Democrats say its ok for muslims to discriminate against gays

When Muslim and Christian parents lined up at a Jersey City meeting nearly four years ago to decry a new LGBTQ curriculum, their joint protest offered a glimpse of a larger conflict to come. Today, clashes have erupted in school districts across America over LGBTQ education, pitting advocates calling for greater inclusion against groups who say the lessons violate their religious beliefs.

In this battle, many Muslims and conservative Christians — once unlikely allies — are working on the same side in a fight that political insiders say could push more Muslims to vote Republican in upcoming elections. For some voters, that could mean aligning with a right wing that has ostracized them, calling for them to be banned from entry to the U.

Not everyone sees it that way. Some Muslims believe their values align more closely with Republicans, and those faith-based values transcend political allegiance, said Omar Mohammedi, an attorney and president of the Al Falah Center, a mosque in Bridgewater. Rising Islamophobia and immigration bans pushed them further toward Democrats.

At social gatherings, in groups and in talks with community and religious leaders, Muslims are raising an alarm about LGTBQ policies they say infringe on their religious parental rights. They are swapping advice on how to approach schools to ask about opting out of lessons.

Democrats accept you because you are different. Kayed believes lessons about sexuality and gender do not belong in the classroom and that parents should be able to opt out.

Will LGBTQ curriculum push Muslims, like conservative Christians, toward Republican Party?

They are a minority in a larger conservative movement that has launched protests, lawsuits and political campaigns pushing back against what they say is youth indoctrination of LGBTQ values. Advocates say LGBTQ-inclusive education helps all students to feel welcome and safe and can reduce stigma and bullying they often face.

Parents' rights should not usurp the rights of other groups, including gay and transgender students, they say. The glut of information coming from schools, advocates and right-wing groups about LGBTQ lessons, state standards and opt-out rights has prompted questions and confusion.

In New Jersey, several mosques have held lectures and forums to address the topic. What is happening in New Jersey is coming down hard on people of faith. In May, more than Islamic scholars and clergy members issued a joint statement on the matter called Navigating Differences: Clarifying Sexual and Gender Ethics to address the issue.

They wrote that sexual relations are permitted only within marriage and that same-sex relations were forbidden in Islam. In a Pew Research survey, about half of U. Muslims who were younger, female and born in the U. Afsheen Shamsi, a Princeton resident active in Democratic politics, called in an opinion column for inclusion of LGBTQ people, as an extension of justice and compassion promoted in Islam.

With the high rate of suicide of LGBTQ teens, it is incumbent on us to protect the sanctity of human life. She said she was speaking in a personal capacity and not as the representative of any organization. Some Muslims tend to be socially conservative and place high importance on chastity and modesty.

They may be uncomfortable with any discussion of sexuality in the classroom and believe sexual relations are not permitted before marriage. Parents sought opt-outs from sex education, also called family life, well before the debate on LGBTQ education entered the public sphere.

New Jersey law permits parents to opt their child out of sex education at school. Still, some Muslims are reluctant to vote for a party whose members have alienated their communities over decades with policy and rhetoric viewed as hostile. Some of the same groups now rallying against LGBTQ education have also pushed the conspiracy theory that Muslims are trying to infiltrate American institutions to impose Shariah, or Islamic law.

The Pew Survey found that two-thirds of U.