#intersectionaljustice

Or it’s not about queer liberation. It’s about using my existence as a smokescreen for violence. 

There’s a specific, gut-level rage I feel when I hear someone say, “But Hamas is homophobic,” as if that’s the mic drop in a conversation about genocide. As if my queerness is a convenient justification. As if I’m supposed to hear that and suddenly become okay with the mass displacement, dehumanisation, and systematic destruction of Palestinian life. 

Here’s the thing: I am queer. I am scared of homophobia. And I am heartbroken by how queerness is criminalised in many places around the world — including Gaza. But I also know when my identity is being used as a weapon. And I refuse to let my queerness be conscripted into colonial narratives that have never once had my safety in mind. 

Queerphobia Exists. So Does Weaponised Empathy.

Let’s be clear: Yes, queer and trans Palestinians face homophobia. So do queer people in Tel Aviv. So do queer people in Sydney and Melbourne. So did I, growing up on a sheep farm in rural Tasmania. 

The existence of queerphobia is not a justification for occupation. It’s not a hall pass for bombing hospitals. It’s not a get-out-of-war-crimes-free card. 

When Zionists invoke homophobia in Gaza, it’s rarely in the service of actual queer liberation. It’s in service of pinkwashing — a propaganda strategy that paints Israel as a modern, liberal “safe haven” for LGBTQ+ people while using that image to distract from the violence enacted on Palestinians daily. It’s not about saving queer lives. It’s about sanitising state violence. 

“If You Were There, You’d Be Executed.”

I’ve heard that one before. Usually from someone who’s never once shown up to a Pride march. Usually from someone who voted against marriage equality in my country. Usually from someone who’s never used my pronouns correctly, never read queer theory, never believed conversion therapy was a real issue — but suddenly cares deeply about my safety in a war zone they couldn’t find on a map six months ago. 

It’s not care. It’s projection. It’s convenience. And it makes my skin crawl. 

Queer Solidarity Is Not Conditional

Palestinian queers exist. They resist. They build community. They dream. They mourn. They love. They are not passive victims in need of Western rescue narratives. They are not bargaining chips in a geopolitical argument. And they do not need bombs dropped on their neighbours in order to be free. 

Queer liberation that’s built on the backs of dead civilians is not liberation. It’s performance. And I refuse to participate in it. 

I Am Not Your Moral Cover

I’m not interested in queer liberation that comes with airstrikes. I’m not interested in being used as a pawn in someone else’s justification for war. I’m not interested in selective empathy that only shows up when it’s politically convenient. 

You don’t get to invoke my queerness while ignoring the voices of actual queer Palestinians. You don’t get to pretend to protect me while funding the machinery that dehumanises others. 

If your feminism ends at the hijab, it’s not feminism. If your allyship ends at the checkpoint, it’s not allyship. If your queer advocacy only shows up when it serves imperialism — it’s not advocacy. It’s exploitation. 

So no. I don’t want to hear about how Hamas is homophobic. I want to hear how you’re helping queer Palestinians survive. I want to hear how you’re supporting peace that doesn’t require apartheid. I want to hear that you see my queerness as mine — not yours to weaponise. 

Here are three powerful pieces that hopefully deepen the themes of exploring queer identity, Palestinian resistance, and the truth behind pinkwashing. They did for me. I hope they do for you:

📚 Book: "The Hundred Years' War on Palestine" by Rashid Khalidi A detailed, accessible history that reframes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective. Khalidi, a respected historian, powerfully challenges Western narratives while underscoring the lived resistance and resilience of Palestinians — including those often erased from dominant media discourse. 

🎧 Podcast: "Queer Arabs" – Episode: Palestinian Queer Liberation with Al-Qaws This episode features members of Al-Qaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, offering grounded, community-led insight into the lives, struggles, and activism of queer Palestinians. It directly confronts pinkwashing, imperialist narratives, and Western saviourism with lived truth.