The Sensationalization of the "Homophobic Muslim": Tracing the Roots of Islamophobia and Homophobia

Within the white supremacist imaginary has emerged a highly sensationalized figure: the "homophobic Muslim." Islam's proximity to Blackness fosters the Islamophobic ascription of criminality and bigotry to Muslims. Homophobia and heterosexism, however, in addition to the notions of gender and sexuality themselves, are white supremacist constructs, dating back to the Middle Passage. Thus, the "homophobic Muslim" narrative operates as a branch of white supremacy, positioning the racialized migrant subject as both illegitimate and threatening, as well as camouflaging the innate anti-Blackness of homophobia altogether. Through examination of the works of numerous preeminent Black feminists and other LGBT academics of color, this paper delves into the anti-Black origins of Islamophobia and the Islamophobic nature of the dissemination of the "homophobic Muslim" in popular discourse, as well as the coloniality of gender, sexuality, and homophobia. Labeling Muslims as the source of homophobia and bigotry more generally also functions to justify structural violence against the "homophobic Muslim" at the same time that it claims that such a figure is a threat to the neoliberal democracy. Findings include the examination of Iran's sociopolitics and the relationships between contemporary LGBT folks and their Muslim families. Further research is necessary to establish a clear relationship both between the "homophobic Muslim" fiction and real, material violence committed against Muslim individuals, and between the imposition of Western heteropatriarchal systems around the world and the persistence of bigoted attitudes towards homosexuality in imperialized regions, while white spaces increasingly claim to be moving in "progressive," liberal directions.