Homophobia and Terrorism are not limited to Muslims, history shows that and often what we do not understand and fear (often irrationally) we throw out words like terrorism, not our people etc.
Andrew Pulver wrote an impassioned article on how journalism in all its forms needs to stop the ‘Toxic portrayals of Muslims’! I would suggest that we need in the West, and in other cultures, to take a reality check. The portrayals of terrorists as being only from one side of the world’s population is disingenuous. All the major maritime powers in Europe sponsored pirates to enact terrorism on their rivals! Then we have terrorists/freedom fighters, for example, in 1867 there was the Clerkenwell explosion in London by the Fenians / Irish Republican Brotherhood (proto – IRA), in 1903 there were the Thessaloniki bombings by a Bulgarian group from Veles, mostly young graduates from the Bulgarian Men’s High School of Thessaloniki. The list is endless, go and have a look at the Wikipedia article ‘Terrorism in Europe’ as a starting point.
But and it is a large BUT, terrorism by its very nature is subjective; dependent upon where you are with your life, your family, your community, your society, One Man’s Terrorist Is Another Man’s Freedom Fighter
So, therefore, you must ask why am I Interested? My interest lies in my knowledge of Muslims. I have been lucky enough to work, live and make friends with Muslims within their society whilst working in the Middle East; I have also been able to have similar experiences in the Far East, Canada, South America, and Europe. I have always found a welcome within these communities, and I have had many discussions covering all aspects of their and my own society over politics, religion, homosexuality, with these debates has come an understanding of the local fears, even the fear of loss of identity (the Northern Irish are not unique).
In an article published in LGBTQ Nation (commentary by Michael Jensen and Brent Hartinger) it highlighted the position that a few of the local queer Muslim’s had in Turkey, a country which is 97% Muslim and where LGBTQ rights have gone backwards in recent years. But similar pressure is being placed on LGBTQ freedom in other parts of Europe, e.g., Hungary and Poland. According to the European Union in 2020 43% of LGBTQ people, last year said they felt discriminated against, up from 37% in 2012.
So, you can from this short overview firstly that terrorism and homophobia are not just related to Muslim society.
We need to educate against toxic rhetoric and politics wherever it is shown. We need to be vigilant locally and fight against what certain elements among the local politicians will repeatedly roll out – remember throughout history it has always been easy to use a minority as the whipping boy for society wrongs – the Jews when they no longer were willing financiers of the British Crown, and indeed with a number of European monarchies, the travellers, Jews, homosexuals by Nazi Germany, the travellers even today in the United Kingdom, and for certain parties in Northern Ireland politics the LGBTQ+ society.
Links:
- EU launches LGBT rights plan to counter rising homophobia in eastern member states
- Wikipedia – Terrorism in Europe
- Amazon – The Terrorism Reader edited by Walter Laqueur (1979)
- The Guardian – Actor calls for urgent end to ‘toxic portrayals’ of Muslims
- Four queer Muslims in Istanbul didn’t have much to celebrate for Pride Month
- Is “One Man’s Terrorist Another Man’s Freedom Fighter”?
- Consign homophobia to history, urges ex-Irish President Mary McAleese