User:Etherab/Palestine Queering the Map

The state of LGBTQ+ rights in Palestine has been contested, as there is no civil rights legislation for the protection of LGBTQ+ individuals, leaving community members to face violence and persecution as a result of their LGBTQ+ identity. This state of discrimination additionally comes with complicated outcomes in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, as the West Bank has more progressive laws in comparison to the Gaza Strip. Considering the state of LGBTQ+ laws in Palestine, this leaves limited access to avenues of LGBTQ+ rights and the expression of these voices. However, the online platform Queering the Map has been used as an online map priortizes LGBTQ+ voices from all around the globe, allowing anonymous users to submit individual anecdotes related to queer experiences to specific locations on a collectively shared map . The website's platform also contributes to movements of counter-mapping, challenging dominant power structures in a movement to reclaim colonized territory. Considering these factors, the map has been innovative in the Palestinian context. It serves as a platform for LGBTQ+ members to express themselves when additionally faced with struggles of death from the Isreal-Hamas war, providing a glimpse into the unique perspective of the members of the LGBTQ+ community in Gaza . The site additionally provides the avenue to leave emotional last words, from the deaths of past loves to mourning relationships that weren’t able to develop.