my very own khutba!

salaam all,

just wanted to tell you all about my experience today at juma.  as you know
i am running for election here for the ndp - a left wing social democratic
party.  this riding has a large muslim community.  today at juma, after
being disallowed to speak to the community as i had originally planned, i
had the experience of listening to an entire khutba dedicated to me,
explicating how the community should not support me.  it seems my support
for equal civil rights in canada, which includes equal marriage legislation
that allows for same-sex marriage, puts me outside the muslim community.

i grew up in this community, my parents built this community, and today is
the last day that i will ever go to the local mosque.  i can be flippant
about the complete stupidity of people who can't see that their own
protection as a minority community is intimately connected to the principle
of the protection of all people in canada.  however, i must admit that i am
utterly devastated.  this is excruciatingly painful and i have never in my
life felt more alone than i do today.  i have been receiving hate mail and
the local muslim community paper is planning to print all of the letters
they received in the next issue.  my parents are also being placed in the
middle of this and that is perhaps the worst part of it all.

itrath