Pink Triangle Trust makes donation to Council of Ex-Muslims (CEMB) of Britain in order to help it raise its profile at this year’s Pride event in London on July 6.
THE Pink Triangle Trust was established in 1992 to advance the education of the public, and particularly of lesbians and gay men, in the principles and practice of humanism, and to advance the education of the public, and particularly of humanists, about all aspects of homosexuality.
The CEMB will not only take part in Pride parade, but will also stage an evening event on LGBT+ Rights, Apostasy and Blasphemy in London on July 4.
The CEMB has fought to continue its participation in Pride after two Islamist bodies – the East London Mosque and Mend – filed official complaints in 2017 with Pride organisers for its Islamophobic posters and placards. It took Pride eight months to finally allow them to march again in 2018.
Thanking The Pink Triangle Trust for its strong defence of their work the CEMB said: “Since our first participation in Pride, we have worked hard to explain the difference between apostasy/blasphemy and bigotry, show how cultural relativism denies universal human rights, highlight how homophobia is a pillar of the Islamist movement and that LGBT+ rights are intrinsically linked to the rights of other minorities, like ex-Muslims, and women. We have also tried to reach out to Muslim LGBT+ groups.
“CEMB works with a large number of refugees and asylum seekers, all of whom are apostates and some of whom are LGBT+. Ana Gonzalez, a partner at Wilsons Law Firm said at our last event that we were the best of all the refugee support groups that she has ever worked with. Pride is particularly important to our members as one of the few public spaces where ex-Muslim and gay members can openly assert themselves without fear.”
The July 4 event will include a screening of No Longer without You, by Nazmiye Oral followed by a discussion with Nazmiye on her conversations with her conservative Muslim mother on everything from LGBT+ rights to free thought and abortion.
This discussion will be followed by a panel discussion with Jimmy Bangash (LGBT ex-Muslim), Nadia El Fani (Gay Tunisian Filmmaker) as well as others. Responses are still expected from Muslim and ex-Muslim LGBT speakers.
The event will end with a poetry reading by Kenyan Somali poet Halima Salat.