rainbow communities’ support for the Palestinian people amongst criticism

By: Adham Harash 2024

There are those who claim that “gays supporting Palestine is like chicken supporting KFC” as criticism
against rainbow communities’ solidarity with the Palestinian people. Their ill-logic and hostility are
based on the fact that rainbow communities in the Middle East (including Isarel, which they forget to
mention) do not yet have equal rights the same way their counterparts have [only] recently been
granted in western societies i.e., England 2014, USA 2015. This criticism is ignorant at best, and
raciest and inflammatory at worst.

This type of criticism usually comes from Israel’s cheerleaders. The purpose of it is to “inform”
members of rainbow communities why they should support Isarel in its fight for their “western
values” of tolerance and inclusion (which do not exist in Israel). This they do by presenting the
Palestinians as primitive, fundamentalist, and particularly hostile towards LGBT+ communities to
justify Israel’s devastating policies and practices against them.

What these people choose to ignore is that Israel is not a safe haven for rainbow communities, not to
mention Israel’s targeting, blackmailing, and persecution of members of rainbow communities in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

This is not to suggest that members of rainbow communities in Palestine are free from prejudice
amongst their societies. The social stigma against rainbow communities is not unique to Middle
Eastern societies, and certainly not unique to Palestine. Additionally, social stigma against rainbow
communities is still present in western societies to this day.

More generally, Palestinians have every reason to resent and resist the entity that seeks to eliminate
their indigenous and diverse communities and replace them with the “chosen people” from the river
to the sea. Ignoring the last 76+ years of Israel’s occupation, oppression, expulsion, land theft,
colonialism, humiliation, brutality and destruction of Palestinian societies, national aspirations, and
economy despite all the evidence and pleadings, is to consciously choose to be racist and
condescending.

From a legal point of view, same-sex relations are not criminalised by law under the Palestinian
Authority (PA) rule, which is the officially recognised representative of the Palestinian people
worldwide. Furthermore, such relations were not criminalised under Jordanian rule, or under
Ottoman rule (since 1858). In fact, the only time same-sex relations were criminalised by law in
Palestine was under British rule (British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance 1936, Section 152(2)
Sexual Acts Between Men).

Rainbow communities have lived generally safe and as part of their overall communities in the
Middle East for thousands of years. There haven’t been specific historical “crusades” or large-scale
campaigns explicitly targeting them, unlike the genocide committed by the Nazi regime in Germany
for instance. Indeed, European colonial powers were the ones who brought with them stricter anti-
sodomy laws, which were often more rigid and punitive than existing local customs.

None of the mentioned above is meant to justify discriminatory practices against rainbow
communities in the Middle East at any level. In the same way that none of these facts justify Israel’s
genocidal campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Western governments could not care less for the wellbeing of rainbow communities in Palestine. If
they had, then we would expect them to call for a ceasefire. It is clear that they only use the level of
social development in contemporary Middle Eastern societies (which does not yet openly accept its
rainbow communities) as a tool to further destabilise the region (as they have been actively doing for
over a century) in order to grab more power and resources.

More gravely is that western governments, and individuals, abuse of this issue only alienates rainbow
communities in the Middle East, puts them in real danger, and prevents them from achieving their
rights and freedoms through an organic and sustainable process of social development. A process
that was and still being disrupted by Colonialism and external political interventions.

Demonising an entire group of people based on their current level of social development regarding
certain areas, while choosing to ignore the realities on the ground, is a crime. The whole point of the
Genocide Convention is that nothing justifies genocide. Not even Hamas’ retaliatory counter-
offensive on southern Israel on 7 October.

So, the next time anyone tries to sell you the idea that it is contradictory to be pro-Palestinian as a
gay person, or as an atheist, or a woman, or any other marginalised group, let them know that
injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Dropping 75,000 tons of explosives within six months on a densely populated concentration camp
which is quarter the size of London will not liberate rainbow communities in Palestine.

This article was written by Adham Harash.

27/12/23