ISLAM IS SO GAY

...OR RATHER, IT will be. The BBC's EastEnders will invoke the wrath of the Muslim community with a storyline depicting openly Muslim Syed Masood (Marc Elliott) kissing openly gay Christian Clarke (John Partridge). A recent Gallup poll found that Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance of homosexuality. Actor Marc Elliott told the BBC Asian Network, "I think EastEnders would be doing the programme a disservice if they didn't give a voice to various communities. I think that's really important because I think London is a very ethnically diverse multicultural place, and EastEnders has a job to reflect that in the storylines it gives people and the characters they have on board." The Muslim Public Affairs Committee isn't happy: "The Muslim community deserves a character that represents them to the wider public because Islamophobia is so great right now. There's a lack of understanding of Muslims already and I think EastEnders really lost an opportunity to present a normal friendly Muslim character to the British public." Well, it could be that Islamophobia is so high because of statements like that. That, and the blowing up trains. The MPAC clearly equates heterosexual with normal and friendly, and homosexual with abnormal and unfriendly. Presumably then, the September 11 hijackers were all homosexuals, since flying planes into buildings is a). abnormal, and b). unfriendly. EastEnders executive producer Diedrick Santer says, "Sometimes there's a danger of being too careful with black or Asian characters that we might go into territories that might offend. But it seems to me if we steer away from any controversy, they don't stand a chance of being a great EastEnders family - they'll just be in their kitchen unit making curries for years and years and that's not going to be very interesting." The story will start to unfold next month. ELSEWHERE - Gay Muslim story for EastEnders ELSEWHERE - Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance of homosexuality PREVIOUSLY - Boys Shouldn't Kiss PREVIOUSLY - EastEnders "All Black" Cast PREVIOUSLY - EastEnders: The Drinking Game