Australia’s LGBTQ community is a vibrant and diverse part of the wider, global fabric of uncompromising gay liberation advocacy, but the media’s characterisation of it exists almost entirely through the lens of what is ferociously visible.
Mainstream coverage of LGBTQ events, including this month’s Mardi Gras parade, has largely centred on the flashy, white, and middle class, thereby fashioning a marketable caricature of LGBTQ identity that restricts entire communities, and their unique concerns, into the margins.
For queer Australian Muslims this marginalisation is palpable, and their fight for visibility has led to the creation of an organisation that aims to shed light on their concerns.
Sydney Queer Muslims (SQM), a non-profit independent organisation which provides a safe, and open space to LGBTQ Muslims.