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LGBTQ+ Palestinians Pay Tribute to Their Lost Loves in Heartbreaking Social Posts
Queer Palestinians are paying tribute to their fallen loved ones on the Queering the Map app.
Queer Palestinians are making their voices heard any way they know how.
In the recent escalation of conflict between Israel and Hamas, civilians are paying the biggest price. And for queer people in the region, an app has become the latest way for the community to connect and let itself be known.
Conflict has been going on in the region for decades, but the latest attacks from Israel on Palestinian civilians came after militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing over 1,400 Israelies.
In Israel’s attacks in response, over 2,670 Palestinians have been killed, with another 10,000 civilians injured in the attacks. 52 percent of those are women and children. Additionally, Israel has ordered that 1.1 million Palestinians living in the northern Gaza Strip must evacuate south, leaving their homes and communities.
Now, in order to pay tribute to those communities they are losing, queer Palestinians are taking to the app Queering the Map to express their frustration, feelings, and loss.
Queering the Map is an online mapping platform where users can submit personal queer experiences and tag them on a collective map, letting other queer people around the world see how we are all connected and not alone. Over 80,000 experiences in 23 languages have been cataloged on the map since it began.
Now, LGBTQ+ Palestinians are using the app to send their messages. And the results are heartbreaking.
Journalist Afeef Nessouli has shared some of the messages queer Palestinians have shared through the app.
“I’ve always imagined you and me sitting out in the sun, hand and hand, free at last,” one person wrote. “We spoke of all the places we would go if we could. Yet you are gone now. If I had known that bombs raining down on us would take you from me, I would have gladly told the world how I adored you more than anything. I’m sorry I was a coward.”
“A place where I kissed my first crash,” wrote another on a spot on the map. “Being gay in Gaza is hard but somehow it was fun. I made out with a lot of boys in my neighborhood. I thought everyone is gay to some level.”
“Idk how long I will live so I just want this to be my memory here before I die. I am not going to leave my home come what may,” a third person wrote. “My biggest regret is not kissing thai one guy. He died two days back. We had told how much we like each other and I was too shy to kiss last time. He died in the bombing. I think a big part of me died too. And soon I will be dead. To Younus, I will kiss you in heaven.”
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
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