‘The Radical’ introduces Muhsin Hendricks, the world’s first openly gay Imam

Four years in the making, The Radical offers up an intimate portrait of Muhsin Hendricks, a Capetonian former dress designer who came out in 1996 and became the world’s first openly gay Imam.

Today, even under the threat of death, he leads a devoted group of queer Muslims through the Al-Ghurbaah Foundation, an organization that supports the LGBTQ+ community and runs various educational and empowerment programs that help Muslims reconcile their sexuality with their faith.

Filmmaker Richard Finn Gregory follows Hendricks to East Africa to film his work with queer Muslim activists in the countries where their very identity is still outlawed.

The film provides first-person accounts of growing up queer as a South African Muslim in a society caught between the liberalism of its constitution and the conservativeness of its cultures and history, chronicling individual journeys to queer acceptance and the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights across the entire continent of Africa.

Watch the trailer for The Radical below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.