Standing with alQaws
The group that authored the Guest Opinion, "A call for solidarity with Palestinian queers," [August 29] has it right. The LGBT community around the world needs to stand with the alQaws queer rights group and all that it is fighting for. Pro-Israel groups, including within our community, were quick to seize on the Palestinian Authority's ban on alQaws (which has since been rescinded due to international and domestic pressure) as proof that LGBTs who support Palestine are naive and have been duped. But they are wrong; those of us who really care about freedom and justice stand with Palestine. We in the U.S. should denounce the PA's ban on alQaws and any similar repression, but we must also recognize that their society is being warped by the oppressive Israeli occupation. Based on my experience traveling in the Palestinian territories, I feel certain that if they could be freed from the occupation, their society would soon embrace LGBT rights and other progressive ideas.
Jeff Pekrul
San Francisco