Not taking any action against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is as good as acknowledging them, NGO Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) said today.

Its Religious Council (Muis) chairperson Aznan Hasan ( left ) said although Islam never discriminated anyone based on gender, it has never acknowledged the LGBT as an accepted sexual orientation.

“Saying that no action should be taken against the LGBT is as though we are acknowledging their deviated sexual desires,” he said in ISMAweb yesterday.

Aznan was responding to a statement made by National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) member Mujahid Yusof Rawa to Malaysiakini yesterday, in which the latter said that while he may not agree with the LGBT community’s lifestyle, they have a right to be protected as well.

Disagreeing, Aznan said that the group “engaged in unnatural sex” and therefore should be punished as the activity “invites the wrath of Allah and the punishment is heavy here and in the hereafter”.

As such, he said someone who is confirmed to have engaged in unnatural sex should be subjected to the judicial process.

“And this is not because of discrimination, but because of the act itself. The doer should not be left unchecked after making the criminal act,” he is quoted saying by the portal.

Aznan added that it was as though Mujahid ( right )had said that no action will be taken against one who has committed sodomy.

He then called upon the second-term Parit Buntar MP to refer to religious scholars before making such statements.

“This is so that the he, himself, does not become confused and at the same time confuses other Muslims,” he said.