1y ago

‘No pride in occupation’: queer Palestinians on ‘pink-washing’ in Gaza conflict

www.theguardian.com

"Israel presents itself as an LGBT haven in the region, but for Palestinians it offers neither refuge nor solidarity"

33 comments

Several times now, I have seen pro-Israelis say to people who are queer that they shouldn't support Palestinians, because if they were in charge, they would oppress queer people. But I would say being queer and oppressed would be a hell of a lot better than being queer and dead and I would also say that most queer people care a lot more about the genocide of anyone than they do whether or not queer people in the area where the genocide is occurring would be treated well by the people being murdered if they were in charge.
- I’m gay. I wouldn’t step foot in either country if you paid me. But I don’t want any of them dead.
  I think it’s sick when people exploit LGBT for their own gain. Don’t crash my parade with your protest.
- It’s not as if the Jewish view of homosexuality is significantly different from Islam’s. If the only proof they have of anti queer sentiment comes from there fact that there are radical Islamists among them then that same brush could be used to paint Israel just as easily.
  
  It comes from the idea that neighboring Muslim countries have made homosexuality a capital crime. But that doesn't mean that an independent Palestine will do the same, and even if it does, there has to be a Palestine for that to be an issue.
- I can't change peoples' minds when they're dead. At least living queerphobes can be reasoned with.
There is a long, well-documented record of the Israeli security services exploiting the sexuality of LGBTQ+ Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, with devastating and sometimes fatal results.
“During my training course in preparation for my service in this assigned role, we actually learned to memorise and filter different words for ‘gay’ in Arabic,” a member of Israel’s intelligence corps testified a decade ago.
“If you’re homosexual and know someone who knows a wanted person, and we need to know about it, Israel will make your life miserable.”
Last year, a Palestinian from Nablus was publicly executed. He had confessed collaboration with Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, saying they used a video of him having sex with another man to blackmail him into informing.

33 comments