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Interested in the history of queer-Palestine solidarity politics? Here's a 
about 1980s-1990s Arab American Queer Activism, based on my snapshot essay in #RemakingRadicalism: A Grassroots Documentary Reader of the US, 1973-2001 ( @UGAPress). Yalla!
1/12 http://www.remakingradicalism.org
about 1980s-1990s Arab American Queer Activism, based on my snapshot essay in #RemakingRadicalism: A Grassroots Documentary Reader of the US, 1973-2001 ( @UGAPress). Yalla!1/12 http://www.remakingradicalism.org
During the 1980s-1990s, lesbian & gay Arab Americans formed social support groups to deal w/ anti-Arab racism within lesbian, gay, bisexual, & transgender (LGBT) social circles and homophobia within Arab American communities. 2/12
#RemakingRadicalism
#RemakingRadicalism
Although these groups held regular social events--potlucks galore!--they were also vectors for various kinds of activism. 3/12
#RemakingRadicalism
#RemakingRadicalism
The Arab Lesbian Network (ALN) in San Francisco (later, the Arab Lesbian & Bisexual Women’s Network) was especially active. It was founded by Palestinian-American Huda Jadallah in the late 1980s. 4/12
#RemakingRadicalism
#RemakingRadicalism
ALN members collaborated w/ other leftist groups, like LAGAI (Lesbians & Gays Against Intervention) & its affiliate groups like LISPP (Lesbians in Solidarity w/ the Palestinian People), to make LGBT Arabs visible & educate their communities 5/12
#RemakingRadicalism
#RemakingRadicalism
For example, in 1989 ALN & LISPP hosted a forum at the Women’s Building in San Francisco’s Mission District: “The Palestinian Uprising and the Lesbian Community: An Evening for Lesbians about Palestine.” 6/12
#RemakingRadicalism
#RemakingRadicalism
The forum addressed four issues: the roots of the Intifada, the role of women in the Intifada, anti-Arab racism in lesbian communities, and homophobia in Arab communities. 
7/12
#RemakingRadicalism
7/12#RemakingRadicalism
Jadallah’s forum speech was reprinted in various lesbian & gay leftist newspapers & newsletters, including The Gay Community News and the LAGAI newsletter. 8/12
#RemakingRadicalism
#RemakingRadicalism
Throughout 1989 and into the early 90s, ALN engaged with the lesbian & gay press to push back on the burgeoning pinkwashing discourse & inform people in the US about the oppression of the Palestinian people—including LGBT Palestinians. 9/12
#RemakingRadicalism
#RemakingRadicalism
ALN's activities exemplify some of the earliest resistance to Zionist pinkwashing. Although scholars & activists started to critique & challenge pinkwashing post-9/11, it's important to recognize the previous work of LGBT Arab American activists. 10/12
#RemakingRadicalism
#RemakingRadicalism
One of the most fulfilling parts of this research was interviewing Huda Jadallah in Oakland, CA in 2017. I learned so much from her, delighted in her stories, and was lucky enough to be invited to view her personal archive of activist ephemera!! 11/12
#RemakingRadicalism
#RemakingRadicalism
This snapshot essay & the larger research project it represents is an homage to activists like Huda Jadallah & others who laid the groundwork for later generations of queer Arab Americans (like me!) & a robust anti-pinkwashing movement post 9/11. 12/12
#RemakingRadicalism
#RemakingRadicalism
