'Gay boy' living opposite a mosque in London tackles Islamophobia in viral post

A 25-year-old British boy has done what the Muslim world struggles to do day in and day out.

In an effort to dispel anti-Muslim sentiment in London, Thomas Mauchline, who is gay and lives across the street from a mosque, penned a blog post that has now gone viral.

Mauchline was inspired by a bystander’s reaction to Saturday’s tube stabbing, who yelled, “You ain’t no Muslim bruv!” at the masked man who police say committed an act of terror.

The post, titled, “15 things I learnt about Islam and British values being a gay boy living opposite a mosque,” has been shared widely on Facebook and Twitter and hailed by UK politicians for helping to dismantle the stereotype of Muslims as extremists.

Thomas Mauchline who lives opposite a mosque in London wanted to do his part to dispel anti-Muslim sentiment in the city following the deadly Paris attacks.

Londoners respond to metro attack with #YouAintNoMuslimBruv

“I woke up on Sunday and saw the videos from Leytonstone with the guy telling the attacker that ‘You ain’t a Muslim bruv’ and I thought it was just very London,” Mauchline told Mashable.

“It reminded me of all these quite funny, positive experiences I had been having with my Muslim neighbours over the last 4 years — so thought I would share with my friends online.”

The hilarious and insightful post features facts like, “You will be happy they pray a lot when you get stabbed on your door step and are too scared to go outside. So you time your trips to the shops to coincide with these prays as the streets are full of friendly people.”

“When confronted with something out of their comfort zone, like me and my boyfriend in full drag dancing down the road, Muslims like all British people get flustered and over compensate with being overly polite  —  a bit like Hugh Grant,” it added.

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Another hilarious point in the blog was: “British people’s dry sarcasm works really well when confronting the times the more traditional parts of Islam come face-to-face with modern gay culture. For example when I donated three sequined crop tops to the Islamic relief Syria clothing drive, one of the older guys their smirked, shaking my hand and saying ‘our brothers and sisters in Syria thank you for the evening wear.’”

Mauchline, who is originally from the town of Stourbridge, said he was initially hesitant to move across from the South London Islamic Center. “The media stories about Islam meant that I was genuinely a little nervous about moving in across the road to a mosque,” he explained in the post.

“What I have learnt in the four years since I moved is that the ridiculousness of British culture is universal. We all love tea, are really polite and tut rather than saying something, no matter our religion,” he added.

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Many, including UK politicians, also appreciated the blogpost.