A Jihad for Love

Devotion and angst play equal roles in the lives of gay Muslims who struggle to remain devout members of a faith that decrees them deserving of being stoned to death. A JIHAD FOR LOVE chronicles the personal jihad, i.e. spiritual struggle, of gays and lesbians desperate to remain true to the faith they love yet forced to remain in the closet or emigrate from homelands including Egypt, India, and Iran, where they are hunted and imprisoned. The heart of the tragic dilemma is exposed in the film’s stark contrast between interviews with subjects including a gay South African imam, a Parisian lesbian couple, and gay Iranian men persecuted for attending a gay wedding, and the harsh dogmatic pronouncements by conservative clerics. In English, Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Urdu, and French with English subtitles

Movie opened in Chicago this past Friday and is screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center through Thursday. Click here for more info.