Articles on Al-Qaws

URGENT APPEAL to ILGA World: Reject Israeli LGBT Groups’ Bid & Cancel their Membership

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200

URGENT APPEAL: Reject Israeli LGBT Groups’ Bid & Cancel their Membership

Dear ILGA World Board Members,

It came to our attention at alQaws, Queers in Palestine, and Ballroom Palestine, that Israeli LGBTIQ groups with the support of the Tel Aviv municipality have submitted a bid to host ILGA World Conference in 2026 or 2027 (see document attached). After further investigation, we were surprised to learn that ILGA World has several Israeli LGBT organizations as members. All these organizations have been active in aiding and abetting the genocide and displacement of the Palestinian people. Your recent statement that the Israeli bid for the ILGA conference is simply part of ILGA's business as usual disregards the larger conditions in which this bid is made, namely the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people. LGBTQ organizations complicit in genocide and human rights violations have no place in ILGA and must be suspended. Israeli LGBTQ organizations have a long history of complicity in the Zionist colonial project, pinkwashing, and genocide.

No Pride Without Dignity

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0200

This is the text version of an online resource published by alQaws during pride month in June 2021, following international discussion around queer liberation and Palestine.

Gay Pride started as a riot led by queer and trans Black, Indigenous and People of Color activists in what is now known as the United States in the1960s. These activists rose up against decades of police brutality and persecution and claimed the streets as a site of liberation in the form of protest. The first ‘Pride’ was a riot and it was also an expression of community care and support that queer and trans activists had created as a result of their exclusion from society.

Queer Liberation & Palestine

Wed, 26 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Queer Liberation & Palestine

An online resource by alQaws exploring the connections between queer liberation and Palestine in the light of last month’s uprising against Israeli settler colonialism. Queer liberation is fundamentally tied to the dreams of Palestinian liberation.

The struggle for liberation continues. We must continue to take actions, mobilize and engage queer and trans communities in Palestine and globally until we end Israel’s settler colonial project and all forms of oppression.

Queers Taking Action for Palestine

Wed, 26 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200

alQaws organized a live discussion on Instagram with prominent queer activists and artists talking about the latest uprising in Palestine.

The Intagram Live "Queers Taking Action for Palestine: The Struggle for Liberation Continues" featured Alok-Vaid Menon, Bashar Murad, Hatari Band, Haya Zaatry, Adam HajYahia, Raquel Willis, Mykki Blanco, and Yazan Za3za3.

Watch the recorded discussion below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by alQaws القوس (@alqaws_org)

A Word From Haneen Maikey: A Twenty Year Journey - Gratitude & Acknowledgements

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0200

This was originally published in our 2020 annual report. Find it here.

A Word From Haneen Maikey

A Twenty Year Journey: Gratitude & Acknowledgements

I write this letter a few weeks after my departure as the Executive Director of alQaws. As my body replaces adrenaline with exhaustion, my heart is filled with deep gratitude for alQaws’ activists, team, and Board of Directors, for the endless opportunities and lessons they’ve offered me until the very last moment. alQaws is where I learned what I know about myself, my community, and Palestine. No matter how hard I try, I won’t be able to do my experience with alQaws justice. How can one reduce twenty years of friendships and activism to a few lines?

A Word From Haneen Sader: Pride and Excitement Amid Significant Change

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0200

This was originally published in our 2020 annual report. Find it here.

A Word From Haneen Sader

Pride and Excitement Amid Significant Change

It is no easy feat describing the density of certain moments—moments in which thoughts and emotions heighten; moments of monumental change. I write these words during a transformative period societally, organizationally at alQaws, and in my personal life. After studying computer engineering and working at different technology companies for the past decade, I’ve decided to take a new career path. This choice came from my five-year activist experience at alQaws, which has influenced me in the most meaningful of ways.

From alQaws to Haneen Maikey: We recognize your impact, appreciate your leadership, and we shall continue the struggle

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0200

This was originally published in our 2020 annual report. Find it here.

From alQaws to Haneen Maikey:

We recognize your impact, appreciate your leadership, and we shall continue the struggle

For years, alQaws’ name was intrinsically tied to Haneen Maikey’s. This connection reflects the enormous efforts Haneen has made to build out the organization and ensure that it remains active, lively, and influential. Haneen Maikey concluded her tenure as Executive Director of alQaws at the end of 2020, a change we began preparing for three years ago, and which developed into a working path over the past year. We turn the page on a new year and a new Director.

No Queer “Co-Resistance” with Colonizers: Confronting Normalization and Pinkwashing

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Today, a virtual seminar, titled “Decolonizing Queerness: Towards A Palestinian-Israeli Co-Resistance,” was held to promote the work of Palestinian academic Sa’ed Atshan. Organizied by an Israeli researcher, the event was framed as a discussion about “the reality and the dilemmas that queer Palestinian organizations […] are facing.” The webinar was promoted on Facebook, primarily in English and Hebrew, using vague, general descriptions. It featured one Arabic sentence: a translation of the title. The description noted that the event was “not funded, sponsored by, or connected to any institution or group,” which may have served as a loophole to escape the normalization guidelines put in place by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions movement (BDS).

Beyond Propaganda: Pinkwashing as Colonial Violence

Sun, 18 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0200

This analysis paper explores a paradigm shift that alQaws has been exploring over the past decade of its grassroots community organizing, which centers the experiences of queer Palestinians.

To discuss what this shift means for queer Palestinian solidarity movements, join our community conversation “Beyond Propaganda: Reorienting Anti-Pinkwashing Organizing” with alQaws and Adallah Justice Project, Thursday October 22nd at 1PM ET / 10AM PT / 8PM Palestine time.

Over a decade ago, Palestinian activists adopted the term “pinkwashing” to describe how the Israeli state and its supporters use the language of gay and trans rights to direct international attention away from the oppression of Palestinians. Israeli travel guides and promotional videos advertise Tel Aviv beaches as a gay-friendly getaway destination—and hide the reality that tourist partygoers are dancing atop the ruins of ethnically cleansed Palestinian villages. The open inclusion of gay officers in the Israeli occupation army is used as proof of liberal forward-mindedness, but for Palestinians the sexuality of the soldier at a checkpoint makes little difference. They all wield the same guns, wear the same boots, and maintain the same colonial regime.

The Queer Arabs Podcast Interviews alQaws

Sat, 25 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200

This podcast was originally released on The Queer Arabs Podcast website. Listen to it here.

We were thrilled to be joined by Haneen Maikey and Izzy Mustafa from alQaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society! We discussed building a politically queer grassroots movement in Palestine, connecting to queer Palestinians in diaspora, confronting Pinkwashing (a tactic of normalizing Israeli hegemony through images of queer-friendliness) both internationally and within Palestinian society, and the place of artistic expression in this movement.

5 Way to Support Palestinian Queers

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0200

*** 5 Way to Support Palestinian Queers***

On 18 August, the Palestinian Police Force issued an official statement banning the activities of alQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society. The announcement followed an unprecedented attack on alQaws in social media channels. The statement promotes incitement against alQaws - and LGBTQ Palestinians - by encouraging members of society to report on alQaws activities. alQaws has since denounced such fear-mongering by Palestinian authorities, and criticised efforts to position the organisation as a “foreign agent.” alQaws and its members and activists are an integral part of Palestinian civil society working both to support LGBTQ groups in Palestinian society, as well as fighting for freedom from Israeli occupation and colonisation. alQaws has refused the ban on its activities and noted it will continue its work to fight patriarchy, colonialism and homophobia across historical Palestine.

AlQaws response to the PA police statment

Sun, 18 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0200

Last night (Saturday, August 17th), the spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority police, Louai Irzeqat, issued a statement concerning alQaws' activities in the West Bank. This first-ever statement about alQaws declared that the PA police would prohibit any event organized or held by alQaws for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Palestinian Society. The police claimed it goes against “traditional Palestinian values” accusing us as “foreign agents.” The statement went further, calling on citizens to complain about any “suspicious” activities and for the persecution of alQaws staff and activists.

Why We Should Boycott Gay Pride in Tel Aviv

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0200

I am a queer Palestinian who has been working tirelessly over the last decade for sexual and gender diversity, as well as LGBTQI visibility in Palestinian society. And I am committed to fighting for justice for all people. So why am I calling for an international boycott of Gay Pride in Tel Aviv this June?

Gay Pride in Tel Aviv is heavily sponsored by the Israeli government and is cynically deployed to divert attention from the occupation of Palestinian lands and the daily violation of Palestinian rights.

“Jadal” Publishes New Articles about “Sexual Politics in Palestine”

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0200

Our first academic school on sexual and gender diversity took place in December 2014. It engaged activists and academics, and was attended by 30 participants. In 2015, we composed and collected written materials produced by the participants. This resulted in a publication of a first set of articles published by Jadal (November 2015 issue), the journal of Mada al-Carmel, edited by Areen Hawari. To read more about this project, click here. The writers were part of the organizing/academic committee, as well as participants from the academic school. The articles' were framed under the school's title “Sexual Politics in the Colonial Context of Palestine” and included the following articles:

1) "Introduction: Sexual Politics in the Colonial Context of Palestine", by Areen Hawari (Issue's Editor)

2) "Beyond the Israeli Prison’s Rods: Between the “Sexual” and the “Political,” by Hadeel Badarni

3) "Hebrew University: The Intersect Between Colonialism and Gender", by Yara Sa’di

4) "Homosexuality and Equality Discourse: A Critical View on Gay Marriage," by Budour Hassan

5) "Individuals, Bodies, and Sexuality: Critical Lessons for the Future, Culled from the Palestinian Left’s Past," by alQaws activists

6) "The Image of the Homosexual in the Palestinian Conscious: A Historical Overview," by Ghaith Hillal and Haneen Maikey

This ongoing school and publication cycle will create a process on which to continually build knowledge and engage current discussions and concerns around gender and sexual diversity issues. To read the whole issue in Arabic click here

alQaws Statement re: media response to Israel's blackmailing of gay Palestinians

Fri, 19 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0200

We write in response to a couple of articles published in the past week in western media, such as "Israel surveils and blackmails gay Palestinians to make them informants" (Mondoweiss),or Corey Robin’s recent post, "Forget Pinkwashing; Israel Has a Lavender Scare." Both pieces were written in response to the recent spate of articles, like the ones published in The New York Times and The Guardian, detailing IDF Unit 8200 veterans’ refusal of reserve duty due to their rejection of Israel’s surveillance and blackmail of Palestinians. We are concerned by the way that these responses single out sexuality in general, and homosexuality in particular, as the main and most troubling aspect of Israeli intelligence and surveillance recruitment practices. Although the responses cite many different vulnerabilities Palestinians face—including lack of medical care—that Israeli “security” forces exploit in order to recruit Palestinian informants, these articles neglect these equally significant vulnerabilities and zero in on (homo)sexuality.

Don’t single out (homo)sexuality in response to Israel blackmail revelations, Palestinians say

Fri, 19 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0200

Last week, 43 reservists affiliated with the Israeli army’s “Unit 8200” – an electronic espionage operation – issued a public letter decrying Israel’s latest attack on Gaza and which states that they would not take part in Israel’s oppression of millions of Palestinians living under occupation.

What generated particular outrage was the letter-writers’ revelation that Unit 8200 eavesdrops on Palestinians in order to use personal information to coerce them into collaboration with Israel.

Finding a safe space for Palestinian queer activism

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0200

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- In 2008, Laila was a recent college graduate and committed anti-occupation activist in her hometown of Nablus. But there was one issue her groups could not adequately address: her sexuality.

“I started testing the waters, looking at what organizations are out there, what’s the discourse,” said Laila last month in Nablus.

She researched the Haifa-based lesbian group Aswat, but that organization is more attentive to Palestinians within Israel and inaccessible to West Bank residents like Laila.

Pro-BDS Columbia prof’s gathering with anti-BDS J Street and Zionist LGBT groups stirs controversy

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0200

Katherine Franke, the Columbia University law professor who has endorsed the academic boycott of Israel and the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), has stirred controversy by convening a meeting in New York today with representatives of anti-BDS and Zionist LGBT organizations including J Street.

Haneen Maikey, director of Al Qaws for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Palestine, has strongly criticized the meeting and pulled out of another Columbia event organized by Franke in protest.

Eight questions Palestinian queers are tired of hearing

Wed, 27 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0200

You might think that the main goal of a group of queer activists in Palestine like us in Al-Qaws should be the seemingly endless task of dismantling sexual and gender hierarchy in one’s own society.

It is. But you might think otherwise, judging from the repetitive questions we get during our lectures and events, or from inquiries we receive from media and other international organizations.

We intend to end this once and for all. Educating people about their own privilege is not our burden. But before we announce our formal retirement from this task, here are the eight most frequent questions we get, and their definitive answers.

Though small, Palestine’s queer movement has big vision

Fri, 12 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0200

Although quite young and small, the Palestinian queer movement is far from homogeneous. It includes numerous groups of diverse, dynamic and nimble activists who, within the framework of the wider social justice and national liberation struggle, seek to raise awareness about issues considered taboo in their society.

There were no documented or known gay, lesbian or transgender groups in Palestine before the second intifada.

That changed in 2001, when Palestinian queers from the occupied West Bank and present-day Israel started to convene in the Jerusalem Open House, an Israeli initiative that primarily offered Palestinians a space for expression and interaction, and served as an umbrella organization in terms of securing funds and international outreach. The following year, the group Aswat: Palestinian Gay Women was founded as part of an independent project within the Palestinian feminist organization Kayan in Haifa.

Multimedia Project Tackles LGBT Rights in Palestine

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:00 +0200

JERUSALEM, May 24 2013 (IPS) - Public discussions about sexuality and gender diversity are difficult to start in many places. But a new multimedia project that is garnering buzz in Palestine aims to reverse this trend and open up dialogue within Palestinian society around these historically taboo issues.

“We want to start an honest conversation that can also raise…limitations and tough questions,” explained Haneen Maikey, director of the Jerusalem-based Al Qaws Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian society. “It’s not to be accepted, but rather to bring the society to a safe place that we can discuss these issues.”

Signposts from alQaws: A Decade of Building a Queer Palestinian Discourse

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0200

The Palestinian organization alQaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society is a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer (LGBTQ) activists who work collaboratively to break down gendered and heteronormative barriers. Based in Jerusalem, alQaws seeks to create an open space for all our members so that they may be engaged and energized in the struggle of transforming Palestinian society in regards to broad sexual and gender justice. This report focuses on key signposts of the changes that alQaws has experienced over the last decade in developing a large grassroots foundation. AlQaws is connected to our Palestinian reality and context, and it is a group that has played an influential political role in the queer scene on a local and even international level. Recently, unlike in the early years, we have been able to measure and observe this political role through various discernible changes. But before demonstrating these major signposts, I would like to share with you three criteria that alQaws has used in the last ten years as a compass for our work, for our success, and most importantly for dealing with the many challenges we face.

Queers Resisting Zionism: On Authority and Accountability Beyond Homonationalism

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0200

[This article was written as a response to a recently published article by Maya Mikdashi and Jasbir Puar on the intersections and impasses between US centered pinkwashing and pinkwatching activism. Click here to read Mikdashi and Puar's rejoinder to this response. Clear here to read the original article by Mikdashi and Puar]

Jasbir Puar and Maya Mikdashi’s recent “Pinkwatching And Pinkwashing: Interpenetration and its Discontents” challenges those of us who work for Palestinian liberation to re-think our practices of solidarity and queer resistance. The authors suggest that pinkwatching, as a form of political activism, fails to be sufficiently radical. That is, pinkwatching fails to get at the roots of pinkwashing, which lie in settler colonialism, Islamophobia, and homonationalism. Pinkwatching therefore reproduces the discourses and dynamics that enable pinkwashing, thereby perpetuating it.

Leading LGBT activists, artists and cultural workers: oppose pinkwashing and support BDS

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

An open statement and petition is circulating by leading voices from the LGBTIQ communities demanding that queer individuals and allies join in solidarity with “Palestinians and progressive Israelis who are working to end the occupation, oppose the state of Israel’s practice of pinkwashing; and support efforts on the part of Palestinians to achieve full self-determination including building an international boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.”

The statement — found online at www.queersolidaritywithpalestine.com — was written by participants of a recent LGBTIQ delegation to Palestine. It reads, in part:

Queer Politics & Haneen Maikey

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

The Paper spoke with Haneen Maikey, Director of Al-Qaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, a Palestinian grassroots queer political organisation working throughout Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. At a time when Israeli, U.S., and E.U. mainstream media groups publish stories about the presence of homosexuals in order to indicate economic growth, the process of strategizing how to mobilise queer politics outside the “homonationalism” sphere poses a daunting challenge. How do queer Palestinians, themselves under the perpetual threat of colonial oppression and violence, organise themselves and navigate a route by which they can engage with tactics of grouping and visibility, but in way that is necessarily distinct from traditional “gay-rights” approaches? Maikey, a Palestinian citizen of Jerusalem, discussed some of the ways these challenges are played out in the daily operations of Al-Qaws.

“Interfaith Dialogue:” Faith in the a-political at the expense of social justice

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0200

On Thursday November 3rd, an international coalition of 16 queer Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim groups and international allies issued a statement criticizing an “interfaith dialogue” trip organized by three French LGBT organizations – Beit Haverim, David and Jonathan, and HM2F “to show solidarity with local movements against homophobia”. Indeed, numerous queer Arab activists were deeply disturbed by the framework of this trip, whose organisers emphasized was “not political,” and this motivated the groups to quickly release a statement opposing it.
I first heard about the French delegation from Renee, a French Israeli tour guide who called to invite me to speak with the group. Renee had heard me speak several times and was aware of my politics and so felt it necessary to reiterate this point to me: “This is an apolitical trip.” I explained to her that the only condition on which I will speak is if I can speak about the political situation and tell them directly that an “apolitical” journey of this kind is impossible in our context.

Say No to World LGBT Youth Leadership Summit

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200

Say No to World LGBT Youth Leadership Summit – Tel Aviv
Queers: Lead Revolutions, Do Not Support Occupation!

Thanks to the IGLYO Out of Israel campaign and the massive support it got, the International Gay and Lesbian Youth Organization (IGLYO) and Israeli Gay Youth (IGY) announced that they would no longer hold IGLYO’s General Assembly in Tel Aviv, Israel. This marks the very first victory for queer-powered BDS!

From the Belly of Arab Queer Activism: Challenges and Opportunities

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200

Introduction

Lately, the murmurs of Arab LGBT activists have been rising against a “trend” whose critical discourse delves deeper into questions surrounding our organizational strategies as LGBT/queer movements in Arab societies, our relationship to the “West” and the hegemony of Western experiences in LGBT organizing, the suitability of our strategies to our social, cultural and political contexts, and the continuing challenges in building bridges between our thought and our on-ground practices. All these questions have been reduced to a discourse that apparently has one single concern and aim: to fight the West. The debate was further heated after activists published some of these ideas and experiences, in Arabic, particularly in Bekhsoos and Qadita.net’s Queeriyatcolumn.
The goal behind investing in writing our experiences of organizing in this field is to institutionalize and develop the continuing discourse at the local level. We do this not simply for educational purposes, but also because of our awareness of the importance of sharing local experiences, and opening the door for continuous debates on the local, regional and international levels. These discussions, we understand, rely mainly on processes of self-reflection (whether personal or collective), and on the ways we present differences in our understandings of queer and LGBT struggles. More importantly, they rely on how we perceive and practice our roles as queer and LGBT activists in our societies.

Resisting homophobia and occupation

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0200

Haneen Maikey from the Palestinian queer group Al Qaws was in Amsterdam in June talking about their struggles for sexual emancipation and against the Israeli occupation. Alex de Jong spoke with her about being queer and Palestinan and the queer contribution to the Palestinian liberation movement for the Dutch newspaper Grenzeloos.

HM: I’m here to share my experience as a Palestinian queer activist. As a movement, we are often marginalized in the media – if somebody writes about queers in Palestine, it’s often dismissive about what we have to say ourselves. Instead, the focus is on our supposed victim-hood, not on our accomplishments. That is one of the reasons we feel its important to talk about our experiences in meetings like this one or a recent speaking tour I did in the United States. Al Qaws is a queer and LGBT grassroots group that focuses on answering people’s individual needs and creating a community where people can freely acknowledge all their identities, without having to choose between for example being queer or being Palestinian. For us, this is part of a larger vision of challenging and breaking the current sexual and gender hierarchies in Palestinian society.’

International Day Against Homophobia: Between the Western Experience and the Reality of Gay Communities

Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 +0200

The 17th of May is the International Day against Homophobia, and it is being celebrated for the seventh consecutive year now. This initiative was started by a French gay activist in 2004: May 17 was chosen as a date after the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the international classification of diseases on the 17th of May 1993.

The word homophobia means the rational fear or hatred of homosexuality and homosexuals. The word comes from homo, meaning gay, and phobia, or fear, in Latin. This term also denotes prejudice and intolerance against homosexuals.

Palestinian queer activists challenge the ‘pinkwashing’ of the Israeli occupation

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0200

On February 16th, 2011 I attended a public forum entitled “Palestinian Queer Activists Talk Politics” in San Francisco’s Mission District. More than 20 groups including the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Middle East Children’s Alliance sponsored the forum, moderated by lesbian Chicana activist and writer Cherríe Moraga. The discussion featured three speakers:

- Abeer Mansour works for Aswat, a feminist queer Palestinian women’s group dedicating to “generat[ing] social change in order to meet the needs of one of the most silenced and oppressed communities in Israel.

'Stop using Palestinian gays to whitewash Israel's image'

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

At the recent 'Gay Olympics' - the World Outgames in Copenhagen, Denmark - Tel Aviv was crowned one of the exclusive gay capitals of the world and proudly celebrated by the Israeli ambassador in Denmark.

Five days later, a still unidentified gunman killed two people and wounded a dozen more in a gay drop-in center in that very same Tel Aviv.

The attack was followed by a myriad of articles on the homophobia haunting Israel and a Haaretz poll showing that nearly half of the Israeli population believes homosexuality is a perversion.

Israel, Palestine, and Queers

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0200

On January 28, little more than a week after Israel concluded its brutal military campaign against the Gaza Strip, James Kirchick published the latest installment in his growing corpus of articles about tolerant, gay-friendly Israel and homophobic, "Islamofascist" Palestine. Although Kirchick has published essentially the same article under different titles -- "Palestine and Gay Rights" and "Palestinian Anti-Gay Atrocities Need Attention" -- and although he regurgitates the same flimsy, unsupported arguments in all of these articles, we do not write to question his intellectual prowess or journalistic qualifications. In fact, Kirchick’s diatribe against Palestinians and the "radical" gay activists who support them would not warrant a response if it did not, in our view, represent something much bigger and more dangerous.

Rainbow over Palestine

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0200

Palestinians who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) face a unique, complex, and often dire set of struggles on multiple fronts.

Palestinian society is in many ways deeply conservative and traditional, so those who identify as LGBTQ often face harsh reactions from their families and communities, ranging from social ostracism to physical violence. At the same time, LGBTQ Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories regularly face discrimination, denials of civil and human rights, and other forms of violence and inequality as a result of their Palestinian identity.