On April 17, Qomunidad and Justice is Global hosted an event featuring Dr. Izat El Amoor, an assistant professor of sociology at Hendrix College in Arkansas. His research focuses on LGBTQ+ issues in Palestine and LGBTQ+ life in the Middle East and North Africa.
El Amoor came to talk about the nuances of pinkwashing, “homonationalism and queer life” in the Palestinian-Israeli region. Pinkwashing is the act of claiming support for LGBTQ+ rights to distract from a separate agenda.
El Amoor began his lecture by showing the audience a map of the Palestinian-Israeli region and its demographics. He highlighted the current realities and challenges faced by Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, including the heavy military presence, infrastructure limitations and economic fragility. El Amoor presented a historical overview of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, arguing that a big part of it is about the rights of Palestinian people to their land and their bond with it.
The conversation then turned to how nationalism and claims of LGBTQ+ acceptance are used in Israel. El Amoor showed two photos of Israeli soldiers in uniform, standing in front of tanks. Both images showed the soldiers holding flags — one an Israeli flag with a rainbow border and the other a full rainbow flag with the words “in the name of love” written on the front. El Amoor broke down Israel’s self-presentation as LGBTQ+ friendly but highlighted their contradictions — like the laws, social attitudes and barriers refugees face.
The lecture shed light on how pinkwashing is deployed to deflect from injustice while erasing the complexity of the violence and struggles in Palestine. “It’s also a tool to justify this occupation that the Palestinians have to go through. But then again, can we use LGBTQ+ rights as a way to determine whether people deserve whatever injustice we impose on them? And can we practice the human rights violations in any way we want in every area and aspect of life?” said El Amoor.
Third year women’s gender and sexuality studies major Brandley Delgado, event coordinator and graphic designer for Qomunidad, was the main coordinator for this event. Delgado tried to find an expert on the topic of LGBTQ+ and Palestinian issues and searched through the SUNY New Paltz library’s scholarly papers and case studies. Delgado was not surprised to find nothing on the topic in the library, and turned to the internet to find Dr. Izat El Amoor to deliver a lecture on his research for the campus.
As a queer Latinx club, Qomunidad found it vital to educate our campus about these issues in Palestine. “We label ourselves as queer Latinx. That is what we are, but we are also about interconnected struggle. Today we can be queer Latinx, but we can also be queer Palestinians. How we are interchangeable to others, is how we get our interconnectedness,” said Lukas Cortes, president of Qomunidad.
“Everything we need to enact change is right at our fingertips. We just have to reach for it. Reach for your phone, reach for Dr. Izat El Amoor’s work, reach for community,” said Delgado.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to El Amoor as “Amoor.” We deeply regret this error.