PRIDE as RESISTANCE to Genocide
You’ve probably heard of the term “Pinkwashing.” What is it?
It is an attempt to justify the occupation of Palestine by depicting Israel as the sole progressive haven for LGBTQ+ peoples in the region with all other surrounding majority Muslim (i.e. non-white) nations standing in opposition as backwards, barbaric, and violently homophobic.
Pinkwashing is not about gay rights. Israel is not the haven for LGBTQ+ peoples that it purports to be.
Rather, it cynically uses tools like Pride and gay tourism to create a narrative of “exceptionality” around itself: that it alone stands as the symbol of tolerance of sexual and gender diversity, and therefore it must be allowed to exist or the “backward” natives in the region will persecute and exterminate LGBTQ+ peoples.
How many times have you heard zionists trumpet the claim that “You know who doesn’t celebrate Pride? Hamas.” Or “ISIS kills gay men by throwing them off of buildings and then stoning them to death.”
Painting Palestinians with broad brush strokes of religious extremism in order to justify their occupation is the white supremacist tactic of choice.
This is the same tactic used by European settlers to justify their occupation of North America and imperial efforts by the U.S. govt.
The idea of “American exceptionalism” – nearly always raised in the context of geopolitical conflict against majority Black and Brown nations (especially in the Middle East) – has long been used to construct a false identity of the U.S. as the ultimate standard bearer of progressive, humane, and diversity values.
Despite its attempts at pinkwashing, same-sex marriage remains illegal in Israel. And both the U.S. and Israel have experienced record numbers of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes in recent years with the rise of rightwing, authoritarian populist figures. This is particularly true of Black and Latinx trans women who have been killed in significantly higher numbers.
In January 2023 alone, over 120 bills restricting LGBTQ+ rights and especially attacking gender affirming care for transgender youth were introduced nationwide in the U.S.
75 anti-LGBTQ+ laws were passed in the U.S. in 2023 – eight years after the nation gave same-sex couples the right to marry.
Israeli soldier waves a rainbow flag with the inscription “In the Name of Love” after the country has killed over 15,000 Palestinian children in the name of “self-defense” since October 2023.
Instead of falling for the false pinkwashed image of Israel, learn the true history of LGBTQ+ peoples in the region. This is itself a form of resistance.
Queer and trans Palestinians have always existed in Palestinian society - openly and without the fear of extreme persecution that pinkwashed narratives from zionists would have us believe.
Israel is responsible for the deaths of far more LGBTQ+ Palestinians than is Hamas or any other Palestinian entity.
According to Queer/Trans Palestinian activist Mx. Yaffa (they/them), “Pre-1948, queerness was alive and well in Palestine – and the same with transness. Even though the British had colonized Palestine, there was so much resistance to it that they actually did not adopt a lot of the culture that was coming in that was going to be homophobic and transphobic.”
It was not until after the Nakba that Palestinian society’s attitudes toward queer and trans identities began to shift.
Challenging zionist/white supremacist narratives around the history of Palestinian LGBTQ+ peoples is one way to show solidarity with their fight for liberation.
Follow these accounts to learn more about LGBTQ+ Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims:
@themasgd has also launched a fundraising campaign to support queer and trans Palestinians, Sudanese, Congolese, Black & Indigenous folks. Please donate if you are able to, and if not, then please share!
