Image- Rainbow Family, Christmas Picnic

‘he is not a poof, he is my brother’

SEKNEH

So my story starts in my own backyard set in the south west of Sydney. Its foundation is the love I have for my brother.  My devotion to working with Sexuality, Sex and Gender Diverse Muslim youth was instigated by an incident on my brother’s 18^th birthday. On this day, my brother requested that we embark on a journey to his first “gay club” now that he was the legal age to enter. We spent hours getting ready choreographing some dance moves, sharing body glitter, hairspray, earrings…oh yeah and not to mention the request of where I waxed my brother! That night changed my life…no, no, not from the waxing images, but as we arrived at Oxford St and were in the queue patiently waiting to enter the club, a group of men approached us and slapped my brother and screamed:  “You all deserve this you poofs.” As I embraced my brothers face close to my heart and felt the trickling of his tears and his weeping on my chest. I hollered with a primal scream of pain… “WHY… he is not a poof, he is my brother!