Pinkwashing Israel's Genocide Won't Bring Back Dead Queer Palestinians

In U.S. foreign policy, it is common for us to want to paint our adversaries as less civilized, barbaric, and even subhuman. That’s why it is not surprising to hear American liberals defend the Zionist movement as one that is pro-LGBTQ, unlike their counterparts.

This stance completely ignores the lives of queer Palestinians, especially those that were snuffed out by Israel’s most recent bombing campaign.

A Palestinian activist group, called Queers in Palestine released a statement in response to social media posts from Israeli soldiers holding pride flags captioned “the first-ever pride flag raised in Gaza”.

“Colonial and imperial powers have long used their fabricated lies of “civilization” “rights” and “democracy” to justify their plunder,” the group writes.

“Oftentimes, the pretext of these bloodied invasions is that the “civilized” world is invading racialized communities to bring culture, education, and liberalism and instill it in societies it deems barbaric, immoral, and uncivilized. The images of the LGBT flag supposedly claim to bring rights and liberties to Gaza, but unironically. the soldier stands on the debris of hopes dreams, and human remains of Palestinians he himself and the army he serves bombed moments before.”

This mythos of liberation through violent invasion is often referred to as pinkwashing. It is the same idea that champions brutal occupations and bombings as long as they are led by women or marginalized people. It is the idea that leads groups like the Human Rights Campaign to continue to support the Biden administration even after it cut funding to UNRWA.

However, this staple neoliberal tactic is not enough to fool most of the Western LGBTQ world. In recent months we have seen protests and demonstrations worldwide in support of Palestinian liberation, many of which in the U.S. have been led by queer activists. The reason for this, in my opinion, is two-pronged; one because of the current political climate in America, queer activists are already extremely active and have access to large pools of other active protestors. Secondly, queer activists realized that the fight for Palestinian liberation is tied to the liberation of all oppressed groups.

A popular and poignant slogan “Nobody’s free until we’re all free” was originally said by Fannie Lou Hamer during her speech at the 1971 Women’s Political Caucus, specifically addressing the civil rights movement in America at the time. However in the decades since, the slogan has been adopted by activists seeking liberation for a myriad of oppressed populations including queer people not just in the U.S. but across the globe.

Dr. Sa'ed Atshan, a professor of Anthropology and Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College, and author of the book Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique is regarded as one of the many experts on the topic of queer liberation in the Palestinian context.

“Homophobia, transphobia, heteronormativity, patriarchy, sexism, gender and sexuality-based violence; these are realities that we have to grapple with all around the world. It's very dangerous to pathologize Palestinian society as uniquely homophobic or that homophobia is endemic to the society without this broader context, as well as without understanding the ways that life under brutal military occupation exacerbates homophobia within Palestinian society as well,” Dr. Atshan told THEM in an interview last November.

“In order for us to deal with questions of how queer people are treated in Palestine, we have to address the broader landscape of the denial of freedom to Palestinians more generally speaking. I also think that it’s racist, in my opinion, to argue that the struggle against racism that’s directed against Palestinians should somehow be halted or undermined because there's homophobia within Palestinian society. Not only does it erase the existence of queer Palestinians, who themselves are subjected to both homophobic violence and racialized violence, it also renders invisible the history of LGBTQ activism within Palestinian society.”

Put simply, it is absurd to argue that the current Israeli bombing campaign is one that is fighting for the liberation of queer Palestinians. While many wartorn countries are still plagued by rampant homophobia and transphobia, it is within the context of these places being subject to violent occupation that hinders their residents from even thinking about starting to fight for civil liberties.

Furthermore, this pinkwashing ignores the very real homophobia and transphobia that is still rampant in Israel itself. In an exclusive interview with +972 Magazine, a Palestinian trans woman, referred to in the interview as MC, shed light on the harsh reality for queer people in Israel.

“MC received a permit to stay in Israel shortly after her arrival, and while it can be renewed, she never knows for how long… On one occasion, MC says, her permit was denied simply because she had seemed “too confident,” which the interviewing officers told her made her suspicious. The message was clear — she should be anxious, fearful, and needy; a strong Palestinian was a threat,” Sharona Weiss writes.

“The permit is their weapon,” MC explained. “I have to be careful of everything I do. I can’t seem too confident. It’s better to seem afraid of them. They like that better.”

While there are large festivities every June in Tel Aviv for Pride, Israel’s increasingly far-right government remains homophobic. Israeli lawmaker, MK Yitzhak Pindrus, claimed in 2023 that homosexuality was a bigger threat to the nation than ISIS, Hezbollah, or Hamas.

Through the online platform, Queering the Map, LGBTQ+ Palestinians have started documenting their lived experiences under Israeli occupation.

Queering the Map allows users to pin different parts of a world map, based on Google Earth, and share various stories and memories of their queer experiences all over the world. The site was launched in 2017 by founder Lucas LaRochelle, with a mission to gather submissions from queer people and create a global digital archive of queer memory as much of queer life is still subject to secrecy or destruction.

Submissions coming from Gaza over the last couple of months have been some of the most heart-wrenching. Tales of lost lovers, families wiped out, and farewells from individuals who knew they’d soon die are scattered across the map in Gaza.

One submission reads: “Idk how long I will live so I just want this to be my memory here before I die. I am not going to leave my home, come what may. My biggest regret is not kissing this one guy. He died two days back. We had told how much we like each other and I was too shy to kiss last time. He died in the bombing. I think a big part of me died too. And soon I will be dead. To younus, i will kiss you in heaven.”

Sarah O’Neal from The Nation wrote an article last November covering the stories left by Palestinians.

“It is vital to unravel the misinformation that keeps people consenting to wars where thousands of children are deemed acceptable “collateral damage,” O’Neal writes.

I read these stories and grieve the people whose desperate fingers typed them. I think about them and wonder if they have survived the US-funded Israeli airstrikes. If they will be able to leave new notes on this Queer Map. If they will be able to rebuild Gaza in their image, with their love and memories. If they will one day be free of occupation travel restrictions to wander the globe and experience the different pulses of queer communities, and come back home to Gaza, sharing their stories with dear friends. Reminiscing over the parties they went to, the people they kissed, the meals they shared, the queer memories they made. Or if they have already joined the loves they wrote of in the next realm. If they are together, fingers intertwined, walking the shoreline of a Gaza that isn’t mapped by bombs.”

Pinkwashing in the context of U.S. foreign policy towards Palestine unveils a disturbing trend of using LGBTQ+ rights as a facade to justify military aggression and occupation. The narrative that portrays Israel as a champion of LGBTQ+ rights while ignoring the plight of queer Palestinians not only perpetuates a false sense of liberation but also disregards the harsh realities faced by marginalized communities under occupation.

The voices of Palestinian activists serve as crucial reminders of the interconnectedness of struggles for liberation. The fight against oppression cannot be compartmentalized, and the struggle for Palestinian liberation is intrinsically linked to the broader fight for justice and equality for all marginalized groups.