Re: Same-sex Marriage
Isn’t worshipping some other deity other than Allah a bigger sin? Are you also concerned that Muslims having non-Muslim friends is going to threaten their “core religious beliefs”?
Good news is that gay-marriage or gay friends won’t turn anyone’s children gay. It might make them aware of all the diversity that the world has to offer. If they turn out to be gay, if won’t be because of the gays’ supposed secret agenda, it would be because they were born that way. Sexuality is a spectrum, not a rigid box and that means that yes, your children/siblings/cousins/friends may turn out to be gay and only thing your homophobia or lack of support for gay rights is going to ensure is they never finding it in themselves to live a freer life.
If you think more queer visibility or giving queers the same basic human rights that you have is going to make your children gay, then let me point this out to you that our societies are still overwhelmingly heteronormative, which still doesn’t make queer people straight.
Your religious beliefs are your own. Koran may or may not say that homosexuality is wrong. But it still does not mean that the larger world has to be framed according to your beliefs. Like I mentioned earlier, worshipping “false gods” is a bigger sin. Are you marching to get worshipping of other gods banned or are you over-looking that thinking of the basic human rights of those who are different from you? Gay marriage is the same. Your religion remains the same, but the ethical question remains unanswered, of whether you are willing to be complacent in denying a minority their rights because they happen to not follow the diktats of your respective religion?
And again, no one can turn anyone gay.