Hijab Butch Blues is the memoir of a Queer Muslim woman writing under the pen name Lamya H. I majored in middle eastern history when I was in college. I’ve been wanting to read this memoir for a while now. I’m glad that I finally picked it up.
I appreciated being invited into Lamya’s writing as she shared her personal journey through her faith and coming into her identity as a queer person and a person of faith. Those two identities are not always compatible and sometimes are a recipe for misery, oppression, and self hatred. I don’t especially consider myself a person of faith, although I do sort of identify as a witch. I think this book was a fantastic example of how faith can exist alongside queerness and be a source of joy and comfort instead of a tool of oppression. I think Islam is hugely misunderstood by most American as we conveniently ignore all the violence done in the name of Christianity and the massive shared roots that Islam and Christianity and Judaism all share.
I loved getting to see how Lamya came to understand herself and where she fit into the world. My heart breaks for the fact that she can’t be as completely open with her family about her queerness in the way that my intersectional privileges have allowed me to be with mine. There’s a definite push in America for queer folks to always come out to their families and that they must live “openly and authentically” or else they’re doing queerness wrong. And that is a shitty and dangerous narrative to express, especially to younger queer folks and queer people of color.
Pick up this book to learn more about our queer Muslim community and to maybe learn to be a better ally to them as well.