Better to be a Jew Than Gay Gaza, Says Gazan LGBTQ Man | The Jewish Prs - | Bach Yedid / TPS | 11 Tammuz 5782 – July 10, 2022 |

Contents:

• WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY GAZA: MEETG ISRAELIS ON DATG APPS, EVADG HAMAS AND PLOTTG ESPE
• CAN YOU BE GAY GAZA? NOT LEGALLY.
• BETTER TO BE A JEW THAN GAY GAZA, SAYS GAZAN LGBTQ MAN
• ‘JT BE GRATEFUL YOU’RE NOT GAY GAZA’
• THE REAL OPPRSORS OF GAZA'S GAY COMMUNY: HAMAS OR ISRAEL?
• IS ISRAEL USG GAY RIGHTS TO EXCE ITS POLICY ON PALTE?

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY GAZA: MEETG ISRAELIS ON DATG APPS, EVADG HAMAS AND PLOTTG ESPE

Homosexualy⚢Vari by RegnGay Marriage⚭✖ UnregnizedCensorshipVari by RegnNon-bary genr regnnUnknownDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsDonatg Blood✖ Banned (fe ferral)Conversn Therapy✖ Not bannedAge of ConsentVari by Regn. HistoryHomosexual activy Palte?

Homosexual activy Palte is vari by by Regn Mixed Legaly:. Unregnized In the areas admistrated by the paltian thory and the Gaza strip, Gay Marriage is unregnized, however, Unregistered Cohabatn and Same sex Marriage is Legal for Israeli cizens the Occupied Wt Bank.

Blood donatns by MSMs Palte is banned (fe ferral) (fe ferral) Illegal, homosexuals n't donate blood palte (except. Before I married my first wife I told her, ‘Mom, I’m gay.

CAN YOU BE GAY GAZA? NOT LEGALLY.

” Sami first knew he was gay at the age of 7. To be gay the “world’s largt open-air prison” has been a nstant stggle, he says.

Whereas LGBTQ Paltians livg Israel or the Wt Bank have the opportuny to leave their nservative towns and villag to fd relatively safe spac Haifa, Tel Aviv-Jaffa or even Ramallah, Gazans are trapped what he lls a “homophobic society. “I want to be gay, I want to have a partner and be love, ” he says, stgglg to hold back tears. I have met many homosexuals Gaza onle.

One of my bt iends was gay, ” he relat. Shortly before he mted suici, we sat down together and he asked me, ‘If I kill myself, will God five me for beg gay? Islam and Homosexualy: What Do the Koran Say?

BETTER TO BE A JEW THAN GAY GAZA, SAYS GAZAN LGBTQ MAN

Beg Gay Gaza: Meetg Israelis on Datg Apps and Evadg Hamas The Real Opprsors of Gaza's Gay Communy “We work wh LGBTQ Paltians om the Wt Bank, but people om Gaza — ’s really hard to help them. He won’t reveal where he went, orr to protect his inty, but adms was a shock to be a place where beg gay was not life-endangerg. Outsi the Gaza Strip for the first time, he seized on the opportuny to party a gay club.

It was time for him to cross back to Gaza, a place where the only gay people he saw growg up were the porn movi he watched on the fay puter the livg room.

There were also the gay men he ocsnally saw the Hollywood-type movi he watched wh his parents. He now liv Turkey as a “semi-openly” gay man.

‘JT BE GRATEFUL YOU’RE NOT GAY GAZA’

It wasn’t te, I don’t even thk they were gay. They asked me to be discreet so as not to tarnish our reputatn, ” he says, explag that most of his fay and iends already know he is gay. “It feels like sh to be a gay woman Palte, ” says Rima (not her real name), who recently moved to Ramallah after growg up a more nservative part of the regn.

Life is hard for everyone — but pecially women, and particularly gay women.

It’s fely easier to be gay Ramallah; there are LGBTQ-iendly spac and bars. If wasn’t for the prsure my fay is puttg on me, I would be fe beg a gay woman this cy. Alternatively, she says, she uld strike a al wh a gay man the Wt Bank and get married.

THE REAL OPPRSORS OF GAZA'S GAY COMMUNY: HAMAS OR ISRAEL?

Meetg other gay people is even more challengg the Gaza Strip. If I hadn’t spoken wh him onle before meetg real life, we would never have been brave enough to adm to each other that we were gay. I have already heard several stori of gay men beg forcibly married to women by their fai after beg ught.

“Most gay people Gaza only want sex, but I’m lookg for love. Authori failed to prevent and vtigate homophobic and transphobic threats and attacks. The 21-year-old stunt om the Gaza Strip is gay and liv a double life: an open one, as a diligent stunt, the youngt child his fay, by helpg his elrly parents wh everyday tasks (shoppg, makg sure the electril generator works and there’s water the hoe) – and a secret one, a large chunk of which is spent on datg apps and fake acunts on social works.

Ja says he first regnized his sexual orientatn at the age of 14, when he traveled abroad and met there, for the first time his life, an openly gay person. He says he only me to the ncln that his homosexualy wasn’t “some kd of a psychologil disease” about two years ago, after some gay iends nvced him to accept himself.

IS ISRAEL USG GAY RIGHTS TO EXCE ITS POLICY ON PALTE?

Although Hamas is always on the lookout for gays and monors the social media, the anizatn has some bld spots – for example, Ja assum, they are not faiar wh certa apps that gay men Gaza n e to get to know each other and chat wh people, some of them Jews, om Israel or the Wt Bank. Asked what he discs wh people om Israel, Ja says that many are anx to hear about life Gaza, and particular what ’s like for a gay person there. Ja assum Hamas isn't faiar wh certa apps that gay men Gaza e to get to know each other and chat wh people, some of them Young Paltians, There's Only One Way Out of Gaza Hasidic Woman's Journey Out of Arranged Marriage – and the Closet Gaza Kids Live Hell: A Psychologist Tells of Sex Abe, Dgs and Dpair “We discsed the erotic power of soldiers, ” relled the Israeli.

And there are also the pletely regular thgs that gays do on apps like the, talkg about what we like bed. ” In orr not to aroe spicn, gay men Gaza don’t create any kd of clubs or groups. ” Like the other Abrahamic religns, Islam prohibs homosexual relatns.