Last Updated on April 24, 2024 by Kittredge Cherry
LGBTQ activists Xulhaz Mannan and Tanay Mojumdar were hacked to death for being “pioneers of practicing and promoting homosexuality in Bangladesh” on April 25, 2016 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The militant Islamist militant group Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for murder in the south Asian nation, calling it a “blessed attack.”
Xulhaz Mannan was editor of “Roopbaan,” Bangladesh’s first and only LGBTQ magazine, and also an employee of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Before that he worked for eight years as protocol specialist at the a U.S. Embassy. He tried to organize a Rainbow Rally for LGBT youths on April 14, the Bengali New Year, but was stopped by officials. His friend Tanay Mojumdar (also known as Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy) was a theater and TV actor who sometimes helped with publishing the magazine.
Roopban was launched in 2014 to promote greater acceptance of LGBTQ people in Bangladesh.
An Associated Press news report explained:
Mannan had written openly about the frustration of living “in the closet” as a gay man in Bangladesh, where homosexual relations are considered a crime. In a May 2014 blog, he said gays and lesbians in Bangladesh experience “A country where the predominant religions say you are a sinner, the law of the land says you are a criminal, the social norms say you are a pervert, the culture considers you as imported.”
Mannon and his friend were killed a gang who got into his apartment by posing as messengers. Witnesses reported that the attackers yelled “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”) as they left.
In August 2022, a Bangladesh anti-terrorism tribunal sentenced six Islamist militants to death for the killings.
Mannan and Mojumdar merge into a rainbow as they walk with their arms around each other in an image from the book “Heavenly Homos, Etc.: Queer Icons from LGBTQ Life, Religion, and History” by Jan Haen. He tells the whole story of their life, death and activism in the book.
Mannan was part of the USAID Mission’s Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance office. They posted tributes to him, including these words by his brother, Minhaz Mannan:
“Xulhaz didn’t die. I find his soul everywhere. He is still alive in the rivers and green fields of Bangladesh and here on the walls of USAID. Let us not allow his murderers to triumph. Let the perpetrators know that Xulhaz cannot be erased.”
The misuse of religion to condone murder adds to the tragedy of their deaths. All life, including LGBTQ lives, must be honored and protected as God intended.
The (sometimes violent) battle for LGBTQ rights continues around the world, even in places that rarely grab headlines. May these martyrs of the movement rest in power and never be forgotten!
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Related links:
International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA.org)
Al-Qaeda affiliate says it killed a gay rights activist and his friend in Bangladesh (Washington Post)
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Related books:
“Lotus Of Another Color: An Unfolding of the South Asian Gay and Lesbian Experience” by Rakesh Ratti (editor)
“Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures” by Gayatri Gopinath
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This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBTQ martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.
This article was originally published on Q Spirit in April 2017, was expanded with new material over time, and most recently updated on April 24, 2023.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.
May the All-Merciful Creator grant these two and all who follow their example, peace; may He also grant the Religious Haters, forgiveness. Ameinn.