File:CEMB Pride 2019 - Topless Imams of Perpetual Indulgence.webm

English: "On 6 July 2019, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain marched in Pride for London for the 3rd time as an organisation. Every year, we have stood in solidarity with ex-Muslim, Muslim and other LGBT murdered in countries under Sharia and also defended LGBT from minority communities here in Britain and elsewhere.

Our presence at Pride is hugely important to us because we have members who are LGBT and/or refugees who have fled countries where homosexuality is punishable by death. Many of the very same Islamic states that kill LGBT, also kill apostates and blasphemers. Our presence is, therefore, important because it aims not only to defend LGBT rights of ex-Muslims and Muslims but also to push open the shrinking space for doubt and dissent. Pride is one of the very few public spaces where we can come out, loud and proud – as LGBT and/or ex-Muslims - without fear of being killed.

This year, we marked the 40th anniversary of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a rebellion against the church’s religious morality, by marching as the Imams of Perpetual Indulgence. Instead of being the Councils for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice that terrorise people by enforcing Islamic morality codes with brute force in the countries we have fled from, we were the Committee for  the Promotion of Vice and the Prevention of Virtue.

Also, our imams were not the usual imams promoting death for thinking and loving freely but instead included dissenting topless women who subverted Islamic morality language by being Imams of Vice, Lust, Kofr, Zina. Instead of our fingers pointing upwards towards Allah, our fingers pointed downwards negating his existence…

Unsurprisingly, as in previous years, social media is full of threats and intimidation because of course as always apostasy and blasphemy are considered worse than murder. Some “Sheikh” has even called for a joint statement against us because apparently, he fears “the punishment of Allah will descend.” And as usual, we have been accused of “Islamophobia.”

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, let us reiterate that apostasy and blasphemy are not bigotry against people. Criticism of religion AND the religious-Right have always been an important part of the struggle for basic human rights and equality. Pride is still somewhat full of rebellions against not just the Christian-Right but also Christianity. So why not Islamism AND Islam? Why should God or Jesus be Queer or Gay but not Allah? Why shouldn’t we be able to poke fun at Islam without fearing for our lives?

CEMB will write further about these issues but there is one thing that must be said right away. To the many “progressive” Muslims who use the language of the oppressor and reiterate accusations of “Islamophobia” because we are “tarring the whole faith,” let us say this. It is your faith not ours. And until the day we can blaspheme and leave Islam without fear, we will continue to celebrate and normalise blasphemy and apostasy, which is also a basic human right like the right to one’s sexuality, opinion, religion or belief.

Sadly, what you “progressives” cannot seem to comprehend because of your narrow-minded identity politics is that our rights and lives are intrinsically linked. In societies where women are treated better so are LGBT, so are ex-Muslims...

LGBT Muslims cannot just defend their own rights whilst throwing ex-Muslims under a bus. To defend your rights, you must also defend ours. We have always defended the rights of Muslim LGBT even though we do not believe in Islam. We are still waiting and waiting and waiting... for you to do the same."