Cockney Curry

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Happy to be gay
The first loud protest about the depiction of Asians and homosexuality in the British media came with the Channel 4 movie My Beautiful Launderette in 1985. The screenplay by Hanif Kureishi who went on to be nominated for an Oscar for this work told the story of a British Pakistani man who develops an intimate friendship with a racist white character played by Daniel Day-Lewis who was formerly involved with the National Front Party, the 1970s precursor to the British National Party.

Yet over 20 years later, the same level of controversy was sparked when last week Channel 4 showed a documentary on British Muslims who are gay. While most of those who agreed to be interviewed for the programme did so only on condition that their faces were not visible, the fact that the predominantly Pakistani-origin young men and women did so bravely has led to accusations of stereotyping.

The gay Muslims documentary revealed the secret lives and tortuous decisions that many faced in trying to reconcile their Islamic faith and the horror faced by their Asian families in contrast to the need for living a gay lifestyle in a British society which now recognises same-sex 8216;8216;marriages8217;8217;. Adnan, who is originally from Pakistan and has lived in London for the past eight years, was the only one who agreed to be fully identified and filmed face-on. One of the first Asian Muslim gay activists in the UK, he asks a Muslim scholar an American convert to Islam, Dr Scott Siraj, who specialises in interpretation of the Koran whether being gay is considered haram. He8217;s told that Islam is a beautiful religion which has the capacity to be all-inclusive. But the hijab-wearing spokesman for the pressure group Imaan, which campaigns for tolerance for Muslim gays, lesbians and transsexuals, sums it up for British Muslims: 8216;8216;The chances are that you are related to a gay Muslim. It8217;s just that you don8217;t know it.8217;8217;

Subcontinental gene
Off to City Hall, the home of the London Assembly, for the first Move Your Mind forum which has pulled in an assortment of British Asians to share their experiences of what it is to be British and originally from the Indian subcontinent. The brainchild of Saab cars8217; marketing director Parveen Batish, the evening kicked off with speeches from former England cricket skipper Nasser Hussain, restaurateur Zahid Kasim of the Cafe Lazeez chain, actress-writer Meera Syal and author Preeti Nair, followed by comments and questions from the floor of varied professionals.

For sheer tell-it-how-it-is-speak, Hussain was a breath of fresh air. Aware that some of it wasn8217;t going to be considered politically correct, he simply said that he considered himself English. Though proud of his half-Indian roots from his father8217;s side he was born in what was then Madras, he was even more pleased that it was his dad who had introduced him to cricket. And despite being such a positive role model, his most endearing feature was his modesty. 8216;8216;Well, I made it to England captain and then we were rubbish,8217;8217; he said self-deprecatingly. 8216;8216;I left and the team did well again!8217;8217; Let8217;s have more like him, actually.

Former editor of Shoo magazine, Robina Dam contributes to the London Evening Standard and the Sunday Times Magazine