I met Parvez Sharma and some members of his cast and crew in 2001 at a local low-key fund-raiser hosted by neighbours in the Shaw neighbourhood of Washington, DC. He was a very mild-mannered man with deep sensitivity and insight.
At that juncture, the documentary - although completed in the raw - was still caught-up in the lengthy process of editing with a dire need of funding to ready it for a forthcoming film festival. Needless to say - the completed work - albeit not ready was shown in sections. It was quite obvious that the projected finished result was indeed going to be a very moving and telling testament to the "gay" lifestyle - especially within the Islamic Communities ... worldwide.
As I had met some of the featured personalities - I felt a certain connection with the sensitive nature of my homosexual friends and co-workers. My profession as a "straight" hairdresser places me in direct contact with the creative and sensitive - often highly emotional people - many sorely affected by the stigma attached to them. For many - an almost certain death penalty awaits them upon return to their respective countries.
Over the past decade or so - where we have seen many outspoken men and women emerge from their secret lives within fanatical Islam - their heads bowed down in shame ... until ... courageous people such as Parvez Sharma decided to stand up and be counted - by disclosing their often unexplained lifestyles and their continued love and adherence to their religion.
As I stated, having been a hairdresser (socio-political/community activist) most of my life - along with long periods of detention within Moçambique and South Africa - I have often been on hand to witness the subcultures within unexplained internment - where helplessness, lack of courage, strength and self-esteem might well have pushed them into this often viewed "deviant" lifestyle - regardless of religious affiliation or depth of religious conviction.
Where there was a large number of Muslims - there too did homosexuality become commonplace - often with Muslim men connecting only with Muslim men. So, did we see many of these men cleave to their religion - often making salah or fasting during Ramadhan - steering clear of pork, drugs and alcohol.
One could not help but wonder - yet admire them for retaining a very intrinsic part of their culture - for often, in such ignominious surroundings do we see lesser beings succumb ... fall prey to more self-destructive practices ... even death.
It would indeed be interesting to uncover which is worse in the eyes of the fundamentalists within the Muslim world; the despised homosexual who may lead a somewhat deviant lifestyles - tolerated ... albeit frowned upon - for regardless of their sexual proclivity - yet do they love and adhere to most of the tenements of their faith or alternatively - those "free-thinkers" who make their own assessment of certain situations - contrary to the vapid condemnation of the Jamaat-ul-Ulima who's role it is to enforce draconian misogynist doctrines of Sharia Law - fatwa's included? Here we have feminists, communists, socialists ... people of conscience ... murtad one and all ...
That said; which is more perverse - to love another of one's own gender - or to kill innocent people with impunity - all in the name of furthering one's sectarian faith - whether it be Islam or Christianity or Judaism or upholding one's traditional culture - at all cost? For those Muslims who freely condemn - advocate the issuing of fatwa's upon those who drift away from the heralded "chosen" path - I say open your myopic eyes and educate yourself by attending a screening of this very poignant documentary. Then, and only then will you be qualified to opine, reject or condemn if you so choose - the evidence in this very touching documentary.
To Parvez, what can I say but Shukran/Motehshakeram ... Mubarrak ...
At that juncture, the documentary - although completed in the raw - was still caught-up in the lengthy process of editing with a dire need of funding to ready it for a forthcoming film festival. Needless to say - the completed work - albeit not ready was shown in sections. It was quite obvious that the projected finished result was indeed going to be a very moving and telling testament to the "gay" lifestyle - especially within the Islamic Communities ... worldwide.
As I had met some of the featured personalities - I felt a certain connection with the sensitive nature of my homosexual friends and co-workers. My profession as a "straight" hairdresser places me in direct contact with the creative and sensitive - often highly emotional people - many sorely affected by the stigma attached to them. For many - an almost certain death penalty awaits them upon return to their respective countries.
Over the past decade or so - where we have seen many outspoken men and women emerge from their secret lives within fanatical Islam - their heads bowed down in shame ... until ... courageous people such as Parvez Sharma decided to stand up and be counted - by disclosing their often unexplained lifestyles and their continued love and adherence to their religion.
As I stated, having been a hairdresser (socio-political/community activist) most of my life - along with long periods of detention within Moçambique and South Africa - I have often been on hand to witness the subcultures within unexplained internment - where helplessness, lack of courage, strength and self-esteem might well have pushed them into this often viewed "deviant" lifestyle - regardless of religious affiliation or depth of religious conviction.
Where there was a large number of Muslims - there too did homosexuality become commonplace - often with Muslim men connecting only with Muslim men. So, did we see many of these men cleave to their religion - often making salah or fasting during Ramadhan - steering clear of pork, drugs and alcohol.
One could not help but wonder - yet admire them for retaining a very intrinsic part of their culture - for often, in such ignominious surroundings do we see lesser beings succumb ... fall prey to more self-destructive practices ... even death.
It would indeed be interesting to uncover which is worse in the eyes of the fundamentalists within the Muslim world; the despised homosexual who may lead a somewhat deviant lifestyles - tolerated ... albeit frowned upon - for regardless of their sexual proclivity - yet do they love and adhere to most of the tenements of their faith or alternatively - those "free-thinkers" who make their own assessment of certain situations - contrary to the vapid condemnation of the Jamaat-ul-Ulima who's role it is to enforce draconian misogynist doctrines of Sharia Law - fatwa's included? Here we have feminists, communists, socialists ... people of conscience ... murtad one and all ...
That said; which is more perverse - to love another of one's own gender - or to kill innocent people with impunity - all in the name of furthering one's sectarian faith - whether it be Islam or Christianity or Judaism or upholding one's traditional culture - at all cost? For those Muslims who freely condemn - advocate the issuing of fatwa's upon those who drift away from the heralded "chosen" path - I say open your myopic eyes and educate yourself by attending a screening of this very poignant documentary. Then, and only then will you be qualified to opine, reject or condemn if you so choose - the evidence in this very touching documentary.
To Parvez, what can I say but Shukran/Motehshakeram ... Mubarrak ...