As a member of the group that's focusing on the LGBTQ community, I really loved that the organisations and community we just read about were relevant to LGBTQ rights in Israel and Palestine. I noticed that all the groups were in support of everyone regardless of ethnicity or religion, and I quite liked that it was anti-discriminatory, especially since the conflict makes it very easy to discriminate against another social group, regardless of gender or sexuality. I found Al-Qaws to be the most interesting, for me as a Palestinian/Arab, because I've never heard of any Arab groups supporting LGBTQ rights within the Middle East, and short of a shesha/hookah bar and restaurant in Amman, I haven't heard of any openly gay businesses either. It's just not something that's talked about, so I really loved looking into Al-Qaws. All the groups though seemed really open and welcoming, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the speakers tomorrow! :)
I just have a couple questions for the speakers!
For both Haneen Maikey and Elinor Sidi, is it any sort of challenge to organise events with both Palestinians and Israelis within the LGBTQ community? Do you face any difficulties in bringing queer Palestinians and Israelis together?
What have been your greatest challenges to overcome in starting al-Qaws and the Jerusalem Open House? And what was the initial reaction of the community to the starting of your organisations?
Are you working on any current projects? What do you hope to achieve in the future? Do you have any current goals that you want to see happen?
A lot of the Israeli LGBTQA... groups seem less discriminatory than Israeli society at large, so I was surprised to hear about queer groups in West Bank settlements that do not extend their inclinations of inclusivity toward Palestinians. A strange world we live in. Continued Israeli occupation of Palestine perpetuates an inherent double standard of who deserves human rights in Israeli society, because human rights end at the border at the border with Palestine. So Israelis create their own borders, house to house, city to city, state to state.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, the LGBT in Jerusalem's main objective seems to be anti-discrimination and it comes as no surprise. They live in a place that is extremely religious and in many religions, homosexuality is seen as a sin. The Israeli LBGT is a social group that looks past all differences and are able to get along regardless of religion or ethnicity. I think that both sides definitely have something to gain from learning from the LBGT community.
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