The following is a press release fron OUGLBTF
(Posted 4-17-02)

INTERNATIONAL GLBT MUSLIM LEADER TO SPEAK ON OU CAMPUS

Norman, OK, April 15, 2002--Faisal Alam, the director of the Al-Fatiha Foundation, an international organization dedicated to LGBTQ Muslims and their friends, will speak to OU students, faculty, and staff Thursday, April 18 at 6:00 PM in the Crimson Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Alam will be participating in a panel discussion entitled "Reconciling Faith and Sexuality," arranged by the OU Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Friends student group (GLBTF).

Faisal Alam is a 24-year old, queer-identified Muslim of Pakistani descent. He is the founder and director of Al-Fatiha, and has been doing faith-based organizing and LGBT youth work for more than five years. He currently resides in Washington, DC, where he works in the field of HIV/AIDS.

The panel discussion will also feature Paula Sophia Schonauer, a transgender Episcopal Deacon, and Joseph Meinhart, a former Catholic priest. The panelists will discuss sexuality issues in modern religions and will take questions from the audience. The discussion is a kickoff event for "GLBT Awareness Week," April 22-26, 2002, which is being sponsored by the GLBTF.

Mr. Alam started the Al-Fatiha Foundation in 1997 as an Internet discussion group. The group's membership grew quickly, and in October 1998 Al-Fatiha formally organized in Boston, MA. The goal of Al-Fatiha, which means "The Opening," is to provide a safe space and a forum for LGBTQ Muslims to address issues of common concern and share individual experiences. Over 2,000 people are now a part of Al-Fatiha.

According to Faisal Alam, "Al-Fatiha strives to create a dialogue with its brothers and sisters of other faiths." Mr. Alam also noted that the "rhetoric that is used in Muslim communities to condemn homosexuality is almost identical to the attitudes that most denominations of Christianity and Judaism had before, which some still continue to have today." Interfaith dialogues such as Thursday's panel discussion are important because the struggles of all LGBTQ persons are "connected and they began in the same place," Alam said.

Mr. Alam commented on the need for organizations such as Al-Fatiha, saying "We are finally bringing a voice and a face to a community that has thus far remained almost invisible. The LGBTQ Muslim community continues to face discrimination and is ostracized from both the larger LGBT community and from the mainstream Muslim community. Given this double oppression, one can only begin to imagine the many complex challenges facing LGBTQ Muslims today," Alam said.

"We hope that everyone interested in spirituality and religion will be able to attend the discussion," said Edward Spencer, GLBTF Political Coordinator. "We are very lucky to have someone as successful as Faisal Alam visit us for GLBT Awareness Week," Spencer continued.

GLBTF Administrative Co-Chair Ryan Stallard agreed, saying "We hope that this discussion will help people become more accepting of themselves once they realize that they don't have to be heterosexual to be religious."

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Friends is a registered student organization at the University of Oklahoma. The GLBTF works to eliminate legal discrimination against LGBT persons, to ensure their individual integrity against personal and social prejudices, to affirm a positive self-image for LGBT persons, to educate the public on what is meant by being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, and to combat prejudices and discrimination of LGBT people against subgroups within the LGBT community. The GLBTF meets regularly on Tuesdays at 6:00 PM in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.