Queer Palestinians exist – and they need your support
TW: this article contains mentions of discrimination, homophobia, hate crime and murder
A humanitarian crisis has been unfolding over the past three weeks in the Gaza Strip. In response, GAY TIMES will be publishing editorial content calling for international queer solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Below, we speak to UK-based queer activism group the Dyke Project and Palestinian-Australian writer and activist Elias Jahshan about how pinkwashing has been used to turn public favour against the Palestinian cause.
Throughout October, the media has been filled with distressing images and reports coming out of Palestine and Israel. A Hamas attack on 7 October punctured brewing tension from the Gaza Strip, currently under an indefinite blockade, leading to thousands of Israeli civilian casualties. This offensive prompted the Israeli government to retaliate with escalating violence.
At the time of writing, over 8,000 Palestinians have lost their lives and the Gaza Strip is in a total communication blackout. As the international community looks on and a humanitarian crisis unfolds, the calls for a ceasefire are growing louder. In response to the developing situation, activists have taken to the streets with hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrating in marches across Israel, Europe, the US and Asia pushing for an end to the violence.
However, this isn’t the only form of action taking place. If you live in London – or have been on social media – you might have seen the efforts of UK-based queer group the Dyke Project, who hacked 100 ads across Transport for London networks (including tube, bus and rail services) to share screenshots of LGBTQIA+ voices in the Gaza Strip that have been added to Queering the Map, an online resource which allows individuals to geotag countries, cities and regions with queer perspectives.
View this post on Instagram
This powerful statement isn’t just a message of solidarity to queer Gazans, it’s also a fierce rebuttal of pinkwashing. “We did this because we’ve seen the Israeli state dehumanising Palestinan people and using its record on LGBTQ+ rights to present itself as modern and progressive to obscure the genocide they are enacting,” explained the Dyke Project’s Jess Elliott. “We wanted to share the voices of queer Palestinians with as many people as we could to platform their stories and combat Israel’s narrative that they are on the side of queer people.”
Pinkwashing is a public relations tactic which uses outward support for LGBTQIA+ communities as a way to downplay and deflect from more negative aspects of a nation, business or entity. In Israel, we can see this play out in the form of queer legislative freedoms which position the country as socially liberal, a sleight of hand which obscures the reality of the ongoing violence enacted by the Netanyahu government.
On the other hand, there are no such protections for LGBTQIA+ Palestinians, who risk facing discrimination for being open about their identity in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In particular, gay sexual activity between men is illegal in Gaza under the British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance 1936: a colonial-era law that is still in effect today. In the West Bank, anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment is so severe that in 2022 Ahmad Abu Murkhiyeh, a queer Palestinian who had been living in Israel under asylum, was tragically murdered and beheaded in Hebron.
The effects of pinkwashing lead many to falsely assert that the glitter and confetti of Tel Aviv Pride equates to some kind of moral superiority on the part of the Israeli government, or safer space for queer Palestinians. And while it is true that some LGBTQIA+ Palestinians have sought asylum in Israel, until 2022, they were not legally allowed to work – limiting their ability to live a normal life and pushing many into survival sex work. In addition, they face anti-Arab racial discrimination and have historically been denied longterm visas, instead being forced to renew their visas on a near-monthly basis.
“There's no special pink door in the apartheid wall for queer Palestinians to walk through to get peace" - Elias Jahshan, Palestinian-Australian journalist and writer
To suggest that Israel is a safe space for LGBTQIA+ people overlooks the difficulties faced by queer Palestinians.“It’s definitely not a safe haven for us,” says Elias Jahshan, a Palestinian-Australian journalist and writer. “There’s no special pink door in the apartheid wall for queer Palestinians to walk through to get peace. And they’re still not exempt from all the discrimination and military occupation. They’re not exempt from the bombing we’re seeing in Gaza.”
Queer Palestinians, just like the rest of their community, face daily struggles which are linked back to life under colonisation. “It seeks to drive a wedge between queer Palestinians and the wider Palestinian community, when in reality many of us know that we are not free until we are all free,” Jahshan adds. “It completely erases the diversity of views and opinions that Palestinians hold politically, and socially.”
Queer Gazans exist, and they are enduring an ongoing Israeli blockade which limits their access to essential resources like food, water, internet, and electricity. LGBTQIA+ Gazans can’t advocate for wider freedoms or a government which recognises their sexuality or gender. Right now, they are facing a much greater existential threat – their right to keep living. “Just because queer Palestinians are not having pride parades, it doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to live their lives in their own way,” Jahshan continues. “Why are Pride parades a litmus test for how much humanity can be afforded to Palestinians?”
As Jahshan notes, Israel’s gay-friendly persona on the international stage contrasts sharply with the growing anti-LGBTQIA+ faction in Israel itself. “We know that homophobia exists in our wider society, but it’s not unique to Palestinians and it completely glosses over the fact that there are homophobic corners in Israel,” says Jahshan. In the past, Israeli intelligence officers have even reportedly blackmailed queer Palestinians – suggesting that they will be outed to their communities if they don’t provide information about Palestinian organisers.
“Queer people should stand for a free Palestine, not because there are LGBTQIA+ people living there, but because the roots of our oppressions are the same" - Jess Elliott, the Dyke Project
In recent times, homophobic sentiment has been on the rise in Israel, often coming from its own politicians. Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich has called himself a “proud homophobe”. Avi Maoz, the leader of the far-right, anti-LGBTQIA+ party Noam (currently in a seven-party coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party), has called Jerusalem Pride “an abominable and promiscuous parade”. Behind this hateful rhetoric, is a backdrop of anti-queer violence. In 2022, Israel saw a record number of 3,309 instances of violence and hate speech directed at members of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2015, a teenager was killed and five others were wounded in a homophobic hate crime at a Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem.
But beyond the specifics of what it’s like to be queer in Israel, let’s not lose sight of what’s important: that basic human rights are queer rights. One cannot exercise LGBTQIA+ rights if, like Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, they have no rights or freedoms at all. It’s time to recognise the crisis as a humanitarian issue that intersects with our collective struggle to resist patriarchal, racist systems of oppression. “Queer people should stand for a free Palestine, not because there are LGBTQIA+ people living there, but because the roots of our oppressions are the same,” Elliott says.
“States use the othering of people, including homophobia, transphobia and racism to keep their power. The Israeli state is dehumanising the Palestinian people to justify their colonisation,” they continue. “Queer people across the world and throughout history fight and have fought against colonialism and state violence over and over again. We can’t just stand by when those same powers are destroying others.”
If you’re wondering what you can do to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and advocate for an immediate ceasefire, you can read our guide here. Whatever action, whether sharing an infographic to your Instagram Story or donating to a fundraiser, is a step in the right direction.
As Elliott reminds us, your voice matters and it’s needed, now. “The Israeli state hopes the rest of the world will stand by while they eradicate Palestine. We won’t.”
The post How pinkwashing has been weaponised against Gazan solidarity appeared first on GAY TIMES.
0 Comments