“Can Gays go to Heaven?”: Discursive Strategies in Confessional Narratives of Homosexual Muslim Men

Abstract

In light of the increasing acceptance of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community in the global context, the Muslims community faces a difficult dilemma. Often considered as a community which is the most resentful towards LGBTs (Habib: 2010), Muslim communities worldwide are often criticised for their treatment towards the LGBTs in their respective communities. In Malaysia for example, homosexual acts are still criminal (see Malaysian Penal Code 1998, Section 377A and 377B) and the LGBT community is often portrayed negatively in the national mass media (Shah: 2018). This effectively creates harmful environment for LGBT Muslims to live in.