Gay Muslim groups angry at club owner’s ‘boycott Muslims’ remarks
Two gay Muslim groups have spoken of their shock at a gay club owner’s comments on their religion and are calling for a boycott of his businesses.
Mark Ames, the owner of London-based bear nightclub XXL, apparently wrote on Facebook last Monday that he would boycott all shops and restaurants owned by Muslims and called them “scum”.
According to screengrabs of his account, he wrote: “From today i will be boycotting any shops, petrol stations restaurants or businesses i know are owned by Muslims this also includes holidays to muslim countries today see our death toll up to 300 so why the hell are we not just flying this scum back out to there beloved states and pull out and let them fight out there own issues! Funny thing is most of there parent’s would have used i am escaping the brutal rules of muslim society when they arrived on UK shores [sic].”
The comments were made after police were attacked at an anti-racist protest in east London on June 21st.
PinkNews.co.uk has been unable to make contact with Mr Ames but a Facebook group condemning his alleged comments has more than 350 members.
Ali Hili, the leader of Iraqi LGBT, accused him of “hate speech” and called for a boycott of his businesses.
Mr Hili said: “This is an attack on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Muslims and all those many many Muslims who do not supporting the extremists including those who have supported us. This is hate speech. It is exactly the same sort of language as that used against LGBT people and that stereotypes and brands LGBT people.”
“We should not tolerate this hatred directed at people on grounds of their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or any other factor. This shouldn’t be tolerated in the community,” he said.
Royston Ford, the secretary of LGBT Muslim support group Imaan, added that Mr Ames had descended into “gay shame”.
Writing on the Facebook account of gay novelist Paul Burston, he said: “Our view would be that Mr Ames, if he holds the views attributed to him, has shown himself to be a rather unpleasant, but unrepresentative example of the LGBT community in London and further afield.
“Whilst racist and Islamophobic views like this do exist amongst a minority of LGBT people (our members experience this sort of outburst and prejudice on the scene, but thankfully rarely) he is not representative of the majority of fair-minded and decent people.
“If Mr Ames chooses – whilst most of are preparing to celebrate the diversity of our communities in Pride 2010 – to descend into his own ‘gay shame’, then that is his loss. He is as representative of LGBT people as the drug-peddling, murdering gangsters of Afghanistan are representative of ordinary Muslims – whether gay, straight, in this country or elsewhere.
“Imaan and LGBT Muslims are preparing to celebrate Pride 2010 with our brothers and sisters of all communities, both in the parade and with events in London and in Bradford. We suggest Mr Ames is best ignored.”
