9781422283806

14 L I V I NG WI TH RE L I G I ON AND FA I TH

The rabbi said, “First of all, Joel, a Jew is a Jew is a Jew. Your identity as a Jew who is entitled to practice your faith does not depend on your sexual feelings or desires or life-partner choices. It simply is so. So let’s start with that as our foundation.” Joel found talking with his rabbi far more helpful than talking to the therapist. Eventually, his parents agreed to meet with the rabbi as well. Joel and his family still haven’t found an answer that makes everyone happy, but Joel has a new sense of confidence and clarity, knowing that as a gay man he will also always be a Jew. When Faisal Alam’s family moved to the United States when he was ten, they remained as devoted to their religion as they had been in their home country. Attending mosque was an important part of Faisal’s life; being a Muslim was vital to his identity. But at the same time, even as a child, he knew he “wasn’t like other boys.” “One of the things that was taught to me at my mosque was that homosexuality is forbidden within Islam,” he told the Lansing, Michigan, City Pulse . “There’s no such thing as a gay Muslim because they just don’t exist.” On the outside, at least, Faisal was the model Muslim teenager. When he went to college, he represented the Muslim Student Association in the New England region. Meanwhile, in the city’s nightclubs, he had “exploded out of the closet.” Gay and Faithful: “Two Parts of Who I Am”

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