zuleikha:

“Allah(swt) did not create women for the sake of wifehood or motherhood. This is not our first goal, nor our end goal. Our creation was to fulfill our first and most important role—to be His SLAVE.”

Very enlightening mashAllah, all my ladies need to read this.

longlineofquitters:

fyeaheasterneurope:

So we have two highly publicized, internationally reported incidents revolving around comments made by Albanian public officials regarding LGBT rights. Both comments were unexpected. However, in the case of the announcement by the Prime Minister three years ago, actual LGBT Albanians did not exist in the press coverage or in the eyes of the public. No activists came forward to thank the Prime Minister, there were no Albanian gay people in the media, and all public conversation was by ostensibly straight Albanians discussing the theoretical lives of gay Albanians. Today, to the surprise of the Albanian public, Albanian gay activists are stepping forward, showing their faces, and claiming their right to participate in the conversation about their lives.

What lies behind this remarkable and swift transformation? In 2009 fears about possible violence, discrimination, lack of acceptance, and, perhaps most importantly, the shame that it would cause family members meant that not one person in Albania would publicly acknowledge same-sex attraction. Today, there are LGBT activists openly protesting the homophobic and violent remarks of governmental officials. Young LGBT Albanians are giving presentations in college classrooms and going on television talk shows, educating students and the Albanian public about the realities of their lives. Leaders of LGBT organizations are speaking out in newspapers and on television. There is widespread publicity for the photo exhibit. What made it possible for such change to happen in three years, for these new activists to overcome the barriers to public action and dialogue?

A bit condescending in tone (a gay movement in Albania isn’t that unimaginable), but interesting nonetheless.

Ah yes, of course, in 2009 not one person was “out” in Albania, because this Mindy Michels, PhD obviously knows every single person in every single town and village in the entire fucking country of Albania.

Mindy Michels, Ph.D. recently returned from living and working in Albania for four years. I guess 4 years is enough to get to know the uh… *googling* 3 million people who live there. I applaud this woman on her social life.

ETA: There’s something strange going on here. Quote from a commenter: “The beginnings of a truly radical transformation in a very unexpected place.”.. Unexpected place? It’s Albania, for fuck’s sake, not the fucking Moon. What the hell do Americans think Albania is? I think I’m missing something here. And reading other comments it almost sounds like the author has sent “her people” to clap for her or something. Weird.

Or maybe I’m the only person who hates hearing this crap about the White American Saviour going to those ~backwards places~ to teach people how to fight for their own rights in their own fucking country, and then completely ignores anything that happened before their blessed arrival.