Coping with religious and cultural homophobia: emotion and narratives of identity threat from British Muslim gay men

This chapter focuses upon the narratives of British Muslim gay men (BMGM). It argues that some ethnic and religious minority non-heterosexual men reject the sexual category gay due to its White' connotations. The chapter begins with an overview of identity process theory, a socio-psychological theory of identity construction, threat and coping, and the conceptual inter-relations between religious/cultural homophobia, identity and emotion among BMGM. There was a concern with the socio-psychological strategies manifested in order to cope with such religious and cultural homophobia. The chapter concerns participants' responses to religious and cultural homophobia with identity threat and emotion as central foci. It describes a novel contribution to research and theory by exploring how homophobic ideas and representations associated with religious and cultural group memberships may affect the self-concept and induce particular emotional experiences among BMGM.