Muffti believes that we have touched upon this theme before, but here’s an update. Haifa was the site of a public rally held by Arab lesbians. The conference was called ‘Home and Exile in Queer Experience’ and apparently was attended by only 10-20 gay Arab women in a crowd of about 250. Curiously, one of the performers was rapper Nahwa Abdul Aal, doesn’t support homosexuality, claiming
Being at this conference hasn’t changed my mind…I still think it’s wrong.
Aswat is the name of the organization that put on the event. Protesters outside brought the usual signs beseeching God to help: “God, we ask you to guide these lesbians to the true path…” Whatever God decides to do by way of guidance, Muffti is glad to see that there is at least one country where people feel safe enough to do this kind of thing.
Mia*
3/29/2007
Working in the Haifa high-tech industry and being a graduate of Haifa U, I know and know of quite a few gay Arab men who moved to Haifa to avoid dealing with this in their towns and villages. I even know a few inter-religious gay couples (Jewish/ Christian/ Muslim) in Haifa. I was not aware of Arab lesbians until now.
JSinger
3/30/2007
What I was curious about was why the Muslim women in Haaretz’s picture are holding up signs in Hebrew. Who is the audience for that?