A presentation by a gay Palestinian on discrimination against homosexuals in Palestine has stirred controversy among Georgetown students.
The speaker, who went only by ‘Ali’ to protect his identity, was brought by the Zionist Organization of America and the Georgetown Israel Alliance for a presentation on Tuesday.
“We were contacted by the ZOA to host the speaker,” Matt Singer (SFS ‘07), head of the GIA, said. “We hope to create awareness of gay issues in the Middle East and Israel.”
Members of the SJP thought that the speech was inappropriate.
“It is not the place of GIA to address issues of Palestinian society,” Bayann Hamid (SFS ‘07), Vice President of SJP said. “That the position of gays in Palestinian society was the focus of the talk was wrong in my view. If the speaker focused on gays in Israeli society, that would have been acceptable.”
The presentation was originally sponsored by the GIA, the Georgetown University College Democrats, GU Pride and the Diversity Action Council. GU Pride, the University’s club for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning students, however, pulled its support from the presentation beforehand.
“We did in fact pull our co-sponsorship unless or until GIA officially asked SJP to co-sponsor the event with us, which they did not,” Kyle Holsinger-Johnson (CAS ‘06), president of GU Pride said. “We felt it was imperative to commit ourselves to a program that was going to be inclusive to all.”
Singer said he sent out an invitation to the SJP to participate, but the SJP denies receiving it.
“It was probably a simple communication problem,” Singer said. “There are always quirks at the last second.”
Ali wore a disguise during the presentation and refused to mention his hometown.
“It is dangerous for gay Palestinians to speak out, even in the U.S., for fear of reprisals by the Palestinian Authority,” Singer said. “What’s important is that Israel provides a haven for these people. Islam has very harsh views on homosexuality.”
Media were barred from the event to further protect the identity of the speaker.
Alex Tehranian (MSB ‘07) was impressed by Ali.
“It was worthwhile because he gave us new insight into the situation,” he said.
According to Tehranian, the speaker stressed the need for people to publicize homophobia in Palestine.
Some members of SJP objected to the presentation’s focus.
“It was just an excuse for Palestinian-bashing,” Hamid said. “When he was confronted with reports about Palestinians being forced into spying for the Israelis, the speaker’s response was ‘media bias.’ He hadn’t heard anything about these reports. He’s a collaborator.”
Dont’e Smith (SFS ‘08), who attended the presentation, said that it covered some gay issues, but he was upset because he believed it devolved into an argument about Israel and Palestine.
“I assumed the presentation was about gay issues in Palestine,” he said. “It was unfair to anyone hoping to hear dialogue about these issues.”
Additional reporting by Samantha Friedman
