Hollywood needs more queer Muslim stories—here are 5 to consider

Name a Muslim. Go ahead, call them out. Ramy Youssef! Yes. Hasan Minhaj - Yes! The stars of Hulu’s comedy series Deli Boys — Saagar Shaikh and Asif Ali. Any women? Malala! OK. Now name a gay Muslim. Anyone? Yes, Tan France is one. Yes, I’m one too. Yes, Tan France and I have the same hair. That’s not necessarily a gay Muslim thing. (Or maybe it is.)

But are you struggling to name anyone else? I mean, probably. It’s fine. Who cares? Wait. But is it fine? Should we care? I think, respectively, No and Hell, yes. I mean, we consume content at a truly alarming rate. Some of that content must feature queer Muslims, right? Well, less than 1 percent of speaking characters on television are Muslim, period. So maybe, 1 percent of that 1 percent are queer or trans?

More than that, research has shown that Muslims are one of the most negatively portrayed minorities in U.S. media. Most people nowadays get their news, politics, sports, truths, recipes, workout tips, and factual data from popular culture. Yes, that includes TV and film, but it's really Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, headlines (not articles), and memes (not books). So our opinions are formed based on little factual information about people, society, and the truth. Those opinions are shaping everything from the way we treat other humans to policy and law. Slight tangent here: At the Sundance Film Festival, I watched this incredible new doc, Heightened Scrutiny, from director Sam Feder. The film follows Chase Strangio, a brilliant trans lawyer who works for the American Civil Liberties Union, and his legal battle around the L.W. v. Skrmetti case.

The landmark case takes on Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, a law that threatens to codify discrimination and violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The film delves into how politicians, lawyers, and judges have used news articles, social media posts, and headlines as “fact” regarding a so-called dange” to trans adolescents who receive said care. All the misinformation is being used at the highest levels to hurt and endanger our communities.

So then how does that apply to Muslims? As a vilified and publicly maligned group in the U.S., we face danger every day. You may not think Muslims matter in your community, but they do. We do. Muslims make up over 25 percent of the world’s population. That's more than 2.1 billion people. And if there are that many of us in the world, you better believe some of us be gay. I mean, you probably know gay Muslims that you didn’t know were gay or Muslim. Or maybe you don’t know any of these stories from our collective global history at all. And let’s face it, it’s unlikely you’re gonna stumble upon them based on the job Hollywood has done so far. So I’ve taken it upon myself to be a guide, if you will. I’ve been doing it for everyone in my life for over 20 years. Why stop now? I will quit when we’re ahead.

My career as an actor, then writer, and now director and producer is dedicated to telling queer Muslim stories and to centering the experiences of my communities, often using comedy to connect us to audiences. But we need to move beyond comedy and beyond trauma to explore a new queer Muslim cinematic universe that spans all genres, demographics, platforms, and formats. What better time than Pride for my LGBTQ+ entertainment industry fam to get up to speed on some of the gayest Muslims in history? I think we should be writing about these sexy, powerful, brilliant people. I invite you to be inspired by these little pitches, and together, let’s make a TV show, fan fiction, romantasy, smut if you want, or a Hollywood epic.

A SHORT LIST OF QUEER MUSLIM IP AND CHARACTERS YOU SHOULD BE DEVELOPING: (disclaimer, I am not a historian, I’m a writer, filmmaker, and regular human inspired by the possibilities, romance, and drama of our people)

Abu Nawaz 756-814

Historical drama, erotic epic. A Persian poet in Baghdad in the court of Caliph Harun al-Rashid. Abu Nawaz wrote about wine, love, and pleasure — very homoerotic, very male-on-male gaze. His work was shared widely until the 20th century when countries and governments started burning his books. He may have drunk himself to death. There’s even a gay group named after him — the Abu Nawaz Association. Here’s an excerpt from a translated version of one of his poems, “A Boy’s Beauty”:

Slim-waisted, with a cheek so bright,
it shames the rose, outshines the light.
His curls like nightfall, lips like wine—
I drink his smile and call it mine.
If love for boys be sin, then yes—
in sin I live, and I confess.

Rumi (1207-1273) and Shams (1185-?)

I’m thinking something in the vein of Portrait of a Lady on Fire, In the Mood for Love, or The English Patient. It’s unequivocally one of the greatest love stories of all time, but we don’t know whether this love ever manifested in a physical relationship, but the love Rumi had for Shams was undeniable. When Rumi met Shams in 1244, their spiritual bond was so intense it reshaped Rumi’s life and poetry. Shams became not just Rumi’s teacher but his beloved mirror, awakening divine love within him. Their connection defied convention. It was so intimate and consuming, it stirred jealousy among Rumi’s followers. After Shams’s mysterious disappearance, Rumi mourned through ecstatic verse, referring to his very soul as Shams. Rumi’s greatest poems are love letters to Shams: “The moment I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.”

Suleiman the Magnificent 1495-1566

This has Game of Thrones written all over it. Born in Trabzon in what is now Turkey, he became the sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1520, unexpectedly inheriting the throne at 26. He’s depicted as the ruler of the world, someone to unite the East and West, the rightful inheritor of Rome. After his 46-year reign, he was deemed “magnificent” because of his military conquests, his legal policies, and cultural advancements in art and literature. And he was very close to an Albanian slave, Ibrahim.

Over the years, Suleiman gave him the highest titles including Grand Wazir, Governor General of South Eastern Europe. Suleiman even had a bed made next to him for Ibrahim in Topkapi Palace, now a museum. This palace was an all-male space that was supposed to house one adult male. But during Suleiman’s reign, there were two. He even made Ibrahim the Royal Falconer, for fuck’s sake. Eventually, Suleiman fell in love with and married a Ukrainian concubine, Roxlana (a.k.a. Hürrem Sultana). After their wedding, she had Ibrahim killed, perhaps out of jealousy. Clearly, this makes for an epic tale.

Umm Kulthum 1898-1975

She would be the center of our musical biopic meets musical drama. An Egyptian singer, songwriter, and actor, she married a man, and there’s no confirmation she was queer. But everything about her exuded queer icon. She surrounded herself with women, clutched a silk scarf during performances, and wore floor-length gowns. When she was younger, she’d dress as a boy to perform since singing in public was not allowed for girls. Her performances were legendary and could last over five hours. She had more nicknames than I have regular names. Those included "Star of the East," "Mother of the Arabs," "The Voice of Egypt," and “The Lady,” to name a few.

Muhsin Hendricks 1967-2025

This would be an RBG-esque documentary. Born in Cape Town, he was the world's first out gay imam. After studying Islamic theology in Karachi, he returned to South Africa, where he courageously came out in 1996, leading to his dismissal from religious teaching positions. In response, he founded the Inner Circle (later the Al-Fitrah Foundation), creating a supportive space for LGBTQ+ Muslims to reconcile their faith and identity. Hendricks's advocacy extended globally through workshops, interfaith dialogues, and appearances in documentaries like A Jihad for Love, promoting inclusive interpretations of Islamic texts. Tragically, on February 15, 2025, he was fatally shot and killed in South Africa.

Listen. You don’t have to wait till we’re dead to write about us or support our stories. There are lots of people who are alive right now whose work we should adapt for the screen — Like Samra Habib’s book We Have Always Been Here, Fatimah Asghar’s When We Were Sisters, or remember Tan France? He’s got an incredible memoir, Naturally Tan, about his life and childhood that I wish were a TV show. There's also Zaina Arafat’s incredible You Exist Too Much or Randa Jarrar. Just pick any one of her books like You, Me, and Mohammed Ali, A Map of Home, or Love Is an Ex-Country. There is no shortage of incredible, spellbinding stories by queer Muslims to repopulate our culture with the truth and the reality of who we are.

Fawzia Mirza is a filmmaker and actor whose work includes Signature Move. Her upcoming feature, The Queen of My Dreams, is a semi-autobiographical celebration of family and queerness starring Amrit Kaur (The Sex Lives of College Girls), Nimra Bucha (Ms. Marvel), and Hamza Haq (Transplant) that come out in theaters June 20.