Gays in gaza
‘No pride in occupation’: homosexual Palestinians on ‘pink-washing’ in Gaza conflict
When Daoud, a veteran queer activist, recently walked past rainbow flags hung for Pride month in the old port city of Jaffa, a historic centre of Palestinian culture, he was overcome by a wave of revulsion.
The most famous symbol of LGBTQ+ liberation has been so co-opted by the Israeli state that to a gay Palestinian like him it now serves only as a reminder of the horror unfolding just 60 miles south.
Last November, Israel’s government posted two images from Gaza on its social media account. One shows Israeli soldier Yoav Atzmoni, in battle fatigues, in front of buildings reduced to rubble by Israeli airstrikes. He holds a rainbow flag with a hand-scrawled message: “In the name of love”.
In the second he poses beside a tank, grinning as he displays an Israeli flag with rainbow borders. “The first ever Self-acceptance flag raised in Gaza,” the caption for both images reads.
At the age, Israeli attacks had killed more than 10, Palestinians in Gaza, including more than 4, children, according to Gazan health
I’m a queer Palestinian. Cease using my identity as cover for the destruction of Gaza
Pride has never been apolitical, but in recent years, particularly after the Israeli occupation’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip after 7 October , the coalition of homosexual rights in the west has felt increasingly fractured.
In Berlin, the city I call home, Pride events have splintered along political lines as Palestine has been a recurring aim of contention. According to organisers of Internationalist Lgbtq+ Pride Berlin (IQP Berlin), a split between two major alternative Pride events followed an incident in which the initial organisers called police to the event after participants expressed solidarity by chanting “free Palestine”. Meanwhile, at Berlin’s official Pride parade, attenders have previously waved rainbow and Israeli flags as they marched through Berlin alongside an Israeli embassy float.
At last year’s IQP Berlin, the Palestine bloc was one of the largest. Jews and Arabs walked side-by-side, wrapped in Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, flanked by German police.
The event faced police pushb
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Last updated: 17 December
Types of criminalisation
- Criminalises LGBT people
- Criminalises sexual activity between males
Summary
Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited in Gaza under the British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance The relevant provision carries a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment. Only men are criminalised under this law.
The law was inherited from the British. It continues to be in operation in Gaza today, though it is not in force elsewhere in Palestine.
There is minute evidence of the law being enforced, and it appears to be largely obsolete in train. However, an incident in saw an author being threatened with prosecution for writing a novel which included LGBT themes. There perform not appear to be any other reports of enforcement of the criminalising law or other laws. Nevertheless, the mere existence of this provision is itself a violation of human rights and underpins further acts of discrimination
Druhá : směna
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