Here’s the UK’s first gay Muslim wedding

A gay male couple in the English town of Walsall have married in traditional Islamic attire, believed to be a first in the UK.

Jahed Choudhury, 24, and Sean Rogan, 19, who have been together for two years, tied the knot on 22 June, reported the Express and Star.

Choudhury, an openly-gay Muslim man of Bangladeshi decent, said he was ostracised for being gay while growing up.

“I stood out like a sore thumb – I never liked football, I preferred watching fashion shows on TV. I remember feeling trapped,” he explained.

Matters didn’t improve in high school. “It went all over school, people would spit on me, empty the rubbish bins on me, call me pig and the Muslim people would shout ‘harum’ – which is a very nasty insult in my language,” Choudhury told the newspaper.

He was also rejected by his Mosque and eventually tried to take his own life, shortly after which he met Rogan in a park.

“I’d not long overdosed and I was crying on a bench and Sean came over and asked if I was okay. He gave me hope at one of my lowest points and he’s stood by me all the way,” Choudhury said.

His family refused to attend the wedding, believing his homosexuality to be a “phase” or an illness that can be “cured”.

Choudhury said he hopes the marriage will inspire others: “I want to say to all people going through the same thing that it’s okay – we’re going to show the whole world that you can be gay and Muslim.”

The couple planned to honeymoon in Spain for a week.