LGBT activists have coined the term “conversion therapy“, or “gay conversion therapy”. This term is thought to include everything from a conversation between client and counsellor in exploring same sex attraction to extreme practices like corrective rape and treatments like lobotomies and electroshock therapy.
Certainly there is truth in stories where individuals have been given ill advice or even forced, in our own Muslim communities where people have led to believe that prayer alone can “cure” them. Other cases include of Muslims being forced into marriages or some thinking they are influenced by jinn. These practices can be damaging for such Muslims that then feel they were given false promises and are coerced beyond their own will.
Strong Support denounces such practices, we instead, respect individual determination, where the individual themselves, without coercion from an external party (parents, community, culture etc.), would like to explore their same sex lust and find support to understand conflicting desires with their faith.
Strong Support believes:
- there is no such thing as a sexual identity in Islam, we do not encourage people to identify as “straight”, “bisexual” etc., instead we ask to come out of this box, and if we choose to identify, to identify as Muslims alone or God-centric (with Taqwa). We may identify as Muslims who experience (or at some point experienced) same sex lust, just as other Muslims may experience other attractions.
- terms such as “normal” sexuality or a heterosexual normal can be deeply offensive to Muslims who experience same sex attractions. We uphold that our sexual attractions were not a choice, however, we choose on how we act on those attractions.
- false promises of an increase in opposite sex attractions or a decrease in same sex attractions are harmful. While some of us may have experience either of both of these, we respect that every individual is different and our experiences are different and promising a state of being is counter-productive.
- we respect religious freedom of Muslims in their journey as they explore their own unique journeys addressing their same sex lust, without judgement
- we respect freedom of Muslims to access counselling and support or therapy which is inline with their faith goals
- we believe people come to seek support from their own free-will, that’s why we don’t take on referrals from family members or friends and instead ask that the individual asks for support directly and we then confirm this during our initial consultation.
We have found that Muslims come to us for support for unwanted same sex lust because:
- our core being and authentic nafs wanted a life away from same sex lust
- there was a conflict between our desires and our understanding of Islam and we wanted to be God-centric rather than desire-centric
- we wanted to explore our potential for an Islamic marriage or seek support in our marriages
- we wanted to explore sexual sobriety and chastity
- we in the past embraced the LGBTQ identity, however it not longer proved to be an identity for us, as it did not fulfil the needs we were looking for
- counselling or literature around same sex lust resonated with our experience, yet what we really wanted instead of sexual enactment was emotional connection, affection, affirmation and support. Something we may have not experienced before due to our history of past trauma and abuse
- we wanted a deeper connection with Allah (swt), to find contentment, which was above our carnal desires