Society and Culture
Pride Month and the Queer Supports for Palestine: a Convergence of Divergence?
This year, the LGBT+ community seems to be taking to the streets quite early. However, this time, it is not for anything other than the Palestinian issue (?)
Khalidu Afolabi
Rooted in the Stonewall uprising in New York City in 1969, when the queer community protested against police harassment and discrimination, the month of June became a commemorative event that celebrates the achievements of the queer community in the previous years and ventilates rigorous campaigns for more inclusiveness and acceptance of queer individuals across the globe. Pride month became a period of amplifying the existence of people of odd sexual orientations and a way to advocate for their visibility, acceptance and legal protection.
Fast forward to half a century later, the acceptance of the now well-known LGBT+ community is widely acknowledged in the West. Western countries sometimes place pressure on weaker nations to accept these rights. June has become a month when the community takes to the streets to demonstrate their "pride." In recent years, Western liberal-leaning parties and institutions, including capitalist moguls and sports clubs, have made it a ritual to fly rainbow flags and display other symbols of the community. In June 2023, its flag was proudly displayed in the White House, with the Democrat President Biden making numerous promises to the LGBT+ community. This year, the LGBT+ community seems to be taking to the streets quite early. However, this time, it is not for anything other than the Palestinian issue (?)
The LGBT Protests
The community has continuously intervened in the endless violence that has erupted in Palestine, calling for a ceasefire and demanding an end to the genocide that ensues in series, especially in the Gaza Strip. Such efforts include the ‘No Pride in Genocide’ campaign that was organised on February 14, 2024; the Queer for Palestine in Northampton, Massachusetts on January 6, 2024; the organised Jum‘ah session by Queer-4-Palestine and Queer-for-a-Liberated-Palestine at the Stonewall National Monument on December 15, 2023; the Queer-for-Liberation petition that gathered 25,000 signatures from queers for a ceasefire in Palestine; the ‘Artists-4-Ceasefire’ letter that over 3,500 LGBT artists signed; and ‘a liberatory demand from Queers in Palestine’ statement that was signed by over 500 queer organisations from over 50 countries.
It is noteworthy that the LGBT community made these efforts despite the discouragement from some quarters, which is premised on the aversive Palestinian attitude towards the rights of queer individuals in Palestine even before the conflict became heightened. As some would even tell queers that participate in these pro-Palestine campaigns, ‘If you were in Palestine, you would be murdered’.
Anyone would support Palestine.
Of course, the gory images and heart-shredding reports that come from Palestine daily suffice enough drive for support and solidarity with the region from anyone and any affiliation with an inkling of humaneness. As of May 30, 2024, for instance, over 36,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in the genocide between October 7, 2023, and May 30, 2024, according to the Al-Jazeeera News website. This included over 15,000 children and over 10,000 missing people. Similarly, over 85,000 Palestinians have been injured during the timeframe. Aside from the loss of lives, the infrastructural damages that have occurred in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank have also remained unprecedented in the historical casualties of the age-long conflict between October 7, 2023, and May 26, 2024. 60% of residential buildings have been damaged, 80% of commercial facilities have been wrecked, 267 places of worship have been demolished, 83% of groundwater wells are not operational, 85.8% of school buildings have been destroyed, and just 15 out of 35 hospitals are partially functional. With Israeli offensive attacks since October 7, the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank have become completely decrepit.
Should the Muslim community reciprocate?
Notwithstanding the supportive voice of the queer community for Palestinian suffering, people, especially Muslims, have many reasons to refuse to support the community. Even though there are supposedly ‘progressive’ religious adherents that embrace the queer movement and even try to assert its compatibility with religious practices, the fact remains that many religious ‘conservatives’ across different spaces are not convinced of such ideas. Most especially in Islam, the attempt to reread the Lut story from punishment for homosexuality to general spiritual corruption by the supposedly progressive Muslims has not penetrated deeply into Muslim societies. Similarly, the attempts to interpret some Quran verses and Prophetic traditions to support queer identity and expressions have not been successful. To this end, many Muslims justifiably contend the polarisation of sexuality along non-heterosexual leanings.
By and large, complexities surrounding the queer movement that make its acceptance difficult are not just limited to the religious sphere. They cut across the medical and the social systems. Homosexuality and trangenderism have been studied to have serious medical complications. Homosexuality has been linked to the spread of serious terminal diseases like HIV/AIDS, while complications of trangenderism are worrisome in the long term, considering post-surgery reports and the statistics of self-destruction from the trans community. One cannot but remember how homosexuality and gender dysphoria were initially parts of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) before the queer movement influenced their removal. Similarly, the social system is at grave risk with the assimilation of the queer community. Top on the list is women's rights, which took many centuries before actualisation. When we allow a transgender woman to share the same public facilities with straight women under the pretext that ‘trans women are women’, many social experts have expressed concern that we are backsliding to a barbaric start. A typical example is the case of David Thompson, a convicted rapist in Yorkshire, England, who claimed to have transitioned into a woman and changed his name to Karen White. He then requested to be moved to a female prison but ended up assaulting female inmates. When trans women decide to participate in women's sports and other women-specific endeavours, society may end up obliterating women by usurping their rights and privileges.
Conclusion
Therefore, while the queer community may see Palestinians as an oppressed sister community in need of their solidarity and use this “Pride Month” to again emphasise their demands for a ceasefire in the country, the Palestinians may not be able to replicate such gestures when it comes to queer campaigns. The queer community and the Palestinian community cannot converge to have each other’s backs in their respective campaigns. The Palestinian community is predominantly a Muslim community and has legislated against LGBTQ+; hence, it cannot advocate for what it repudiates. This is not to discourage the queer community from lending a voice to the plight of Palestinians. But neither Palestinians nor Muslims need such support if they are doing it to advance their ideology. Otherwise, this can be considered a very humanitarian duty. Meanwhile, numerous reports have shown the presence of queer Palestinians to whom the queer community directly owes its empathy and fellowship. Again, perhaps the LGBT community and liberal allies might view the Palestinian crisis as an enlightening example of the hypocrisy surrounding the Western concept of freedom and rights. Maybe they, too, will realise that the West's support for LGBT is not about freedom or rights but suggestive of other goals. If it is freedom or rights, then the people who have been genocidally killed need them the most.
Be the first to comment .