Attendees of march against LGBTQ education don't represent all Muslims, says professor
Qu'ran doesn’t condemn homosexuality, but misinformation abounds, says Syed Adnan Hussain
Some of the protesters at this week's march against LGBTQ-inclusive education in Halifax were noted to be wearing visible signs of their Muslim faith.
But Syed Adnan Hussain, an associate professor of religion at Saint Mary's University, says objecting to LGBTQ rights has little to do with core Islamic beliefs.
He says there's no explicit condemnation of homosexuality in the Qu'ran. He worries that many decided to participate based on rampant misinformation instead.
"I think there's a tendency to say, Islam rejects X, Y, or Z, but it does not," Hussain said.
The march that took place in Halifax and cities across the country on Wednesday was organized by a socially conservative group called 1 Million March 4 Children. The group doesn't want gender-identity issues taught or discussed in schools.
While the founder of the march, Kamel El-Cheikh, is a Muslim man who lives in Ottawa, those protesting came from a variety of different cultural backgrounds.
The protest was met by a counter-protest, which drew members of the LGBTQ community and its allies.
Hussain, whose research focuses on LGBTQ rights and Islam and the Canadian diaspora, spoke with Information Morning Nova Scotia on Friday.