Saudi cleric who says gay people are worse than animals is due to visit Leicester University

A controversial Muslim cleric who compared gay sex to rape is set to speak on campus.

Homophobe cleric Mufti Ismail Menk will visit on 13 November as part of a tour of UK university campuses.

Mufti Ismail Menk

The cleric, who studied in Saudi Arabia and has nearly 193,000 followers on Twitter has previously said:

• Gay people are worse than “animals”.
• Consenting to gay sex is as bad as “rape”.
• He has also described gay people as “filthy” and worse than “dogs and pigs”.

In a video published in June, Menk asked worshippers: “How can you engage yourselves with the same sex? How can you engage in acts of immorality with the same sex? And how can you prefer them over the females?”

Leicester University’s LGBTQ told The Tab: “We have raised the matter with the Sabb team and sent an email to Dan Flatt regarding the cleric”. They would not comment any further until the sabb team had released a statement.

Members of Leicester’s Feminist Society were also condemning the speaker with Womens’ Officer and President of the Society, Rachel Holland, saying: “The Union are working on taking action on this – our LGBT+ Officer is liaising with the relevant bodies to sort this out.”

Feminist society member Katherine Notman said: “Students at UoL should oppose Mufti Ismail Menk speaking at our university, at a grass roots level, on the grounds that he is a homophobe and that anyone who violates a safe space policy should not and will not be tolerated at our university. Students should never have to feel oppressed and platforming this man only legitimises what he is saying, which is a frightening prospect for all oppressed groups at the uni.”

The event has been organised by the Islamic Society, who posted the following comment on their Facebook page:

They have so far failed to respond to any requests for comment.

Meanwhile, the University said it would not stop the talk, although it distanced itself from the talk in a statement on its website, writing:  “The University of Leicester has not invited this speaker and we do not endorse or support the views of external speakers.”

Menk will also travel to Oxford, Leeds and Glasgow Universities.