Ideological Islam creates a duality hard for westerners to fathom. The strict separation of the sexes—men from women—creates an entirely homosocial culture—this in turn can lead to homosexual behavior, at times openly discussed, at times not.

Homosexuality from a behavioral perspective—men having sex with men—is not the same as a gay identity, or identifying as gay. Men who engage in these behaviors are still expected to marry and have children in the way that Omar Mateen himself had done in the United States.

Yet for those who are gay, where sex becomes about identity, a cognitive dissonance can occur, along with a desire to continue the behaviors, now part of an identity, in secret. READ FULL