Identity threat among British Muslim gay men

One of the most scandalous storylines of recent times on EastEnders, the long-running popular British television soap opera, involved Syed Masood, a young British Muslim character who identifies as Muslim and gay. In accordance with his religious identity, he is represented as feeling personally and socially obliged to marry his Muslim fiancée despite being gay and romantically involved with another male character in the soap. Unsurprisingly, given its controversial, ‘will he won’t he’ nature, the storyline proved popular among viewers.