Ms Lahore rose to fame in Channel 4’s Muslim Drag Queens in 2015
Asifa Lahore, 34, has stated gay marriage - while strictly prohibited in Islam - is in fact more common then previously thought.
Billed as the first Islamic drag queen, Ms Lahore rose to fame in Channel 4’s Muslim Drag Queens in 2015.
But after 24-year-old Jahed Choudhuy claimed his marriage to San Rogan in Walsall last week was the first in the UK, Ms Lahore revealed it is more prevalent.
Despite wishing Mr Choudhry - who tried to commit suicide after receiving torrents of abuse - all the best in his new marriage, Ms Lahore revealed the LGBT community in Muslim culture was thriving and there have already been several marriages.
She said: “There are countless. In the last three years I’ve been to dozens [of] gay Muslim, same-sex marriages.
“I attended one last Thursday, of two gay British Bangladeshi guys.”
Ms Lahore, who comes from a Pakistani family but was raised in west London, said she believed gay Muslims were capitalising on the UK’s liberal laws surrounding marriage and civil partnerships.
Ms Lahore revealed the LGBT community in Muslim culture was thriving
She added: “In south Asian Muslim culture, marriage is very much a milestone.
“Even if you identify as LGBT, marriage plays a big part in your upbringing and your psyche and I think LGBT Muslims in Britain are taking real advantage of equal marriage.
“I’m glad this young boy has declared so openly about his marriage, but want him to know there have been others before him and will be many more.”
Ms Lahore, previously known as a man named Asif Quraish, is currently transitioning to become a woman.
But she revealed her own struggle with her sexuality and her family, who took her to the GP and an Imam in a bid to cure her.
And while her parents were more liberal than some, allowing her to have relationships with men so long as they were secret, they continued to arrange her marriage to a woman.
Ms Lahore rejected her family’s plan, instead entering in to a civil partnership
But Ms Lahore rejected her family’s plan, instead entering in to a civil partnership in 2009 with a man she would later wed when equal marriage became legalised.
The issue was still taboo within the culture, she said, with thousands of LGBT people in the Muslim faith too afraid to come out.
Ms Lahore said: “We live in a country where we now have access to equal rights and they should be exercised.
“Never feel like you’re on your own or that you’re the only one.
Ms Lahore comes from a Pakistani family but was raised in west London
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