An Army of Lovers Cannot Fail

Exploring Queer Resistance to Apartheid from South Africa to Palestine

Alistair Woods

 

In 1986, a small group of gays and lesbians got together to form the Simon Nkoli Anti-Apartheid Committee (SNAAC) in response to the growing solidarity movement with those in South Africa resisting oppressive and racist state policies. 

Today, more than 20 years later, another group of queer people have gathered together with the aim of dismantling a different apartheid state: Israel.

On May 23, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) coordinated Coming Out Against Apartheid, a night of debate and discussion on the role, if any at all, that queer people should play while fighting against the apartheid policies of the Israeli state. The night promised to be one of openness, honesty and controversy-and it certainly did not disappoint.

The highlight of the evening was speakers from various organizations who came to talk about a very sensitive and politically volatile issue. Among the speakers were Rafeef Ziadah, third-generation Palestinian and member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, May, queer Palestinian artist and activist, El-Farouk Khaki, founder of Salaam Canada: Queer Muslim Community and Pride 2009 Grand Marshall and Tim McCaskell, founder of AIDS Action Now and former member of SNAAC.

McCaskell urged the audience to overcome the ‘apartheid of issues’ that stipulates queer people have no place in broader struggles for social justice and domesticates gays and lesbians to become apolitical and apathetic. 

May condemned the state of Israel for specifically targeting the LGBT community for support when the tolerance of diversity is almost exclusively predicated on a negation of one’s Arab or Muslim identity. “We can’t say it’s okay to be queer but it’s not okay to be [Arab],” she said. 

May’s argument highlighted one of the most important issues for queer Palestinians and Arabs in Israel/Palestine-that they can be queer, but not Arab. Haaretz recently reported on a social event organized by al-Qaws, a Palestinian queer group, that had to plan its events to ensure that participants could get home to the Occupied Territories without harassment by Israeli military and security forces. Queer Palestinians must frequently evade Israeli authorities by climbing over the apartheid wall and sneaking into Israel to attend parties, support groups and meetings. That isn’t to say that life as a queer person in Palestine is perfect, it’s far from it, and this was a topic speakers addressed with honesty and openness. 

Controversy erupted even before the event had taken place when B’nai Brith issued a press release titled, “B’nai Brith Canada urges LGBT community not to allow their agenda to be hijacked by anti-Israel agitators.” Axpart from the obviously absurd nature of the document –B’nai Brith doesn’t exactly have a great track record with the queer community–the carefully chosen wording of the title would ensure that legitimate political dissent and activity would raise the specter of terrorism in the minds of the reader.

The dubious claims made by B’nai Brith were echoed by several participants who voiced their opinions to speakers and the audience. One particular audience member - a straight, white male - told the crowd they were hypocrites and that the event was hateful, extremist and completely unfair. His passionate speech began a tense discussion, but left many wondering what right a straight, white male has to lecture queer people–racialised queers in particular–about racism and homophobia. Interestingly enough, even after a lengthy speech outlining the similarities in the arguments in defense of apartheid South Africa and apartheid Israel, a few participants still angrily parroted the same phrase McCaskell had already identified and debunked.

One particularly irate man asked speakers, “Why Israel? Why not Iran or Saudi Arabia?” However, he may have bitten off more than he could chew as El-Farouk Khaki responded by speaking about a workshop and forum Salaam Canada held a week earlier about LGBT rights in Iraq and Iran. The event heavily criticized the homophobia and anti-queer violence present in both countries. 

“We were there. We were all there. But where were you sir? Where were you?” Khaki retorted to a thunderous roar from the crowd.

Such comments also sparked heated debate among the audience. One participant outlined the need for critical reflections on the relationships between colonialism, racism and homophobia, and encouraged the audience to look at the history of queerness in the Middle East and also contextualize its contemporary repression to formulate better strategies to fight homophobia there. “After all, we should always remember that almost all the anti-sodomy laws in place in the Middle East were introduced by the British colonial authorities under the Indian Penal Code,” Khaki said. “That’s not to say these kinds of restrictions wouldn’t have developed on their own-but we should always keep history in mind.”

In late May, rumors circulated that under the duress of B’nai Brith, the City of Toronto and the TD Bank of Canada have threatened to withdraw funding from Pride Toronto if they allow pro-Palestinian marchers to become part of the parade. Pride Toronto has decided to allow any group to participate as long as they adhere to the policies which govern all parade participants and register properly.

In a recent Jewish Tribune article, it was argued that allowing controversial political statements to be made at Pride Parade was contrary to Pride’s charter and the purpose of the parade. 

Somehow, there was no mention of the fact that the early Pride Parades were in themselves political acts of resistance to homophobia, transphobia, sexism and racism. Aside from the large-scale corporatization of the Pride Parade, as long as there’s still homophobia, Pride is still a political act. Removing politics from the Pride Parade strips it of its history, its identity, its goals and its legacy.

I conclude this with hopes the Pride Toronto will make the right choice and uphold the queer community’s right to make politically uncomfortable statements-after all, our very existence is still uncomfortable to many people, but that doesn’t mean we cancel Pride. Speaking out against injustice, racism and violence anywhere takes tremendous courage, and the queer community has shown time and time again that it has the courage to speak truth to power, so why stop now?

Finally, seeing as B’nai Brith seems to have recently had concern for the LGBT community, I have no doubt in my mind that they will become passionately involved in our contemporary struggles like including gender-identity in non-discrimination agreements, confronting HIV-stigma, leveling the age of consent, and pushing for anti-homophobia training in schools. After all, how embarrassing would it be if they were just using the LGBT community for their own political purposes? 

I can’t wait to see B’nai Brith’s float in the Pride Parade.