Nur Warsame
{{Short description|Australian imam}}
Nur Warsame is a gay imam from Australia. He is a hafiz, i.e. one who has memorised the Quran; he is the second Victorian imam to earn this title.{{cite news |last1=Lattouf |first1=Antoinette |author-link=Antoinette Lattouf |title=The secret mosques opening their doors to gay Muslims |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-29/secret-mosques-doors-lgbti-muslims/7341142 |work=ABC News |date=28 April 2016}}
Warsame was born in Somalia{{cite news |last1=Abboud |first1=Patrick |title=Meet Australia's first openly gay Imam |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/article/meet-australias-first-openly-gay-imam/82bfxu2f4 |work=SBS News |date=14 July 2016}} and lived in Egypt and Canada as a child. He moved to Melbourne in Australia as a high school student, and has been an imam since 2003.
Previously married to a woman and with one daughter, Warsame came out as Australia's first gay imam in 2010,{{cite news |last1=Polianskaya |first1=Alina |title=A gay Imam hopes to open one of the first LGBT+ friendly mosques |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/gay-imam-muslim-lgbt-friendly-mosque-australia-melbourne-nur-warsame-a8151206.html |work=The Independent |date=10 January 2018}} and is the only gay imam in the country {{as of|2018|lc=y}}.{{cite book |last1=Glazzard |first1=Jonathan |last2=Bancroft |first2=Kate |title=Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Learners 11-18 Years |date=22 October 2018 |publisher=Critical Publishing |isbn=978-1-912508-15-0 |page=95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dZCCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA95}}
Since 2014, he has run the underground LGBT support group Marhaba ('welcome' in Arabic){{cite book |last1=Mohummadally |first1=Alyena |editor1-last=Pallotta-Chiarolli |editor1-first=Maria |editor-link=Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli |title=Living and Loving in Diversity: An anthology of Australian multicultural queer adventures |date=24 September 2018 |publisher=Wakefield Press |isbn=978-1-74305-595-3 |page=319 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFfYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA319 |chapter=Queer Muslims in Australia Yahoo! Group: A first in Australia}} and says he was ostracised by the Muslim community because of his sexual orientation, and intended to open Australia's first mosque which was open to the LGBT community.{{cite news |last1=Lattouf |first1=Antoinette |author-link=Antoinette Lattouf |title=Gay Imam hopes to open Australia's first LGBTI-friendly mosque |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-09/gay-imam-hopes-to-open-australias-first-lgbti-friendly-mosque/9310952 |work=ABC News |date=9 January 2018 |language=en-AU}} That year, he spoke at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.{{cite news |last1=Aslan |first1=Alice |title=Muslim activists promote acceptance of queer Muslims |url=https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/muslim-activists-promote-acceptance-queer-muslims |work=Green Left |issue=1171 |date=1 March 2018}}
== See also ==