'Bizarre gender ideology' of Democrats could push Muslims towards Trump

Washington, DC — Even as Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and the complicity of the Democratic Party are heavily influencing the choices of many Arab and Muslim American voters in the US election, some community members are turning to the Republican Party for a different reason — "gender ideology" and "indoctrination" of school children.

Many Muslim voters TRT World spoke to said they are finding it hard to compromise their Islamic values with the "bizarre gender ideology" being pushed by the Democrats and "confronted" by the Republicans and their leader Donald Trump.

"This is definitely more than a (Gaza) protest vote," Nagi Almudeghi, a 50-year-old IT professional in swing state Michigan, told TRT World. "Many people in our community are sick and tired of the Democratic Party. This is not the same party that my father belonged to in the 1980s & 90s."

Almudeghi said the party doesn't reflect the traditional values of most Muslim and Arab Americans, stressing "it has veered far left".

"Today, it is the party that celebrates unfettered abortion, corporate elitism, endless wars, and bizarre gender ideology. The party that constantly berated Americans to 'follow the science' believes 'gender is fluid'".

TRT World has previously touched on this subject in a digital series "True Colours" that explores the untold stories of those who have been affected by the spread of "gender ideology."

GOP finds support among Muslims

Many Muslim Americans supported Democrats in 2020 following a chaotic four years of Trump rule that saw the rise in anti-Muslim sentiments, Islamophobia and the widely criticised "Muslim ban".

Many Muslims still remember Trump's 2017 order that limited entry into the US from six Muslim-majority nations.

But with Israel using American weapons to carry out carnage after carnage in Gaza and now in Lebanon, many Muslim voters are abandoning the Democrats and shifting their loyalty toward either Trump or third-party candidates such as Jill Stein and Cornel West.

The Grand Old Party (or the GOP) is also making inroads into the Muslim areas with its message of religious liberty and protection of family values.

According to most schools of thought in Islam, abortion, while generally not preferred, can only take place under very certain conditions. Sex change, however, is totally forbidden.

The Democrats have always struggled to remain on the same page on this issue with their Muslim allies, the most conservative in the party.

In 2022, Muslim parents in Maryland and Michigan states were shocked to learn that their respective school districts changed the curriculum to not inform parents about the books being taught to their kids.

Many parents were shocked to learn that some of the school books contained sexually explicit content.

The changes included the addition of books about "sexual and gender identity" and were to be taught to children as young as pre-kindergarten up to grade 8.

Muslim parents protested against the decision and demanded their kids be left alone, urging the district to bring back the opt-out option, which sends a notification to all students’ homes, and the child only returns the signed form if their parent/guardian does not want them to participate in the curriculum.

And the controversial gender-change therapies have come under the spotlight at a time when there's a push by concerned parents against the normalisation of homosexual relationship discussions in schools.

Parents and medical practitioners in many countries are raising concerns about complicated and unproven medical interventions administered to minors.

There are some 3.5 million Muslims in the US, and in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, eligible Muslim voters can tip the balance.

The Republican Party knows it and has been wooing Muslims who have found common ground with the GOP and Trump on gender debates.

In his October 26 rally in Michigan, Trump raised the issue, saying Muslims "are not into the transgender operations."

During his rally in Virginia state on November 2, Trump pledged, "We will… stop the indoctrination of your children, and we will not let them try to change your kids' gender."

'The pendulum is swinging'

"Parents don't want their kids exposed to gender ideology and they definitely don't want them making life-altering decisions when it comes to their bodies," Omar Shajira, a 30-year-old prosecutor from Michigan, told TRT World. "It's an ideology our faith rejects."

"The Democrats have forgotten how impressionable children are. We cannot remove the parental framework. It's what supports a strong nuclear family," he added.

Shajira said Muslim communities have realised that the conservative values of Republicans "are actually the values that we align ourselves with as people of faith," but also stressed that the Republican Party's conservative values and the MAGA movement are distinct.

"Does the Democratic Party actually vouch for us? Do they represent us? Are they here to help us?" he said.

"Their (Democrats) track record speaks for itself, and that's no."

A Yemeni American activist, Samra Luqman, told TRT World that there is no doubt Gaza is the main drive of the shift towards the Republicans among some Muslim Americans, "but preserving conservative values is another reason."

"The genocide is invariably the leading cause of the massive movement towards Republicans that could have previously been seen as a one-off," Luqman said, adding that the shift "is both based on conservative values and the concept of punishing democrats."

Shajira said that people have become more educated about the "gender ideology" issue that affects them, which is something the Democrats not only aren’t helping with, but actually feeding into it.

"It is most definitely now a trend to show that the pendulum is swinging, and not just a one-issue movement," Luqman added.