In my conversations with gay Muslim Americans this week, the resounding message was that Omar Mateen is no representative of the Muslim community—LGBTQ or otherwise. And they say the gun violence he perpetrated is a uniquely American problem that is homegrown, not imported. [...]
"When something like this happens in America, Islam becomes the main topic of discussion," Abdelhadi tells VICE. "The narrative was first that Mateen was a homophobe because of Islam. Now that we're told that he may have been secretly gay, the narrative has become that he was self-hating because of his Islam. They want to divorce Mateen from all the factors in American society that created him, but there is nothing foreign about Omar Mateen." [...]
"But that is true for all religious communities— Jewish and Christian alike," Abdelhadi explains. "We all have conversations about it and a range of opinions. The problem is that American media presents Islam and its people as a monolith: They validate the view that all Muslims are homophobic. That is simply not true."
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