Rafiul Rahman, a former student of English Literature at the University of Delhi, started Delhi University Queer Collective in 2014 and from then on, he has worked consistently for the LGBTQIA+ rights. Eventually, personal experiences and struggles with identity led him to begin The Queer Muslim Project as a collective. With a focus on creating a safe space for queer Muslims to come together, the project was started as an online advocacy page to provide equal representation and inclusiveness for queer Muslims given the current climate of discrimination against minorities.
Rafiul believes that being gay and Muslim at the same time is seen as a contradiction since most people in India and South Asia have a very linear sort of an idea about Islam and homosexuality. So, when he was in college, besides being involved in the mainstream Queer Movement, he was also interested in the intersection of Muslim and queer identities. This platform focuses on creating awareness, establishing dialogue, educating Queer Muslims, and conducting outreach activities in respective family and friend circles.
With 21.7K followers on Instagram, the project seeks to counter both queerphobia and Islamophobia through the stories they cover and the issues they raise.
You can check out their Instagram here.
You can check out their Twitter here.
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