Nemat Sadat at the National Pride March (also known as the Equality March for Unity and Pride) in Washington, D.C. (June 11, 2017). Photo by Elvert Barnes / CC-BY-SA-2.0.

Nemat Sadat (Persian: نعمت سادات) is an Afghan-American journalist, novelist, human rights activist, and former professor of political science at the American University of Afghanistan. Known for his debut novel The Carpet Weaver and his campaigning for LGBTQIA+ rights, particularly in the context of societal and cultural Islamic attitudes towards homosexuality in the Muslim world.^[1][2][3] Sadat is one of the first Afghans to have openly come out as gay and to campaign for LGBTQIA+ rights, gender freedom, and sexual liberty in Afghanistan.^[1][2]

He has degrees from California State University, Fullerton, University of California, Irvine, Harvard Extension School, Columbia University, and Oxford University.^[4]

Activism

In 2012, having secured the position of assistant professor in political science at the American University of Afghanistan, Sadat returned to Kabul.^[5] During his employment at the university, he used social media to mobilize an underground movement to openly campaign for LGBTQIA+ rights in Afghanistan.^[1][6]

In July 2013, his public outreach came to the attention of the Afghan government, which alleged that his activities were undermining Islam in the country and deemed him a threat to national security.^[7] Sadat was fired from his position at AUAF and he left Afghanistan, settling in New York City.^[8]

In August 2013, Nemat Sadat publicly announced his sexuality, becoming the first Afghanistan native to come out as gay.^[2] According to Sadat, he received several death threats including a fatwa issued against him by the mullahs of Afghanistan as a result.^[9] In October of the same year, Sadat faced a second wave of widespread hostility in Afghan media.^[5] Commenting on his LGBT activism in an interview for The Guardian in November 2013, Sadat said, "I am making a sacrifice, but I want Afghan youth to look at me and see that there are people who are Afghan and Muslim and gay. It will give them hope."^[10]

In June 2016, after the Orlando nightclub shooting, Nemat Sadat voiced his perspective as a U.S.-based, gay ex-Muslim who faced adversity for his sexuality and background. He made several TV appearances, including giving interviews for CNN's Christiane Amanpour,^[11] Amara Walker, and Don Lemon, as well as NBC News.^[12][13][14]

Later that same year, Sadat participated in BBC’s extended news feature on Afghanistan's LGBTQIA+ community,^[15] as well as taking part in a BBC Pashto debate on Islam and homosexuality.^[16]

Sadat took part in the National Pride March in 2017 in Washington, D.C., appearing on the cover on the Washington Blade^[17] and giving an interview for NPR.^[18]

Following the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021 to the Taliban in the Fall of Kabul, Sadat warned of the direct threat that gay men face under Taliban rule, appealing to the international community to speed the evacuation of vulnerable civilians.^[19]

Journalism

Sadat has published articles and papers in numerous publications, including the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs and Out Magazine.^[20] Prior to accepting the position at the American University of Afghanistan, he has also produced content for ABC News Nightline, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, and the UN Chronicle.^[21][22]

Publication

Penguin Random House India published Sadat’s first book, The Carpet Weaver, in 2019.^[23] The book is set in the 1970s and 1980’s Afghanistan and tells the story of Kanishka Nurzada, a young Afghan boy, who falls in forbidden love with his childhood male friend, Maihan, against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s golden age of paradise and the turbulent transition to civil war.^[24]

See also

• LGBT rights in Afghanistan

References