QUEERING the "MOSQUE"

What does the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” have to do with LGBT rights? I am certainly in dispute with fundamental Islamic precepts on homosexuality, gender roles, and the rights of women. There have been several prominent cases in the recent past where local Islamic counsels and courts, or national governments in the Middle East, have revealed a total disregard for the rights of gay men, women accused of adultery, and young girls seeking an education. To say nothing of female children subjected to genital mutilation as part of indigenous local custom. But I hope we can agree that in this country, we hold sacrosanct the right to worship one's religion freely.

Apparently, not so much anymore. The sensitivities of those who lost loved ones on 9/11 demand that nothing mar the sacred space that is the last site of the 2,751 men, women, and children who died there. A mosque “in the shadow of” Ground Zero is, in the minds of some, a desecration of hallowed ground.

The arguments in support of the “mosque” do not hold the same emotional resonance as those above, and the right-wing punditry and politicians are happy to parlay the genuine heartache of surviving families into fundraising heaven.

The following facts don’t rouse the populace to defend the Constitution above all else: The mosque in question is both not a “mosque” and not at Ground Zero. It is an Islamic cultural center in which prayer space will be but a part of the entire complex with library and swimming pool.1 As for its being at Ground Zero, it is two blocks away. This means, at least in the densely packed neighborhood in question, that a vast number of other businesses will be closer to the hallowed ground over which people like Newt Gingrich cry crocodile tears. The men’s clothing emporium, Century 21, for example, will survey the quiet and ordered calm of the commemorative spot. Deep discounts on suits and underwear will beckon tourists on their way from moments of quiet contemplation. Surely there is a New York deli/bodega situated somewhere closer to the Ground Zero that developers took years to negotiate than will the Cordoba Center, as the proposed Islamic cultural center is named (although the more innocuous Park51 is now usurping even that nomenclature). "A bagel with cream cheese, thank you," and some young prospective titan of industry will be on his way to his hedge-fund company high in the sky of one of the office buildings on the perimeter of the sacred space.

Somehow, making money will easily co-exist with the spot on which a murderous band of Islamic fundamentalists killed citizens of many countries. Indeed, the majority of them were American--but some were also Muslim. And yet, the Cordoba Center near Ground Zero is the one “business” expected to be exempted from lots of real estate anywhere in the vicinity by those draped in the American flag. Thankfully, Mayor Mike Bloomberg has stood for first principles and defended the Islamic Center's construction on the site of a building the Landmarks Preservation Committee refused to designate a "landmark" just to satisfy obstructionists.

Here are just the first of the Center's "dangerous" stated goals:

Uphold respect for the diversity of expression and ideas between all people

Cultivate and embrace neighborly relations between all New Yorkers, fostering a spirit of civic participation and an awareness of common needs and opportunities

Encourage open discussion and dialogue on issues of relevance to New Yorkers, Americans and the
international reality of our interconnected planet

Revive the historic Muslim tradition of education, engagement and service, becoming a resource for
empowerment and advancement

Now, unless someone proves this is all just a front for planning the next terrorist attack in the Big Apple, we ought to be lauding, not slandering, their efforts at dialogue and establishing a moderating Islamic influence in the city where the worst face of Islam showed itself.

So, to return to this blogger’s basic question: what does any of this have to do with the LGBT community? Well, even the august Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has seen fit to side against the “mosque,” not out of any animus towards Muslims—indeed it has on many occasions forcefully spoken out against anti-Muslim prejudice--but out of a heightened sensitivity to those 9/11 survivors who have had their emotions manipulated by those making political hay over this matter. Said ADL’s National Director, Abe Foxman, "Their anguish entitles them to positions that others would categorize as irrational or bigoted.”

In other words, their irrationality and/or bigotry gets a free pass. Tell me, is there no way to square deep respect and sympathy for their anguish with the Bill of Right’s First Amendment?

Because if there isn’t a way to acknowledge their pain and yet say, despite this, that it is also our sacred duty to uphold the most essential founding principles of this nation, then guess what? The next time an LGBT center is being built in a part of this city or any other and some group of citizens is deeply offended that queers are to inhabit their turf, who will stand with us on the basis of our right to free expression? True, an LGBT center is not a house of worship, but planning to build one can raise all the same objections as the Cordoba Center has. Perhaps the LGBT center will be situated too close to a public school, too close to a Roman Catholic Church, too close to your Orthodox Jewish grandparents’ cemetery?

And don’t ya just love all those reptilian right-wing politicos who have taken such an interest in the uses of real estate in New York City, the city they were once happy to tell to go “Drop Dead” in the midst of our financial crisis of the 1970s? To them, we were the Gomorrah of the East Coast to San Francisco’s Sodom. It’s so nice to know they care. They really care.

1. The Cordoba Center’s website describes the facilities of The Community Center at Park51 as follows:

•outstanding recreation spaces and fitness facilities (swimming pool, gym, basketball court)
•a 500-seat auditorium
•a restaurant and culinary school
•cultural amenities including exhibitions
•education programs
•a library, reading room and art studios
•childcare services
•a mosque, intended to be run separately from Park51 but open to and accessible to all members, visitors and our New York community
•a September 11th memorial and quiet contemplation space, open to all