A French-Algerian homosexual man is planning to open a
‘mosque for gays’ in France and hopes to eventually conduct same-sex Muslim
marriages.
Mohammed
Ludovic Lütfi Zahed, an Algerian Muslim living in Paris who is married to his
gay partner, hopes to open the doors by the end of the month. Mr Zahed says the
mosque, situated in a Buddhist chapel in Paris, will also break another Islamic
taboo by refusing to segregate women and men.
He said: ‘In normal mosques,
women have to sit in the back seats and wear a headscarf and gay men are afraid
of both verbal and physical aggression.
‘After performing the Hajj, I
realized that a mosque for gays was a must for gay Muslims who want to perform
their prayers.’
Zahed is married to Qiyam
al-Din, a South African man. The pair wed in South Africa, where same-sex
marriage is legal, and their marriage was approved by an imam in France, but
was not recognised by the previous government.
Gay marriage has bitterly
divided France.
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