David Introcaso is a healthcare policy consultant based in Washington DC.  He worked for then house majority leader Stenny Hoyer and at Department of Health and Human Services, and he has consulted for the American Heart Association, the American Public Health Association and United Health Group.  He has taught as a adjunct at the University of Chicago and at George Washington University.

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I was reading a piece called Unholy Alliance: Why Do Left-Wing Americans Support Right-Wing Muslims? by Yasmine Mohammed. She’s a former Muslim who, in her own words, ran away from the religious far-right world in which I was raised, and … made [her] way left towards values … like gender equality, free speech and LGBT rights.

And she continued,

Now, try to imagine the shock, betrayal and sadness I feel

seeing fellow liberals celebrating right-wing, conservative aspects of Islam.

On February 1, I was so upset over World Hijab Day that I spent the day in bed

with a migraine. Hijab Day? … Is there a Mormon underwear day? What about a

chastity belt day? I risked my life, and my daughter’s life, to escape from the

darkness into the light — only to find the light celebrating and fetishising

darkness.

That’s what she said, and I think she has a point. I know that

many Muslim women want to wear the hijab, and do so without harassment, but for

many others, it’s a symbol of oppression and submission. And, let’s be real

here, for many women, it’s a bit of both.

Now, I can sympathise with the feeling that women who don’t want

to leave the hijab behind, or don’t want to do that yet, they shouldn’t be

victimised, they shouldn’t be treated badly on that basis, and them wearing the

hijab shouldn’t be used as  a proxy, an

excuse for racist or ethnic victimization. So, yes, defend the right of people

to wear silly religious garb if they want to do that, and it doesn’t restrict

the rights of others.

But there is a whole world of difference between that and saying