Shoaib Sultan asks Muslims to participate in gay parade

Oslo.Shoaib Sultan.Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

The Muslim MDG politician Shoaib Sultan believes Muslims should participate in the Oslo Pride to show solidarity after the terrorist attack against a gay nightclub in Orlando.

– I think it is important to highlight that we are against homophobia and that we can try to show this by attending the Oslo Pride parade. It’s important to respect that people make their own choices, says Sultan to the web paper Nettavisen.

The starting shot for the gay festival Oslo Pride goes during the Muslim month of fasting Ramadan. Many Muslims see homosexuality as a sin, but Sultan nevertheless hopes that more people will participate in the parade on June 25.

– I will not stand by and count how many Muslims I see, and it is perhaps not very many, but it’s okay. The start of it all start small, so get there and build up gradually, says Sultan and adds:

– In Ramadan wishes gladly focus on spirituality, and you have an internal focus. But it is also important to be aware of the society we live in.

Shoaib Sultan was the Green Party mayor in Oslo last year. In 2007, when he was secretary general of the Islamic Council of Norway, he stated that homosexuality is a sin because it is forbidden in the Koran, but later he has established that he does not believe that homosexuality is a sin.

MDG – (The environment party the Greens ) 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today