Queer Muslim Women: On Diaspora, Islam, and Identity

Abstract

In this thesis, women who identify as both queer and Muslims living in North America tell their stories of family, religion, and home. These immigrants and first generation Westerners describe their identities in an effort to acknowledge the difficulties that can accompany being both Muslim in the diaspora in a time when religious and political tensions are aimed at the Middle East. While each has a unique life history, the participants represented here challenge assumptions about the "inherent" contradictions that are assume to exist for those who are both Muslim and queer due to constructions of Islam as sexually and socially conservative. They also offer insight into the usefulness of the current international LGBTQ movement for Muslim lesbians. Using the in-depth interviews from eight women, as well as several first-person published narratives, the aim of this research is to explore how each of these individuals to experience their identities in the diaspora.