This weeks reading dealt with how
Israel hijacks gay activism to cover up the Palestinian territory
issues. Specifically by showing support when violent acts of
homophobia rise, Israelis present “it as an exception to the
otherwise peaceful, tolerant, and liberal nature of Israeli society”
(494). Hochberg analyses the exclusion of Palestinians from homo
nationalism in Israel's gay rights discourse. Hochberg explains the
cultural boarders between Palestine and Israel are often explained in
simple terms are secularism versus religious fundamentalism which is
what creates the idea that Israel is the forward-thinking side.
Hochberg looks at QUIT!, a gay organization that claims that
supporting israel is the right thing to do for the better of queer
culture. Hochberg then looks at what it means to be a gay Arab and
finds that people like Fanon, an anti colonial thinker, reject
homosexuality as a lifestyle because it is a western idea. We see
that Arab culture defines sexuality around sexual roles and to come
out as gay means becoming something completely different. “first,
his sexual desires will be unfulfilled because he will no longer have
access to his previously available sexual object choice and second he
will fall victim to legal and police prosecution”(507). This turns
into violence because gays are often linked with informers and vise
versa, “becomes falsely identified with a threatening Israelization
of the Palestinian sociocultural setting” (508). Palestinian LGBTQ
work to break this pattern of thinking but palestinians do not join
the fight against homophobia using Israeli territory conflict while
Israel exhausts it's gay support in order to paint a positive image
of itself.
The following is a link to Chic Point Fashion, Hochberg mentions in "Visiting the Local Queer Scenes". It part of an artist who created this fashion show as a comment on Israeli check points that target Palestinians.
http://www.digitalartlab.org.il/ArchiveVideo.asp?id=325
