(StraightNews.org) – A “Drag Show for Palestine” event scheduled for an Arizona bookstore has been cancelled following a backlash. The event, featuring a drag character named Daddy Satan, stated that children were welcome while simultaneously warning that adult content was possible.
Palabras Book Store in Phoenix, which was to host the show, says it is a “community refuge” and cultural hub with a “mission” to challenge the “very active silencing” of black and indigenous people of color.
Organizers pulled the event following online criticism, particularly from people urging the group to hold drag shows in the Palestinian territories, where homosexuality is illegal and often subject to violent persecution. Ironically, many gay people in the Palestinian territories frequently flee to Israel for safety.
In February, the Tel Aviv Court for Administrative Affairs ruled that gay Palestinians have the right to seek asylum in Israel on the grounds of their sexual orientation. The Court delivered the decision after a 29-year-old Palestinian man appealed a previous ruling by the Population and Immigration Authority, which refused to extend his residency in the Jewish state.
Nevertheless, the “Queers for Palestine” movement continues to protest against Israel and to promote BDS – Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. BDS calls on the world’s nations and businesses to end relations with Israel and pressure the country to cease its “occupation” of Palestinian territories.
Critics say the “Queers for Palestine” position is “absurd.” For example, Armin Navabi, a former Muslim based in Australia, has denounced the movement and described its proponents as lacking essential awareness of how culturally incompatible many Muslim countries are with the Western world.
Navabi notes that Israel is “at the forefront of gay rights” in the Middle East, but Western leftists view the Palestinian cause as “an oppressed, brown victim class” fighting white, Western-backed aggressors, and as such, is a “righteous cause.”
In 2021, Navabi also notes, a UCLA study of global acceptance of LGBT rights placed Palestinian territories behind Russia and Saudi Arabia.
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