Prominent ex-Muslim author and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, in a recent exclusive interview with UnHerd, a website for which she is a columnist, slammed the pro-Palestinian sub-movement “Queers for Palestine.”
Ali spoke on a wide range of subjects including topics such as the Israel-Hamas war, pro-Palestinian protesters, antisemitism, liberalism, immigration, Western values, and her conversion to Christianity.
The later portion of the interview was opened up to a question and answer segment involving the live audience in attendance.
One audience member asked Ali what she made of pro-Palestinian protesters using slogans such as “queers for Palestine.”
“It would be funny, you know? It’s just material for comedy if it wasn’t so [stupid],” Ali said, proceeding to highlight the lack of acceptance for LGBTQ people in fundamentalist Islamic societies.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is in place, Hamas was actually governing Gaza, and what were they doing to homosexuals?” she asked.
”They throw them from tall buildings," she said.
Families, if you're a Muslim family and within your family, there's someone who's suspected of being gay, it’s the obligation of the family to commit honor killing. So it doesn't even go as far as the government and tribunals and trials. But when that happens, it's done quite publicly, and it's done in the most gruesome fashion," Ali said.
"So ‘queers for Palestine,’ I think, is another manifestation of how our society is really becoming stupid.”
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LGBTQ and the pro-Palestinian movement
Discussion surrounding this apparent discordant alliance between some people in the LGBTQ community and fundamentalist Islam has seen resurgence with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Recently, an anti-Israel transgender TikTok content creator has gone viral for their embrace of Islam.
@birdy.blossom ( @Misha Euceph recommends people to get the [more feminist] Laleh Bakhtiar translation [of the Quran] and one other of the 3 she suggests. I highly recommend you check her out!! I’m starting with the Thomas Cleary [one] because that’s Misha’s personal favorite and then the others I have. I have another by Mustafa Khattab that was also recommended to me - through WhyIslam that they give for free - so I’ve added [it] to my list as well! I’m just going to read them consecutively to really absorb what each translation has to offer. I would like to eventually get the study Quran [in the original Arabic], so I’ll be in touch with those who reached out about the trade and see if y’all are down! It’s now in my morning routine to read the Quran and I am so happy about it. Thank you so so much for making this possible!) . . . #queer #trans #nonbinary #autistic #artist #handmadejewelry ♬ original sound - Aurora Bird (Birdy)
The TikToker, who goes by the name, birdy.blossom, stated that they had recently began reading the Quran and were very excited about it.
“The way the Quran describes things actually makes sense to me,” they said. “And also did you know that Allah is beyond gender?”
In the video, they go on to state that while they previously didn’t believe in God, now they thought that they did.
“I’m not saying I’m going to convert, [and] I’m not saying that I wouldn’t,” they said. “I know that this is exactly what I need right now.”