[molson]

Are there smaller sects of Islam, like Christianity, that don't oppose homosexuality, equal rights for women, etc?

Protestan christianity is a very different animal than the than the christianity that the right makes so visible. Perhaps the same is true in Islam, and I'm being unfair making the generalizations. But I grew up Lutheran, a church that has openely gay members (and now, openly gay pastors). I did the whole confirmation/sunday school thing and nobody ever taught me anything about gays or abortion being bad. It was mostly just hippie jesus, which I think is actually a great, hugely tolerant philosophy, regardless of what anyone believes about the "literal truth" of the religion (something at least the Lutherans I grew up with didn't care about in the least).

Islam IS different, as far as I know. If you're a Muslim, Mecca and Medina aren't optional. It's not like the pope RE: Christianity. If you're a Muslim, you don't get to opt out of the Middle East version, or at least, there certainly hasn't been any wide-spread attempts at a mainstream, more tolerant sect of Islam, compatable with Western laws and ideas. That does make Islam more dangerous.