Gay Palestinians, Gaza, Israel

Can you imagine if heterosexuality were outlawed and that our parents would have to hide us, their children, because we were evidence of their crime? For gay Palestinians, much of their lives are spent deciding when, where, how, and if they should hide. They are caught somewhere in between choosing to be quiet about who they love, undergoing harsh maltreatment at home, which includes physical abuse, death, disowning, or imprisonment, or deciding to escape to Israel, where gay Israelis live a much freer life, but where Palestinians are seen as security threats and therefore must live in hiding to avoid being detained or deported. In other words, if gay Palestinians choose to remain in Gaza or the West Bank, they must hide their sexual identity, but if they escape to Israel they must themselves hide. Sexual identity and Palestinian identity intersect at a difficult place, a no man's land for gay Palestinians.

For those who do move to Israel, however, projects are beginning to be established to protect and promote the rights of gay Palestinians who have fled Gaza, the West Bank, and Arab villages in the country. Hopefully, the kind of hiding into which gay Palestinians are forced, will soon cease to be a lifestyle that for many of us seems unimaginable.

But for now, as Israel continues its military campaign against Hamas into the Gaza strip, I can't help but think that gay people may be dying unnecessarily, or are alone, without the freedom to be with whom they want to be during what is possibly the most terrifying time of their lives.