Gay art depicting Jewish and Muslim same-sex couples goes viral
Illustrator Caleb created wonderful depictions of Jewish-Muslim same-sex couples (porkironandwine/twitter and twitter)
An illustrator has gone viral by creating gay art which depicts same-sex couples with one Jew and one Muslim.
Caleb, a self-described “brown trans guy” who wants to be a comic illustrator, has attracted more than 70,000 retweets and likes with the drawings—as well as abuse.
That didn’t stop him though, he said, tweeting: “I deleted this after receiving a lot of messages from strangers telling me that I deserved to die for being religious and LGBT, but I’ve decided to repost.”
Caleb reposted the drawings, saying: “I’m done being scared of homophobes” (porkironandwine/twitter)
The artist followed this up with a message of love rooted in the Torah and the Quran respectively, writing: “B’tezelem Elohim (In God’s image), and We were made in Pairs.”
Caleb targeted with abuse for creating religious gay art
Caleb also tweeted that “Twitter has done nothing to get rid of these abusive people after I reported them,” attaching screenshots of the abuse he has suffered for making gay art.
“I’m done being scared of homophobes,” he added.
This abuse included many tweets from people telling Caleb that they had asked God or Allah to punish him in horrific ways.
Caleb’s illustration of Muslim and Jewish women forming a lesbian couple (porkironandwine/twitter)
One hoped that “your legs are broken, may your crops disappear, may G-d cover your cities under the oceans.”
Another asked their god to “destroy your spinal fluid you’ll be disabled forever you filthy bastard delete that s**t right now.”
And one other particularly horrible post called for Allah to “bring down the equivalent of the Black Death, Ebola, cholera and dengue (HIV is already done) on these people who blaspheme, divide the peoples and make authorised what is blameworthy!”
Caleb praised for drawing religious gay art
However, the hatred was overwhelmed by a tidal wave of positive feedback about Caleb’s work.
Many of these messages were from people who saw themselves in the depictions, with one such commenter writing: “I love it. As a poc middle eastern lgtbq i really need it.”
Another said: “I’m Muslim and bisexual, pls don’t delete this. I really am glad to finally see something like this on my [timeline], it’s beautiful!! thank u <3.”
“THIS is beautiful. You are so brave for posting these.”
— @Dramaqueen_Jean about Caleb’s gay art
And a similar message read: “I’m Jewish and bi and I love this. It warms my heart to see religious LGBT content.”
Others simply showered Caleb with compliments for bringing joy and love onto their timelines.
“THIS is beautiful. You are so brave for posting these,” wrote on tweeter. “All the love to you Caleb .”
Another said: “I believe love should be appreciated in religion, no matter the gender.
“God gave us humans the ability to see, hear and taste, but also nourish the people we are closely bonded too.”
One person wrote: “If you can have a rich religious life and also understand that love is love, you deserve my most humble appreciation. Beautiful artwork.”
“It’s tough being the voice of change and receiving so much abuse. But you’re literally saving lives.”
— @LenaMano about Caleb’s gay art
Others urged him not to give up creating gay art involving religious couples, with one fan saying: “Your art is an inspiration and the fact that you’re religious and LGBT+ just shows that they can coexist.
“I’m learning a lot about your culture and how you view the world by your art. It’s hard to receive negative comments (I saw the bs they sent u) but keep going! Never give up!”
Another wrote: “It’s tough being the voice of change and receiving so much abuse. But you’re literally saving lives.
“Despite all the hate, you’re helping LGBT people who are Jewish or Muslim and letting them know it’s okay to be them and that they deserve love.”
