We, the undersigned drag performers and community members, declare our full solidarity with the besieged and occupied people of Palestine. All art, including drag, is political. Politics are woven into every aspect of artistic creation - its content, production, and consumption. That is why we demand an immediate ceasefire, urgent distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza and the West Bank, and a commitment to land back for indigenous Palestinian people. We further condemn the co-opting of our queer struggle to justify and pinkwash the heinous war crimes and ruthless, ongoing genocide of Palestinians.
We say collectively, unapologetically, and from the depth of our hearts: FREE PALESTINE.
The same structures that oppress Palestinians are also at the root of queer oppression (racial capitalism, ethno-supremacy and heteropatriarchy). We were angered and disgusted to see the pride flag, a supposed symbol for our rights, being raised in Gaza by an occupying soldier on stolen land. Queer and Trans Palestinians have been showing us that pinkwashing by the zionist occupation and their propagandists is nothing short of a dirty trick that aims to muddy the waters of justice. The portrayal of the occupation as queer-friendly and the occupied as homophobic leverages a veneer of progress to perpetuate oppression, a tactic colonial powers have employed for centuries.
We say: not in our name. None of us are liberated with the spilled blood of Gazan children or the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians. None of us are free until Palestine is free.
Art and creative resistance have always played a role in liberation struggles. We call on drag performers, artists, and community members to reject instutions that advocate for Zionist goals or violate Palestinian rights. Strike silently or publicly, shut down main streets, cancel shows, answer the Palestinian call for BDS, call your elected representatives, and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people resisting their ongoing ethnic cleansing and struggling for liberation. We demand the end of the zionist, colonial occupation of Palestine.
For more resources see "Queers in Palestine", BDS & PACBI, Al Qaws.
