Dear Friend,

Last night, religious freedom won in Stafford County, Virginia. Following the lawsuit that we brought with co-counsel on behalf of the All Muslim Association of America, Inc. (AMAA), the Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted to repeal laws they had previously passed to block Muslims from building a cemetery.

Muslims in Virginia are finally on the path to having a place to bury their loved ones and we will continue to fight until their rights are fully secured. But many other Muslim communities still face discrimination.

In fact, bigoted opposition to Muslims burying their dead is a widespread, national civil rights issue.

Muslim communities in places like Walpole, MA and Allen County, IN, work hard to raise the funds to build a cemetery on land they own, only to face outrage from local residents and resistance from county officials.

In many cases, like in Newton County, GA and Chisago County, MN, residents are outwardly anti-Muslim — fearful of Muslims “taking over” their town or using the cemetery as an “ISIS training camp.” In the words of one resident: “you don’t want Muslims alive or dead in your neighborhood.”

In other cases, residents and city officials disguise their bigotry in concerns about “contamination” of groundwater or “wanting things to look nice” so people don’t “leave this area” — risks that other cemeteries don’t seem to pose.

We believe that Muslims deserve to bury their dead, like every other faith community.

That’s why Muslim Advocates will continue to leverage our legal expertise and public advocacy to defend the rights of Muslim communities all across the country facing this and other forms of discrimination.

If you have experienced or know of opposition to a Muslim cemetery, please let us know.

Thank you for joining us in this ongoing fight for religious freedom.

Matt Callahan
Senior Staff Attorney
Muslim Advocates