one of about 50 pilots training in Kabul, with a few others elsewhere in Afghanistan. And U.S. forces are helping mentor the pilots, training them on modern air force techniques for the 50 or so aircraft in the Afghan air force fleet.

Nabizada revels in the new training: "I've seen remarkable changes since we started this. We get training in air traffic control, pre-flight checklists, English language, instruments, navigation. These are skills we didn't have before."

On the training base in Kabul, a regular sight is Nabizada's 4-year-old daughter Malali.

"Being a pilot and a mother is hard, actually," Nabizada says. "My husband is a doctor in the air force and we have no one to take care of her, so she comes with me every day. One day I'd like to see childcare in the air force."

Until then, Malali learns first hand about her country's air force and her mother's groundbreaking role. Will she follow in her mother's footsteps in the future? "Exactly," says Nabizada. "She will be a pilot in the future."

Reaching Out Quietly to Muslims in America

Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times

Rashad Hussain, 31, a White House lawyer, was appointed to become the United States' special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Full Article from the New York Times - April 18, 2010

U.S. Muslim groups walk fine line in efforts to confront extremism

As organizations including the Council on American-Islamic Relations begin to publicly confront the radicalization of Muslim youths, they are facing a backlash from their own community.

Full Article from the Los Angeles Times - April 19, 2010

Online Muslim Sex Shop in the Netherlands is All Halal

From the Times of London (UK)

March 31, 2010

Roger Boyes, Berlin

It's not quite the Kama Sutra or The Joy of Sex but it does offer a similar kind of assistance: the first online sex shop for the Islamic world has opened in the Netherlands.

But there is nothing sleazy about "El Asira" — "Society" in Arabic. Indeed, the website looks positively demure. The home page depicts a street divided by a line; women customers click on the left of the line, men on the right. Inside the shop — navigable in Arabic, English and Dutch — customers can shop for massage oils, cocoa butter lubricants and aphrodisiacs such as Pure Power, a capsule that claims to "heighten male performance, desire and pleasure".

Whether these services will also heighten the pleasure of religious fundamentalists or Dutch Islamophobes remains to be seen. Tensions run high in the country of Geert Wilders, the far-Right politician who has denounced what he calls a "tsunami of Islamification" of the Netherlands; six years ago the film-maker Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim for making a documentary about Muslim women.

The founder of the website has been careful to take religious advice and so far his business has been a hit. "We had 70,000 hits in the first four days," said Abdelaziz Aouragh, a Dutch citizen born and raised in Amsterdam of Moroccan parents. His aim, he says, is to change the idea that Islam is in some way hostile to women.

"The image of women in the kitchen, submissive, dressed in a burka isn't true," he told the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad. "There is a lot of love. Islam has a lot of respect for women. Our shop puts the woman at the centre of things."

To be on the safe side, Mr Aouragh consulted Boularia Houari, who preaches in various Dutch mosques and gives lessons in the Koran. The imam told him: "It's important in Islam that both men and women reach orgasm. If a woman is not satisfied, she will use impure methods such as masturbation or vibrators."

Another imam, Abdul Jabbar, also said that there was no fundamental objection to selling sexual aids providing that they were not toys and were sold only to married couples.

It is unclear how the online shop will determine the marital status of its clients but it does make a big point of trying to treat sex with respect. All ingredients are halal, that is to say, permissible under Islam. None of the products displays naked people and there are no vibrators or pornography in stock. Even the mildly racey pink panties are said to be halal.

"We want to share with other Muslims in a positive way our contribution to a broader view of sexuality and eroticism within the Muslim community," the website says. The shop seems set to stay online for the time being, unwilling to risk the wrath of more conservative clerics who warn of the corruption of morals of second-generation Muslim immigrants.

Video: Arab-American's Concerns about Census