As a Muslim clinical psychologist, I have the privilege of witnessing a side of the Muslim lived experience that many family members, colleagues, and friends do not get to see - the isolation felt when someone cannot live authentically because they are queer. The Purple Check Mark Project is of the utmost importance to the mental health of a marginalized community within a marginalized community - queer Muslims. We created the Purple Check Mark Project to bring queer affirming Muslim mental health providers to the community so that queer Muslims have one less barrier to face in their search for mental health care.
After we launched the project however, I was reminded of another harsh reality of living in the United States as a Muslim, one that I live along with my Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, Arab, and Asian colleagues. The reality is that we as Muslim mental health providers are also a marginalized community. This means that, as we see again and again, one marginalized community is helping to heal another marginalized community without adequate support from the dominant community. Muslim mental health providers living in a post 9/11 world (should they choose to “out” themselves as Muslim) often face discrimination and a loss of income and find themselves helping disadvantaged communities who cannot afford their full fee services. The Purple Check Mark team quickly realized that the mental health providers we are targeting to help the queer Muslim community are not the population to ask for funding. We are already giving more for less every day.
It is for this reason that we did away with a set application fee and are instead asking you for a donation to help support this effort. The global Muslim community is already severely under-resourced when it comes to culturally competent mental health care. Queer Muslims suffer uniquely, and their pain is amplified in the search for a Muslim mental health provider that affirms their queer identity - because they are unfortunately rare.
If you have the capacity I encourage you to make a donation to Muslims for Progressive Values' Purple Check Mark Program or General Fund.
