This leads to the identification of the two primary cultural/social institutions that show a traditional and an extreme resistance to the development of homosexual rights in Muslim societies: the state and the family. Hegel identified a close relationship between these two institutions, as the family establishes both the internal and external (i.e. social and sexual) roles of its members in a way that creates the basic social structure of the state -- but influence works both ways. It is not merely that the family creates the state, then, but that the state also influences the formation and form of the family. In other words, "the family is a universal institution which performs certain specific functions essential to society's survival" (Shifting the Center p. 7). The Islamic religion and Muslim society are in danger from homosexuality, according to many state governments and the religious hierarchy, so the family is invoked as a means of control.

The Issue of Family

One Afghani lesbian that Sharma interviews is positive that her family would kill her if they knew about her sexuality, and her fears are far from unjustified. It is almost certain that no one would be prosecuted for her death, either; her shame would be publicly known, and her family's shame (particularly her father's, the patriarch of the family) would be mitigated by her murder. This demonstrates how powerful the family is as a perpetuator of cultural traditions and values. Though the wider world is increasingly adopting homosexual rights, though perhaps slower than they ought, the general reaction from the Islamic religion and Islamic states around the world has been a reactive cracking down on such behaviors, through both familial and state intervention. Religion has even taken a back seat to the issues of social control, with morality mattering far less than power.

Though an outright murder would be a very explicit act of exerting power and control by a family over an individual member, the family also works in more subtle ways. Indoctrination...

18). As the issue of homosexuality has become increasingly politicized, the importance of the family in regards to either the support or the condemnation of such acts has also increased dramatically, and not with favorable results for many homosexuals living in the Muslim world.
Fear of murder is an extreme and explicit reason for keeping homosexual urges a secret from one's Muslim family; being ostracized and expelled form the family unit is another common reaction, especially for male members of the family. Because they are supposed to be the pillars of morality, strength, and power in the Muslim culture and Islamic religion's heavily patriarchal ideologies, homosexual men are seen as betrayers of their families, their religion, and even their state to some degree (in states with overtly Muslim leaderships). This creates a self-reinforcing system of a negative societal attitude towards homosexuals; they are seen as weak and then robbed of all power and position in their family and society, thus rendering the view of weakness completely correct. The expulsion from the family mirrors the outsider status that Muslim homosexuals must carry throughout their societies, and the two intertwined institutions collaborate to continue this ostracizing.

Conclusion

Strangely, functional equality often comes before political and personal equality. For instance, "marriage for same-sex couples in Canada came only after they...had received almost total legal parity with married couples" -- they earned the same rights as married partners before they were allowed to be married (Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage p. 112). The same trajectory might be followed in the Muslim world; as homosexual individuals and communities become more vocal and gain more recognition, political tides will eventually have to turn.