The absurdity of ‘Queers for Palestine’

The slogan "Queers for Palestine" is presented as a symbol of solidarity, yet it exposes a central tension within contemporary progressive politics. The article argues that queer identity is being used to legitimize a cause whose primary political and armed factions would actively suppress queer existence.

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Queer identity is used to legitimize a cause whose dominant political and armed forces would not protect queer life but erase it.

While acknowledging the right of queer individuals to care about Palestinian statehood and criticize Israeli governments, the piece identifies a problem when this concern is coupled with silence or ignorance regarding the realities faced by queer Palestinians. Many pro-Palestinian activists are criticized for denouncing Zionism while saying little about Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, religious coercion, patriarchal violence, or the persecution of LGBTQ people within Palestinian society.

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The problem begins when concern for Palestinians is accompanied by silence – or outright ignorance – about the realities faced by queer Palestinians themselves.

The article cites an example of a queer activist in Boulder, Colorado, who believed "white privilege" and American citizenship would protect him in Gaza, a notion dismissed as a fantasy. It highlights the stark contrast for queer activists with Middle Eastern roots who enjoy freedoms in Western cities that are denied in their region of origin. Some of these individuals, the article claims, use their freedoms not to defend universal queer rights but to condemn Israel, the only Middle Eastern nation with a significant open queer public life.

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In Gaza, neither privilege nor passport guarantees safety. Queer Palestinians know this better than anyone.

The concept of "pinkwashing", the accusation that Israel promotes LGBTQ rights to distract from its policies toward Palestinians, is addressed. The article argues this is largely a straw man, as serious defenders of Israel do not base their arguments on gay rights. Instead, debates are rooted in security, law, and competing national claims. The existence of flourishing queer life in Israel, the article concludes, complicates the anti-Israel narrative by demonstrating the freedoms denied by many movements romanticized by activists.

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The criticism of alleged “pinkwashing” pretends to expose propaganda but often functions as propaganda itself.