"how well do you treat your homosexuals?"
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One piece which I found particularly new and interesting to explore was written by Sirma Bilge entitled "Mapping Quebecois Sexual Nationalism". Bilge explores how discourse regarding the body and identity have been weaponised by nationalists and used to promote a national agenda. One interesting sentence that stood out to me was when she wrote "The ‘ homosexual question ’ supplements (not swaps) the ‘ woman question ’ as a yardstick of civilisational competency: the question ‘ how well do you treat your women? ’ serving since colonial times to determine ‘‘ a nation’s capacity for sovereignty has now been appended by the barometer of ‘ how well do you treat your homosexuals? ’’" This particularly resonated with me as this argument is used to justify Israel's genocide in Palestine. As a gay person myself I have been told "Go to Gaza and see what they do to you" along with people comparing Queers for Palestine banners to "chickens for KFC". This notion that solidarity is transactional is very problematic- implying that one cannot empathise with a people simply because of their sexuality. It is blatant pinkwashing that serves to justify genocide and legitimise the bombing of a besieged civilian population. Moreover, Queer people in Gaza at the moment are far more likely to be killed by an Israeli bomb than anything else. I know this phrase is overused but as Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer said, “Nobody's free until everybody's free” and so long as Palestinians are experiencing genocide, apartheid and displacement, Queer people around the globe must keep mobilising in support.