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Or sign-in if you have an account.Photo by Postmedia ArchivesThe greatest threat to LGBT rights in the West is not the “far right,” as some claim, but rather Islamism and insufficient emphasis on shared values. Yet, many progressives, including “queer” activists, refuse to acknowledge this reality and are inadvertently throwing gender and sexual minorities under the bus.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorIt should be intuitively obvious that when large numbers of immigrants arrive from largely homophobic countries, without being pressured to adopt Canadian values, they will often retain their homeland’s backwards prejudices. This is especially true if they live within ethnic ghettos that allow them to maintain parallel societies and resist integration.There is ample data substantiating this hypothesis throughout the West, with Canadian research going as far back as the mid 2000s. However, studies into immigrant and Muslim homophobia largely dried up after 2020, when it became increasingly taboo to raise these kinds of social critiques.This newsletter from NP Comment tackles the topics you care about. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againOne pioneering 2006 study, published by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, found that recent Canadian immigrants were 2.5 times more likely than native-born citizens to object to having homosexuals as neighbours (33.9 versus 13.3 per cent, respectively). Another 2019 poll conducted by Research Co. similarly found that, while 71 per cent of European-Canadians supported same sex marriage, approval was much lower among East Asians and South Asians (44 and 42 per cent, respectively).Meanwhile, a 2013 study published in Comparative Migration Studies, which analyzed polling data gathered two years earlier, found that, compared to the overall population, Muslim Canadians were three times less likely to support same-sex marriage (21 vs 63 per cent), and roughly four times more likely to oppose any recognition of same-sex relationships (47 vs 12 per cent).Another 2016 poll conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research found that only 36 per cent of Canadian Muslims believed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, while 43 per cent did not. For context: a 2013 poll conducted by the same institute found that 80 per cent of all Canadians believed society should accept homosexuality, with only 14 per cent opposed.More recently, Canada’s 2025 Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces found that support for gender nonconformity was noticeably lower among citizens who were foreign born, Arab, Black or Chinese.European and American researchers have discovered similar trends in their own regions.A 2016 poll by ICM Research infamously found that, within Britain, 52 per cent of Muslims believed that homosexuality should be illegal in the country — a shocking number, especially considering that only five per cent of the general population felt the same way.Another 2022 study, published in the International Journal of Intercultural Relations, examined data gathered from 18,058 students in four European countries (Germany, England, Sweden and the Netherlands) between 2010 and 2013. They concluded that ethnic minorities were more homophobic than general society, especially if they were Muslim.A 2021 study published by Migration Studies, another peer-reviewed academic journal, analyzed survey data from thousands of Norway’s secondary students in 2016, and found that homophobia was markedly higher among those with Middle Eastern or African parents, followed by those with Balkan parents. Almost a third of students with Pakistani parents believed that homosexuality is “never acceptable,” for example, while only 2.8 per cent of students with Norwegian parents felt similarly.In the United States, the 2025 American Values survey found that only 37 per cent of Muslim respondents supported same-sex marriage, as opposed to 65 per cent of the general population, suggesting that the chasm between attitudes has not closed in recent years.While some of these aforementioned studies found that immigrants and Muslims become more accepting of homosexuality over time, this was consistently described as a slow process that generally does not lead to an alignment with majoritarian values.The hostility many immigrants and Muslims feel towards LGBT people is neither an abstract nor trivial problem, because it occasionally leads to violence.The 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, wherein an American Islamist killed 49 people at a gay club, is considered a seminal example, even if some later disputed whether the assailant was driven by homophobia. Unfortunately, it appeared to mark the beginning of a trend.In 2022, an Iranian-born Norwegian man, described by police as a radical Islamist, committed a mass shooting at an Oslo gay bar, killing two and injuring 25 others. The next year, Austrian police arrested three Islamists who, having pledged loyalty to the Islamic State (IS), were plotting a jihadist attack against Vienna Pride. And then, in 2024, American officials warned that terrorists, instigated by IS, were possibly planning attacks on Pride events worldwide.Earlier this year, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that networks of young Muslim men — including many Islamic State sympathizers — have been fuelling a wave of anti-LGBT violence throughout the country. In at least 36 prosecuted cases, these individuals used dating apps to lure gay men into secluded areas, then brutally assaulted and humiliated them on camera.In 2024, Berlin’s police chief made international headlines when she cautioned gay people (and Jews) to “be vigilant” when traversing certain Arab-majority neighbourhoods, due to high levels of support for Islamist terror groups. In a recent Swiss news story, a gay couple explained that they were leaving Berlin, their home of several decades, due to growing Islamist hostility, and said that a local Muslim had told them: “It’s good that you’re leaving, Islam will soon rule here.”It’s clear that, when it comes to LGBT rights, integration efforts throughout the west need to be strengthened. This doesn’t mean that anyone should be coerced into accepting particularly contentious ideas (e.g. gender ideology), but it is reasonable to demand support for basic human rights — no misguided attachment to “multiculturalism” can negate this social responsibility or excuse barbarism.Further, there needs to be more research on immigrant- and Muslim-driven homophobia, especially given the lack of recent data in Canada. It cannot be taboo to discuss or investigate this problem, which cannot be addressed until it is properly understood.Unfortunately, many LGBT activists have chosen to remain wilfully blind, and have dismissed these concerns as “homonationalism.” The aforementioned surge in Australian assaults, for example, has been conspicuously ignored by major gay media outlets that otherwise cover hate crimes with great enthusiasm (especially those associated with Western conservative politics).For many progressives and gay activists, homophobia isn’t the worth discussing if the perpetrator does not fit their preferred profile.National Post Get the latest from Adam Zivo straight to your inbox Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.