Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East

It’s hard to assign a star-rating to this book – could be three stars, or it could be five, depending on the reader.

The subtitle (Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East) misled me. Because the author is an English journalist working for The Guardian, and because the publisher in North America

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is University of California Press, I expected something sociological, perhaps a series of interviews or composite portraits based on interviews; in short, a book aimed at non-Muslim Westerners.

Instead, the book appears to be aimed mostly at Muslims grappling with the challenge of their own sexualities, and beyond them, at Muslim people in general. A comparable title in Western culture might be John J. McNeill’s [[The Church and the Homosexual]].

As such, Unspeakable Love outlines the examination by progressive theologians of Islamic teaching on minority sexualities as they challenge traditional teaching. It is clear that this process has only just begun.

The situation for gays and lesbians in many Muslim countries is very grim. The handful of individuals whose stories are recounted confirms this. As a non-Muslim Canadian, I would have liked a lot more of this kind of information; and it is perhaps significant that the author had access to so few first-hand stories. Speaking for myself, then, I would give the book three stars.

For gays and lesbians struggling in hostile societies, Unspeakable Love could be very important. By simply showing that there is room for a legitimate debate around the acceptance sexual minorities in Islamic culture, the book could save lives. For that audience, the book rates five stars. How many people will have access to it in the countries where it most needs to be read is another matter altogether.

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