On a warm slow day, I was trudging along the streets In United States. From nowhere, a man from the sidewalk gestured me. It felt scaring coming from a stranger in a strange land. I shrugged and decided, why not? To my surprise, the man wanted me to sign up for something I consider most repugnant. In Islam, it is within the confines of its practice to be polygamous. A man can marry as many as four wives. However, the man did not want me to sign up to support polygamy in the United States. He wanted me to sign up to support gay rights. I felt offended and violated. I felt like puking as I left the man without uttering a word. What a terrible day, I thought to myself.
As I slithered through the streets to enjoy lunch in downtown Columbus, I thought about the man and his crazy ideas and concluded that America is stranger than I had read in books. Before I could identify a good restaurant, I saw a group clustered around a corner. I was curious and decided to find out. It was a demonstration to support gay rights. My feelings at that moment were indescribable. As a Muslim, I do not support gay rights marriage. From where I come from, people do not mention the word “gay” in public. Leave alone support their rights. If the rights exist, those who advocate for them do so in hushed tones, in whispers and in coded language. You do not want to be seen supporting what every one else condemns in the strongest terms possible. With these gay rights supporters advocating it openly to the eyes of the world, I felt like someone had parked me diagonally in a parallel world. Casual glance here and there, as I snaked by way out of town.
Later that night, I sat long on my bed. Thoughts of what I had witnessed during the day trickled into my mind and dispersed any drops of sleep. The more I though about it, the more I appreciated the courage the man and the group had shown by advocating for rights that people back home would rather not talk about. I flipped the argument I had heard about gay rights in my mind. People are born free and they should exercise their liberty without undue restrain from any other quarters. As long as we allow them to decide on other things, why not allow them decide who to marry? In any case, they are not infringing on any one’s rights. Even from a religious point of view, there were gay people. Could Allah create gay people and forbid them from expressing and exercising their sexuality?
The more I thought about it, the more I appreciated the subject of their arguments. However, I could not bring myself to saying, even to myself, that I support gay rights. I think my religion and upbringing considers it a taboo even to associate with a gay person. Even when they have a valid argument, I still find it hard to bring myself to support gay rights. I however do not mind if the government and the society recognize their rights. It is a subject that I would rather be passive than take a position that would not augur well with my conscience.
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