I studied the Qur’an carefully before I came out and know what it says about homosexuality. I told him that wouldn’t be possible either. He then said I should just remain celibate for the rest of my life. I told him that I couldn’t live a false life. When I sat down with the imam he told me that I should get married, have children and forget about how I was feeling. “They felt that they had done something wrong. “My parents are very conservative Muslims and it took a lot of courage for me to tell that I am gay,” he said. He admits that the hardest part was not jut telling his parents but also the imam of his local mosque in Southall, west London, where he was born and raised. Lahore, 31, who prefers to be known by his stage name, is from a Pakistani-Muslim background and came out to his family five years ago. They claim that there are two issues in particular that place extra pressure on them when coming to terms with their sexuality: religion and culture. It’s not as bad as you may think.”Īsifa Lahore has become the most visible symbol of a growing confidence among gay British Asians who are increasingly finding a place and a voice within their families and communities. “Club Kali is a place for us to have fun and celebrate our sexuality, not get together and share our so-called suffering as gay British Asians, because the truth is that we are not suffering.
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“He didn’t want to socialise too much and become a part of the scene, but that’s OK, because there are many gay Asians like that. “I saw him from time to time and only got to know him a little bit,” says Kay, a Club Kali regular. Dewani appears to have been an occasional visitor to Club Kali but is not thought to have been an established part of the London Asian gay scene. While the judge has now ruled that Dewani’s sexuality is irrelevant to the murder charge he is facing, the global media frenzy surrounding the case has focused attention on how British Asians reconcile being gay or bisexual with their culture and religion. “I have had sexual interaction with both males and females,” he admitted. On the first day of the hearing, he revealed in a statement read out by his lawyer that he was bisexual.
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#BLACK GAY MEN KISSING TRIAL#
The trial of Shrien Dewani, the British businessman accused of arranging his wife’s murder while on honeymoon in South Africa in November 2010, has stirred widespread debate and mixed emotions within Britain’s Asian gay community.ĭewani’s sexuality has been a prominent feature of the Cape Town trial so far. It is not just the eye-catching entertainment provided by Lahore, however, that is the main talking point of the night: events thousands of miles away in South Africa are also providing a rich source of conversation.
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Many are dressed in dazzling traditional clothing, kissing and hugging as they gyrate on the dance floor, creating a surreal atmosphere that is a cross between a student night and a lavish Indian wedding. It is Friday night in Club Kali, and a crowd made up almost exclusively of Asian gay and bisexual men and women is letting its hair down.