'Queering the Map' Offers A Glimpse of Gay Life in Gaza
A platform created in Canada allows glimpses into the lives of LGBTQ+ people around the world — including in Gaza, where gay people live cautiously in the best of times.
Time magazine reported on the platform, which is the creation of Montral-based Lucas LaRochelle. The platform "allows LGBT-identifying users to make anonymous geotagged posts," Time explained.
"The pink-colored atlas of community-sourced anecdotes, ranging from the raunchy to the heart-rending, has charted experiences across the world, in at least 28 languages."
Poignant messages geotagged to Gaza remind more fortunate LGBTQ+ people around the world of what it's like to live in places where being gay is viewed as a moral and social sin.
"I know I was different from a young age," Time quoted one such message as reading. "I knew I liked boys early on. But society demands it remains hidden.
"I live elsewhere now and I'm still trying to connect the dots," the message continues. "I wish things weren't this complicated. I don't want to hurt my family, but I cannot live a lie."
Another message, geotagged right on the shoreline — at a pier, Time noted — identifies the spot as "A place [where] I kissed my first [crush].
"Being gay in Gaza is hard but somehow it was fun," the post added. "I made out with a lot of boys in my neighborhood. I thought everyone is gay to some level."
Time noted that the messages don't include time and date stamps, so there's no telling exactly when they were posted. But one message — "tagged in the northern city of Jabalia, where a series of Israeli missiles last week destroyed a refugee camp and reportedly killed dozens of people," Time notes — seems to speak to the moment, with the person who posted it mourning a lost love... and vanished possibilities.
"I've always imagined you and me sitting out in the sun, hand and hand, free at last," the message laments. "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."
Another message of grief included a name and, for that reason, may have been taken down from the platform. But screenshots still exist, and have circulated on social media, Time reported.
"My biggest regret is not kissing this one guy," the message reads, in part. "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."
Another offers a simple message: A testament that LGTBQ+ people exist in Gaza at all.
"Pls know despite what the media says there are gay Palestinians," the message states. "We are here, we are queer. Free Palestine."