Hot Gay News: Singapore bans documentary about gay muslims from film festival (April 11)

Singapore bans documentary about gay muslims from film festival

A Jihad for Love was filmed over five years and in nine languages by India-born and raised director Parvez Sharma who travelled the world from India to Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France to interview devout Muslims who are lesbian, gay or transgender to speak about their faith and their sexuality. In the film, a gay South African imam argues that homosexuality is not banned while another imam rebuts his view.

According to traditional interpretations of the Quran, homosexuality is strictly forbidden and officially carries the death penalty in some Muslim or Muslim dominant countries including Iran, Saudi-Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Mauritania, Sudan and Nigeria.

Three other documentaries were banned from the censors: Arabs And Terrorism and David The Tolhildan, were “disallowed on account of their sympathetic portrayal of organisations deemed terrorist organisations by many countries;” while Bakushi, a film on a Japanese form of sexual bondage involving elaborate rope patterns was disallowed because it “normalises unnatural fetishes and behaviour,”