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Growing up in a Muslim community, I did not know that gay was an option. Being gay was a grave sin and was just what predators did. Then as I was exposed to western media, I learned about queerness but I thought that being queer was just a western thing. That was reinforced by religious narratives that homosexuality is a western import. I didn't think I could be gay and Arab. I didn't think I could be gay and Muslim. It took me until I was away from that cultural influence to explore myself. I still had that contradiction inside me. I'm very thankful to my queer Muslim/Arab friends I acquired over the past 5 years. Because of them, I realized that being me is an option. As this book says: "We have always been here. They can't erase us." I read (actually listened to) the book in one night, I cried multiple times. It's so nice to see yourself being represented this way.