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Al-Azhar rhetoric alarms LGBTQ community

Al-Azhar has in recent days stepped up its anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, following anti-gay comments by a prominent retired soccer star.
Eight Egyptian men on trial for doing a video prosecutors claimed was of a gay wedding hide their identities as they sit in the defendant's cage during their trial, Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 1, 2014.

Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest religious authority, has warned against media content that "normalizes" homosexuality. The warning came in a Dec. 5 tweet on Al-Azhar's official Twitter account that condemned homosexuality as "obscene " and "reprehensible."  

It also described homosexuality as "moral decadence," noting that it "goes against the teachings of religions."

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