LGBT rights in the State of Palestine: Difference between revisions

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Undid revision 1183342515 by Bakbik1234 (talk), I can't reverse the previous edit without reversing this. Sorry.
Undid revision 1183339609 by Homerethegreat (talk) I think this is important (although some of the links you added are already here), but it should be incorporated carefully into the "Legal status and criminal law" or "Civil rights and government action" sections. Having this many citations in the beginning clogs it up, and there are rules on here about not having citations (or very few) in the opening part of an article.
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In the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the local [[LGBT community]] faces a precarious situation due to the general lack of civil rights legislation aimed at tackling discrimination. However, there is also a significant legal divide between the [[West Bank]] and the [[Gaza Strip]], with the former having more progressive laws and the latter having more conservative laws. Shortly after the [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank]] in 1950, same-sex acts were decriminalized across the territory with the adoption of the [[Law of Jordan|Jordanian Penal Code of 1951]]. In the [[Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Arab Republic|Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip]] and under [[Hamas]]'s rule, however, no such initiative was implemented.
In the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the local [[LGBT community]] faces a precarious situation due to the general lack of civil rights legislation aimed at tackling discrimination. However, there is also a significant legal divide between the [[West Bank]] and the [[Gaza Strip]], with the former having more progressive laws and the latter having more conservative laws, even employing violence and the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]] against those suspected of pertaining to the [[LGBT community|LGBTQ+ community]]. <ref>{{Cite news |title=What It's Like to Be Gay in Gaza: Meeting Israelis on Dating Apps, Evading Hamas and Plotting Escape |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/2018-02-21/ty-article-magazine/.premium/what-its-like-to-be-a-gay-man-in-gaza/0000017f-f90a-d887-a7ff-f9ee85fd0000 |access-date=2023-11-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hadid |first=Diaa |last2=Waheidi |first2=Majd Al |date=2016-03-01 |title=Hamas Commander, Accused of Theft and Gay Sex, Is Killed by His Own |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/world/middleeast/hamas-commander-mahmoud-ishtiwi-killed-palestine.html |access-date=2023-11-03 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=i24NEWS |date=2022-08-10 |title=Exclusive: Gay man who fled Gaza speaks about Hamas repression |url=https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/palestinian-territories/1660138495-exclusive-gay-man-who-fled-gaza-speaks-about-experience-with-hamas |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=I24news |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=i24NEWS |date=2022-08-10 |title=Exclusive: Gay man who fled Gaza speaks about Hamas repression |url=https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/palestinian-territories/1660138495-exclusive-gay-man-who-fled-gaza-speaks-about-experience-with-hamas |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=I24news |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Pride and Prejudice: The Hellish Life of Gaza’s LGBTQ Community |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/2019-06-25/ty-article/.premium/pride-and-prejudice-the-hellish-life-of-gazas-lgbtq-community/0000017f-db0b-df9c-a17f-ff1b46ca0000 |access-date=2023-11-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Segal |first=Mark |date=2023-10-11 |title=Hamas hates you as well |url=https://epgn.com/2023/10/11/hamas-hates-you-as-well/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=Philadelphia Gay News |language=en-US}}</ref>

⚫
Shortly after the [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank]] in 1950, same-sex acts were decriminalized across the territory with the adoption of the [[Law of Jordan|Jordanian Penal Code of 1951]]. In the [[Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Arab Republic|Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip]] and under [[Hamas]]'s rule, however, no such initiative was implemented.


==Legal status and criminal law ==
==Legal status and criminal law ==

Revision as of 18:56, 3 November 2023

LGBT rights in Palestine
Map of the two Palestinian territories, highlighted in green: the West Bank (right) and the Gaza Strip (left)
StatusMixed legality:
  • West Bank – decriminalized since 1951, equal age of consent
  • Gaza Strip – no consensus on applicability of British 1936 Sexual offences provisions to homosexual conduct
Family rights
Recognition of relationshipsNo recognition of same-sex couples
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In the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the local LGBT community faces a precarious situation due to the general lack of civil rights legislation aimed at tackling discrimination. However, there is also a significant legal divide between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with the former having more progressive laws and the latter having more conservative laws. Shortly after the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank in 1950, same-sex acts were decriminalized across the territory with the adoption of the Jordanian Penal Code of 1951. In the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip and under Hamas's rule, however, no such initiative was implemented.

Legal status and criminal law

On September 18, 1936, the criminal code of Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate Criminal Code, which drew from Ottoman law or English law,[1] was enacted. Section 152(1)(b)(c) of the code states that any person who "commits an act of sodomy with any person against his will by the use of force or threats" or "commits an act of sodomy with a child under the age of sixteen years" is liable for imprisonment up to 14 years, while Section 152(2)(b) states that anyone who has "carnal knowledge" of anyone acting "against the law of nature" is liable for a prison term up to 10 years.[2] Palestinian academic Sa'ed Atshan argued that this criminal code was an example of British export of homophobia to the Global South.[3] The present applicability of this law is disputed. The Human Dignity Trust states that the criminal code is still "in operation" in Gaza albeit with scarce evidence of its enforcement,[4] while Amnesty International does not report same-sex sexual activity as being illegal in any Palestinian territory, but emphasizes that Palestinian authorities do not stop, prevent or investigate homophobic and transphobic threats and attacks.[5] The editor-in-chief of the Palestinian Yearbook of International Law, Anis. F. Kassim argued that the criminal code could be "interpreted as allowing homosexuality."[6]

The decriminalization of homosexuality in Palestine is a patchwork. On the one hand, the British Mandate Criminal Code was in force in Jordan until 1951, with the Jordanian Penal Code having "no prohibition on sexual acts between persons of the same sex," which applied to the West Bank, while Israel stopped using the code in 1977.[7] On the other, the Palestinian Authority has not legislated either for or against homosexuality. Legalistically, the confused legal legacy of foreign occupation – Ottoman, British, Jordanian, Egyptian and Israeli – continues to determine the erratic application or non-application of the criminal law to same-sex activity and gender variance in each of the territories.[8] A correction issued by the Associated Press in August 2015 stated that homosexuality is not banned, by law in the Gaza Strip or West Bank, but is "largely taboo," and added "there are no laws specifically banning homosexual acts."[9]

Civil rights and government action

In the State of Palestine, there is no specific, stand-alone civil rights legislation that protects LGBT people from discrimination or harassment. Some have reported that while hundreds of queer Palestinians are reported to have fled to Israel because of the hostility they face in Palestine,[10] they are subject to house arrest, or deportation, by Israeli authorities on account of the in-applicability of the law of asylum to areas or nations in which Israel is in conflict.[11] There have also been reports that Palestinian Authority police kept files on gay Palestinians and that Israeli intelligence blackmailed gay Palestinians into becoming informants.[12][13] The Israeli LGBT organization The Aguda – Israel's LGBT Task Force stated, in 2013, that around 2,000 Palestinian homosexuals live in Tel Aviv "at any one time."[12] In February 2016, it was reported that one of the leading commanders of the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Mahmoud Ishtiwi, was executed under the charges that he engaged in homosexual activity and theft.[14][15]

In August 2019, the Palestinian Authority announced that LGBT groups were forbidden to meet in the West Bank on the grounds that they are "harmful to the higher values and ideals of Palestinian society". This was in response to a planned conference in Nablus by Al-Qaws, a Palestinian LGBT group.[16][17][18] Following backlash, the ban was later withdrawn.[19]

In October 2022, Palestinian police arrested a suspect who beheaded a 25-year-old male Palestinian, Ahmad Abu Marhia, who was seeking asylum in Israel "because he was gay." At the time it was reported that 90 Palestinians who identified with the LGBT community lived "as asylum seekers in Israel."[20][21]

Activism

Logo of Al Qaws, the leading organization for Palestinian LGBTQ rights. The group was shortly banned in 2019, with the ban being reversed after backlash.

In the early 2000s, two established groups formed to provide support to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) Palestinian people living within the borders of Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Al Qaws ("The bow" in Arabic, referencing a rainbow), the first official Palestinian LGBTQ organization, was founded in 2001 as a community project of the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance[22] to specifically address the needs of LGBTQ Palestinian people living in Jerusalem.[23] In 2002, a second group formed to specifically address the needs of Palestinian lesbian women, named Aswat ("Voices" in Arabic), was founded as a project of the Palestinian Feminist NGO Kayan, at the Haifa Feminist Center. Aswat started as an anonymous email-list serving to provide support to Palestinian gay women, and developed into an established working group, translating and developing original texts related to gender identity and sexuality into Arabic.[23][24] Aswat's efforts face challenges,[25][26] including a fatwa was issued against co-founder Rauda Morcos.[27] In 2010, the organization Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (PQBDS) was formed, aimed at challenging Israeli representation of gay life in Palestine and pinkwashing. They also run a website called Pinkwatching Israel.[23]

Protesters with sign "Queers Against Israeli Apartheid" in Edmonton (2011)

In 2015, a Palestinian artist named Khaled Jarrar painted a rainbow flag on a section of a West Bank wall, and a group of Palestinians painted over it. Jarrar said that he painted the rainbow flag to remind people that although same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States, Palestinians still live in occupation, and criticized the paint-over, stating that it "reflects the absence of tolerance, and freedoms in the Palestinian society".[28]

Palestinian queer organizations like Al Qaws describe themselves as "queer-feminist" and anti-colonial in regards to the Israeli-occupied territories,[29] and caution against rendering all of the progressive forces inside Palestine invisible, including erasing the queer Palestinian movement's achievements, describing it as a form of violence.[30] In relation to a ban on conversion therapy in Israel, activists such as Maisan Hamdan criticized the conservative Islamic Movement, which is active in Israel and part of Knesset, who voted against the ban. Hamdan states that the sole effort of the movement is Palestine's liberation, without inclusion of LGBTQ rights, and stated that these two efforts (liberating Palestine and liberating queer people) should proceed together.[27]

During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, some Palestinians, who considered themselves part of the LGBT community, shared information in anonymously geotagged posts on Queering the Map. It was said that this provided a "rare glimpse" into perspectives of queer Palestinians, with many messages expressing solidarity with the Palestinian liberation cause.[31] Others said that Palestinians were sharing their "last words" on the platform.[32]

Summary table

Same-sex sexual activity legal West Bank:
Yes Legal since 1951 for males; always been legal for females
Gaza:
No consensus Males (and females): No consensus on legal applicability of British 1936 Sexual offences provisions to homosexual conduct
Equal age of consent West Bank: Yes (18 years)
Gaza: No For males / Yes For females
Anti-discrimination laws in employment only No
Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services No
Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech) No
Same-sex marriages No
Recognition of same-sex couples No
Step-child adoption by same-sex couples No
Joint adoption by same-sex couples No
Gays and lesbians allowed to serve openly in the military No
Right to change legal gender No
Access to IVF for lesbians No
Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples No
MSM allowed to donate blood No

See also

References

  1. ^ Abrams, Normal (January 1972). "Interpreting the Criminal Code Ordinance, 1936 — The Untapped Well". Israel Law Review. 7 (1): 25–64. doi:10.1017/S0021223700003411. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  2. ^ An Ordinance to Provide a General Penal Code for Palestine (PDF) (Ordinance Chapter XVIII. Offenses Against Morality, Section 152). Office of the British High Commissioner for Palestine. 18 September 1936. p. 1005. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 July 2023.
  3. ^ Raza-Sheikh, Zoya (29 June 2023). "Why the LGBTQ+ community should care about Palestine". Gay Times. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  4. ^ "Palestine". Human Dignity Trust. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Everything you need to know about human rights in Palestine". Amnesty International. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  6. ^ Abusalim, Dorgham (13 March 2018). "The Real Oppressors of Gaza's Gay Community: Hamas or Israel?". Institute of Palestine Studies. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  7. ^ Lucas Paoli Itaborahy; Jingshu Zhu (May 2014). State-Sponsored Homophobia (PDF) (Report). ILGA. pp. 16, 20, 55. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  8. ^ "Legal Status in the Palestinian territories". Birzeit University Institute of Law. Archived from the original on 3 November 2007.
  9. ^ "Palestinian protesters whitewash rainbow flag from West Bank barrier". The Guardian. Associated Press. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  10. ^ "In Limbo – Palestinian gays". Radio Netherlands. 8 August 2004. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Palestinian gays flee to Israel". BBC News. 22 October 2003. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  12. ^ a b O'Connor, Nigel (19 February 2013). "Gay Palestinians Are Being Blackmailed Into Working As Informants United Kingdom". Vice. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  13. ^ "Revealed: Israel is a gay Mecca - New York Times promotes a pink-washed democracy". An-Nahar. 8 January 2015. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  14. ^ Hadid, Diaa; Waheidi, Majd Al (1 March 2016). "Hamas Commander, Accused of Theft and Gay Sex, Is Killed by His Own". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  15. ^ Moore, Jack (2 March 2016). "Hamas executed a prominent commander after accusations of gay sex". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 13 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  16. ^ Weich, Ben (19 August 2019). "Palestinian Authority bans LGBTQ groups from the West Bank". Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 13 October 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  17. ^ Kershner, Isabel; Najib, Mohammed (19 August 2021). "Palestinian Authority Bans Activities by Gay Rights Group". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  18. ^ Cooper, Alex (19 August 2019). "Palestinian police vow crackdown on LGBTQ events in West Bank". NBC News. Archived from the original on 13 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  19. ^ "Rights groups slam Palestinian police for banning LGBTQ activity". The Times of Israel. AFP. 21 August 2019. Archived from the original on 12 July 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  20. ^ "Gay Palestinian Ahmad Abu Marhia beheaded in West Bank". BBC News. 7 October 2023. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  21. ^ Debre, Israel (1 October 2022). "Shock, questions after gruesome killing of gay Palestinian". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  22. ^ Maikey, Haneen. "Rainbow over Palestine". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  23. ^ a b c Abdelmoez, Joel W. (2021), Rosenberg, Tiina; D'Urso, Sandra; Winget, Anna Renée (eds.), "Deviants, Queers, or Scissoring Sisters of Men?: Translating and Locating Queer and Trans Feminisms in the Contemporary Arabic-Speaking World", The Palgrave Handbook of Queer and Trans Feminisms in Contemporary Performance, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 283–301, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-69555-2_16, ISBN 978-3-030-69554-5, S2CID 240561329, retrieved 1 November 2023
  24. ^ "Information & Publication". Aswat Group. Archived from the original on 26 January 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  25. ^ "Rauda Morcos". The Advocate. 8 May 2006. Archived from the original on 25 December 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  26. ^ Morcos, Rauda (2012–2023). "Between Patriarchy and Occupation: Rauda Morcos and Palestinian Lesbian Activism for Bodily Rights". al-raida (Interview). Interviewed by Habib, Samar; Moujaes, Nayla. Academia.edu. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  27. ^ a b "'A queer cry for freedom': Meet the LGBTQ Palestinians demanding liberation". +972 Magazine. 2 August 2020. Archived from the original on 16 September 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  28. ^ Daraghmeh, Mohammed; Deitch, Ian (30 June 2015). "Rainbow flag on West Bank barrier touches nerve for Palestinians". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  29. ^ "About Us". Al Qaws. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  30. ^ Maikey, Haneen; Aked, Hilary (3 March 2019). "Eurovision has turned into a 'pinkwashing' opportunity for Israel – the LGBT+ community should boycott it". The Independent. Archived from the original on 23 May 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  31. ^ "In Gaza, 'Queering the Map' Reveals Heartbreaking Notes of LGBT Love and Loss". Time. 20 October 2023. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  32. ^ Denny (18 October 2023). "LGBTQ Palestinians in Gaza are sharing their last words on an online mapping platform". Reckon. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.

Further reading

External links

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