Faisal Alam

{{short description|Gay Pakistani American}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Faisal Alam

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| birth_place = Washington D.C., United States

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| nationality = American

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| known_for = Founded the Al-Fatiha Foundation

| occupation = Speaker, Writer, Activist

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Faisal Alam is a gay Pakistani American man who founded the Al-Fatiha Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing the cause of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Muslims.{{cite web|url=http://www.lgbtran.org/Profile.asp?A=D&ID=13|title=Faisal Alam Profile|date=2006-07-18|work=The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Religious Archives Network|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416142747/http://www.lgbtran.org/Profile.aspx?A=D&ID=13|archive-date=2008-04-16|accessdate=2006-12-21}}

Alam arrived in the United States from Pakistan in 1987, at the age of ten, and resided in the rural middle-class town of Ellington, Connecticut. In 1997, he started an email listserv for LGBT Muslims that led to the founding of Al-Fatiha in 1998.{{cite web|url=http://www.wolfmanproductions.com/faisal.html|title=Hidden Voices - The Lives of Queer Muslims|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230180002/http://www.wolfmanproductions.com/faisal.html|archive-date=2006-12-30|work=Wolfman Productions|access-date=December 21, 2006}} He served as its President from 1998 until stepping down in 2004.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/2004aug/1401.htm|title=Faisal Alam Steps Down As President of Al-Fatiha|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930202010/http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/2004aug/1401.htm|archive-date=2007-09-30|work=UK Gay News|date=August 14, 2004|access-date=December 21, 2006}} In 2011, Alam and other LGBTQ Muslim activists were invited by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to form a Queer Muslim Working Group to evaluate the needs of the LGBTQ Muslim community. Alam was instrumental in bringing together a diverse group of seasoned leaders to undertake this project. In 2013, the Queer Muslim Working Group launched a new organization: the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD).{{cite web|url=http://www.muslimalliance.org/|title=The MASGD|access-date=2014-01-07|archive-date=2014-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805082228/http://www.muslimalliance.org/|url-status=usurped}}

He is a former member of the Advisory Committee of the LGBT Program at Human Rights Watch.