Acceptance, But Only on Our Terms: Hypocritical Liberal Outrage as Muslim-led US City Votes to Ban Pride Flags.

• The Muslim-led council of Hamtramck has voted to ban Pride flags

• Liberal backlash has highlighted clear flaws in the idea that Muslims can align with the Left

The city of Hamtramck, Michigan, is the only known Muslim-majority city in the United States. In November 2021, it elected an all-Muslim city council – another first for the country.

A cause for celebration by many liberals, who saw Hamtramck as a haven of diversity and ethnic minority power, it appears those same liberals are now learning the harsh truth – that while Muslims may fit nicely into the liberal ideology, the liberal ideology itself does not fit in with the Islamic one.

Former mayor, Karen Majewski, talked of a “sense of betrayal” when yesterday, Hamtramck council voted to ban Pride flags in the city. One twitter user commented, “Considering how supportive the LGBTQ community has been with Muslims in America this is indeed a betrayal. This alliance is over and good riddance,” and was promptly corrected in the comments by scores of Muslims stating they never asked for help or agreed to tow the LGBTQ line. Mayor Amer Ghalib responded to backlash by saying that tensions had been escalated initially by LGBTQ supporters who were “enforcing their ideology on others.”

Liberal outrage at the vote speaks of the false premise upon which liberal ideology bases its ‘tolerance’ and ‘inclusion’ – that acceptance of Muslims in society is conditional upon Muslims’ acceptance of homosexuality, transgenderism, feminism, and many other social ideologies touted by proponents of left-wing politics. It is clear the Left will accept Islam, but only a butchered form of Islam which bends to liberal ideology. Once this condition is not fulfilled, the façade of ‘inclusivity’ quickly falls apart. Muslims in Hamtramck, it seems, are not willing to play along with this slippery game of quid pro quo.

Muslims have realised they do not need to align with the Left in America, nor with the Right – the Muslim’s moral compass – its Furqan –is the Book of Allah. Indeed, Islamic ideology could be seen as left-leaning with regards to welfare, but right-leaning regarding family, gender and sexuality; it promotes neither pure democracy nor dictatorship, it endorses neither communism nor the absolute capitalism of the United States. As is characteristic of our religion, Islam follows a middle path – and as such, pandering to either side of the political spectrum will eventually lead to compromising our principles and beliefs.

Hamtramck, however, is not the only city to vote in this manner. Across America, various cities have recently voted to restrict or ban Pride flags, in what seems to be a surge of Republican-supported reform. The pendulum is still swinging, it seems, and the political clash between liberal and conservative ideologies regarding LGBTQ still rages on.