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Why Being Gay and Pro-Palestinian Authority Is Not Okay

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A recent op-ed in the New York Daily News by Mark Segal points out some significant differences between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority in regards to LGBT rights that should be a non-starter for anyone that cares about these issues.

Photo above: A part of the separation barrier is seen repainted after a Palestinian artist painted a rainbow flag in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, June 30, 2015. Palestinian protesters perceived the painting as support for homosexuality, a taboo subject in Palestinian society where gays are not tolerated and rushed to paint it over hours after it was painted. (Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP)

Like most issues, Americans are remarkably ignorant of the day-to-day realities in the Gaza Strip under Hamas and the Palestinian authority.

To be clear, being gay is not okay.

Segal: “After 52 years of fighting for LGBT equality from Stonewall to the White House, it never occurred to me I would someday witness members of my own community rush to support a government that not only suppresses LGBT people, but looks the other way at the raping of lesbian women and honor killings.”

I’m talking about the Palestinian Authority and its counterpart in the Gaza Strip, Hamas. This is about one life and death issue — the deadly treatment by Palestinians of their LGBT community.

Under the PA and Hamas, all kinds of freedom are non-existent or endangered. Earlier this month, a mixed-gender concert became the latest target for a terrorist attack in Gaza. Hamas has banned women from walking alone in Gaza as well. Just recently, these so-called resistance fighters congratulated the Taliban for brutally taking over Afghanistan.

Are these really the people who you think identify with our cause? In the case of LGBT people or those who support our movement, trying to also support the current Palestinian leadership is a dangerous position to take.

LGBT activists should be calling them out for their homophobia. Those who don’t call it out have a serious lack of knowledge of the culture and politics of the Middle East, particularly the practices of the Palestinians towards LGBT people. Gay rights groups are actually banned by the Palestinian Authority.

It’s possible to be a full supporter of the two-state solution and, at the same time, not be a fan of the policies of the current Israeli government towards the Palestinian people. But that doesn’t mean one should support the call for a boycott of Israel, unless you also call for a boycott of the Palestinian leaders for their oppression of their LGBT citizens.

LGBT people literally have to escape the region to save their lives. Even the grandson of Hamas founder/leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, Mosab Hassan Yousef, had to flee because he worried that he would be executed.

You may still believe Israel is unfair to Palestinians, but Palestinians are more than unfair to LGBT people. Some wish to murder them, and they publicly say so and do it. That was true even for Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a former commander in Hamas, who according to the New York Times, “was accused of moral turpitude, by which Hamas meant homosexuality.” Ishtiwi was tortured and shot to death by Hamas in 2016.

It’s little better for women, who are routinely threatened with death if they don’t marry the men chosen for them. In addition to that, the rape of lesbian women has been seen as a “cure” for homosexuality in the Palestinian territories.

Some say supporting the Palestinian leadership is an important aspect of unity or “intersectionality” among oppressed groups. I also believe in intersectionality. For example in 1970, the Gay Liberation Front was intersectional We marched with the Black Panthers and the Young Lords, and we worked with different organizations to help spur change in communities other than our own. But we would never march with those who oppressed members of our community, and we would certainly never be silent if a group courting our support actually assaulted or killed LGBT people.

So here’s a suggestion for those LGBT assimilationists. The next time you are invited to “march in solidarity with Palestinians,” simply ask, “When was the last time a LGBT person was killed by Palestinian forces?”

If you have a need to prove your “wokeness” by assimilating with those who support the rape and death of LGBT people, you don’t know the meaning of LGBT liberation.

Mark Segal is an American journalist. He is the founder and publisher of Philadelphia Gay News.

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