November 17, 2009 Special Issue

Colour-coded Queers

The challenges faced by minorities within minorities

by Arshad Khan

GRAPHIC VIVIEN LEUNG

Last week, as I was going around stores in Parc Extension postering for Taqwacore—a Montreal documentary about Muslim punk rockers—I entered a dollar store where a young Bangladeshi man was chatting with two middle-aged men.

Falling silent as I entered the store, I went up to inquire about the possibility of leaving a poster in the window. Just to be nice, I even asked if I could purchase some tape.

The young man pointed me to the appropriate section. Upon my return I caught him staring and remarking to the other two about me, assuming that I did not understand Bengali.
“This one, he is not crooked,” he told them.

It’s true that perhaps the young Bangladeshi was trying to tell his friends not to be suspicious of me, and that I am a native Urdu and Hindi speaker, but I have over 30 years of experience in the language of homophobia and it took only an instant to realize these three men were standing in judgement of my sexuality.

Homophobia sucks in any language.

This incident reiterates my struggle with friends, family and community members who—as soon as they caught wind of someone sexually emancipated—ran for the proverbial hills of homophobic homeland habitudes.

For an immigrant of colour, it is one thing to struggle with homophobia within my culture, community and family and another to deal with the predominantly white-centric world of gay men outside of these relationships.

I remember feeling confusion—not knowing how to fit in—and it was only when I came across South Asian and Muslim gay support groups that I found answers and consolation for the in-between world of a minority within a minority within a minority: South Asian, Muslim and gay.

The LGBTQ groups in the universities I have attended have been predominantly white, with a cultural identity that’s difficult to negotiate. I was forced to draw a clear line between the tight, colourful shirt-wearing gays and the “normal” dude of colour that no one suspects would ever have gay desire. For all their talk of support, they seemed to be a meat market and a microcosm of all the stereotypes and prejudices against gays, squeezed into one meeting room. Bi? Ba-bye.

There seems to be little activism or queer outreach to South Asian, Muslim or Arab groups on campus, even while everywhere you look is chock full of Arabs and queers. Their worlds intersect here, yet acknowledgement of this fact seems noticeably absent.

In Park Extension, I soon realized that someone was ripping down the posters for Taqwacore.
Despite the fact that the film positively depicts Muslims in a world full of prejudice against Islam, somebody was attempting to silence positive independent media influence in the neighbourhood.

There are no clear answers to the diverse problems facing immigrants and queers, but there are also many paths towards self-actualization and emancipation.

I do my part, re-applying posters amongst the crowds of ignoranti and hoping that at least one soul will see the poster and be moved to expand their circle of knowledge. I also hope the “average” student will realize that there are others like them who will embrace them for who they are and not judge them for how they look or behave.

If you fear losing your friends, make new friends—homophobes aren’t worth a dime anyway. If you fear losing your family, know that you will find a new one and eventually your own family might come around. The embrace of enlightened communities and allies awaits you. It’s just a matter of when it’s time for your calling to be pulled out of the darkness of intellectual and emotional poverty and into the sunshine of love and liberty.