Paltian pop artist Bashar Murad is an openly gay sger who his mic to addrs a number of societal issu. NPR's Daniel Estr vised him at a rerdg stud East Jesalem.
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GAY PALTIAN POP SGER BASHAR MURAD KEEPS DREAMG BIG
* gay palestinian singer *
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MASKHARA")MURAD: (Sgg Arabic) Are you the only openly gay Paltian sger performg today? They said, Bashar is gay.
They ed a rogatory word Arabic for gay. Bee you're gay.
You know, growg up, the topics of homosexualy and, you know, and genr and queer issu, they were very, very, very taboo that, you know, growg up, I thought I was the only gay person Palte. On the other hand, Murad was the only gay Paltian pop sger to open his shows wearg a weddg veil and to go on to perform a ver of the John-and-Yoko classic anthem Image, plete wh altered referenc to dreams of no checkpots, visas and passports, too.
PALTIANS DIVID OVER NCELATN OF NCERT BY GAY SGER
On June 17, Paltian youth the cy of Ramallah, the central Wt Bank, prevented sger Bashar Murad om performg over what they lled his support of homosexualy Palte.
In a story on his Facebook page, Murad, who is gay, announced the ncellatn of the live show at al-Mtawda3 cultural space Ramallah, whout explag the reasons. But a vio taken si the cultural space that went viral on social media showed a group of young men askg employe at al-Mtawda3 to ncel the show bee the performers were gay. Jarrar said, “While the young men of Jen are sacrificg their liv for the beloved homeland, a spic group tried to hold a gay party Ramallah.
In a June 17 post on his Facebook page, Jarrar, who is the son of proment Hamas preacher Bassam Jarrar, said that his group received rmatn that an annual gay party was to be held Ramallah. After they arrived at the se, "we were surprised by gay group mockg our te relign and throwg bbish and ston while we were performg the Maghrib prayer ont of the venue, where the event was set to be held.