COVER
where I come from. In all of the south Asian
countries, including Pakistan, transgender people
have equal rights in law, whereas being lesbian, gay
or bisexual is illegal.
If I’m in a taxi and it’s a Muslim man – and
he knows exactly who I am, they don’t bat an eyelid.
They treat me with such respect, opening doors for
me and what not. There really is a different
connotation for drag queens or transgender people
- transgender women in particular in Muslim
communities and I’ve never quite sussed out why
that is. If I was do the same as a gay man, god, I’d
get boll*cked left right and centre, but I’ve such
power as a drag queen.
JH: So you’re quite new to the scene and
you’ve come in with a high profile and a
story. How has the drag community
accepted you?
AL: So the first performance I ever did was in Drag
Idol 2011. I was performing in the burka and it
divided opinions. Half the people wanted to laugh,
and didn’t and half the people laughed because they
really got it. It really divided opinion as to whether
it was offensive or not and that’s really interesting.
JH: Do you think people are worried about
laughing at Muslim drag? Do you invite
people to laugh at you?
AL: Of course I want people to laugh at me, I’m a
boy in a dress wearing a burka! I think people are
scared to laugh, but I think people want to laugh,
because in Britain we’re so politically correct, but
that’s the whole point. I’m a drag queen. That’s
pushing a boundary.
JH: Religion is one of the last big debates of
our time. It seems impossible to have a truly
honest conversation about it. Often it’s
disguised as thinly veil racism, but honest
questions about religion can be shot down
straight away as racism, when in reality it’s
an honest question… Will that change
having a drag queen orchestrating the
discussion?
AL: You’re talking about the right to offend and the
right to be offensive. We live in a free democracy
and we should have that right. When it does come
to certain platforms, especially on television, I think
British white people are scared of saying the wrong
things, because they’re scared of offending. I really
hate the fact that we live in that world, that we’re
worrying about whether to say the right thing or
not, because actually what makes me comfortable
as a Muslim drag is my British side. I can use my
dry British humour to wear the burka or poke fun or
have a parody over it. I’m quite sad we live in such a
politically correct era, where we can’t actually take
the micky out of each other. The reason why I take
the micky out of my religion is because I’m
comfortable with it.
JH: During the documentary you looked
extremely uncomfortable when the younger
drag queen, Ibrahim, said prayers in West 5,
a gay bar in West London. I was surprised by
your reaction to it, you were very
disapproving of his actions, were you very
uncomfortable with his decision to pray in a
place that serves alcohol?
AL: I wasn’t uncomfortable with him praying, I was
uncomfortable being asked to pray in a pub setting.
When I saw that in the final cut, I was asked
whether I wanted that scene to remain like that in
the final edit. I actually said yes. The reality is that I
don’t know, I’m just a human being and I really
want to show the world my vulnerability and my
human side. I don’t always have the right answers.
What’s right for him isn’t right for me and visa
versa, but actually what you didn’t see after he
prayed, we had a discussion about it and actually he
pushed my boundary that day. I was very grateful to
him because I said to him that actually, if you ask
me again tomorrow I’d probably would pray in the
pub. You’ve got to understand that there’s no right
and wrong. Everyday you are confronted with
situations in life where the two identities, being gay
and Muslim literally come head on.
JH: Did you feel a pressure, because you
knew you were being filmed and had you
prayed would it have given your haters even
more ammunition to use against you?
AL: I was aware that I was being filmed, but
throughout the documentary I was just myself. I
didn’t want to filter anything and pander to one
part of the community and pander to the other. I
think Ibrahim represents the new age of, I was
about to say gay Asians but actually I think the new
age of gay people, this fearlessness to just be
THEGAYUK | ISSUE 16 | NOV 2015 85