What It's Like to Be Gay Gaza: Meetg Israelis on Datg Apps, Evadg Hamas and Plottg Espe | RetEra

Contents:

• WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY GAZA: MEETG ISRAELIS ON DATG APPS, EVADG HAMAS AND PLOTTG ESPE
• EXPLORG GAY PALTE
• THE REAL OPPRSORS OF GAZA'S GAY COMMUNY: HAMAS OR ISRAEL?
• BETTER TO BE A JEW THAN GAY GAZA, SAYS GAZAN LGBTQ MAN
• ‘JT BE GRATEFUL YOU’RE NOT GAY GAZA’
• GAY MAN WHO FLED GAZA SPEAKS ABOUT HAMAS REPRSN
• HARRIS'S NIECE URG FIGHT AGAST 'PALTIAN OPPRSN' - SPE GAYS GAZA BEG IMPRISONED
• WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY GAZA: MEETG ISRAELIS ON DATG APPS, EVADG HAMAS AND PLOTTG ESPE

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

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. Shortly before he mted suici, we sat down together and he asked me, ‘If I kill myself, will God five me for beg gay? 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.

EXPLORG GAY PALTE

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.

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.

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

“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. 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.

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.

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

I have already heard several stori of gay men beg forcibly married to women by their fai after beg ught. 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.

‘JT BE GRATEFUL YOU’RE NOT GAY GAZA’

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. 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.

GAY MAN WHO FLED GAZA SPEAKS ABOUT HAMAS REPRSN

Sharia, Islamic law, which is based on both the Koran and on the Hadh (saygs attributed to the prophet Mohammed and people who were close to him), looks askance at all homosexual acts, says Dr. “Historilly, ” she explas, “Islamic jurists disagreed about the punishment homosexuals serve. Cred: \ REUTERSThe days, however, the most fluential Islamic Sunni jurist, Qatar-based Sheikh Yuf al-Qaradawi, asserts that the punishment for homosexualy mt be the same as for prostutn – namely, ath, strs Shemer.

In many Mlim stat, cludg Iran and Sdi Arabia, homosexualy is persecuted and people acced of are executed. M., a Paltian psychologist livg and workg Germany, who spoke wh Haaretz on ndn that he rema anonymo, says that the society’s negative attu toward homosexualy is not necsarily nnected to Islam self, but rather to the culture and the notn of masculy.

“Islam obvly plays a role, ” says M., “but even people who are totally secular reject homosexualy. 'Homosexuals nnot live openly any Arab society the Middle East, cludg Gaza, the Wt Bank and Arab ci and villag si Israel, but this don’t mean of urse there are no gay men and women those societi. Unlike the Wt Bank, where homosexualy is not officially prohibed by law, Gaza, a law left over om the era of the Brish Mandate prohibg homosexual acts is still formally place.

HARRIS'S NIECE URG FIGHT AGAST 'PALTIAN OPPRSN' - SPE GAYS GAZA BEG IMPRISONED

But the social taboo, which subjects active gays to persecutn by both their fai and the thori, is more signifint than the legal ban. Last year, a high-profile Hamas manr, Mahmoud Ishtiwi, was tortured and shot ad after beg acced, among other thgs, of beg gay. Ja tells about a iend who was imprisoned for three years for beg gay, unr false accatns of nspiracy wh the Paltian Authory and pnage.

He himself spent a month jail about two years ago – after postg a statement on Facebook favor of gay rights Gaza. ” Michal BonanoDpe the danger and the social opprobrium, Ja scrib the gay muny the Gaza Strip as “huge” and claims that the number of people who are secretly volved gay relatnships is creasg. ” 'Islam obvly plays a role, but even Paltians who are totally secular reject homosexualy.

He only gave back after eight months, when Ja promised he would end all of his gay-related ti. “Meet me at Arafat Square, ” my gay Paltian iend Najeeb texted me, “I’ll take you to one of the queer fés Ramallah. Admtedly, I arrived the Wt Bank wh certa expectatns of homophobia, xenophobia, and even vlence.

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

Acrdg to Troy Masters, origally om Nashville and currently livg New York as the -founr and associate publisher of Gay Cy News. Troy reunts a story of g across a small group of gay and l- bian Paltians Ramallah who, “after spottg me as gay, ved me to their table and offered me ffee.

” Many other gay travelers I met the Wt Bank reunted siar stori of hospaly.