Wazina Zondon

Coming Out Muslim: Radical Acts of Love, the manifesto Wazina Zondon co-wrote, asserts the reconciliation of her religion and her sexuality. It’s the kind of healing she encourages in her students as a sexuality educator and trainer for almost 15 years. An Afghan raised in New York City, Zondon utilizes performance to communicate her experience, which she reminds readers is unique amid so many stories. “Remember that there is no singular LGBTQ narrative: if or when we choose to come out, how we express our gender, why we hold space for those in our lives who are on their journey to loving us in the best ways they know how,” she says. Living honestly and presently can be tough in a world that seems to so often work against those convictions, but strife is only a motivator for Zondon. “I am often overwhelmed by the onslaught of Islamophobic, xenophobic, sexist, and homophobic comments from within my communities and from non-Muslims, non-LGBTQI people. Their hate is also my fuel to continue to interrupt the narrative that being queer and Muslim are irreconcilable. To be able to affirm the existence, living, breathing, striving, and resilience of queer and non-queer Muslims is truly a gift.” —LK