Reframing the war on terror: Feminist and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) activism in the context of the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon

Abstract

This article seeks to expand the kinds of questions we ask about the diverse militarized campaigns referred to collectively as the “war on terror,” the grassroots resistance to these wars, and efforts committed to creating a world without destruction and killing. Shifting the focus of this feminist critique of war away from the center of power (the empire) to the everyday lives of feminist and queer activists living the war on terror from the ground up, this article examines a distinct feminist and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social movement that worked to respond to and resist the US-backed Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006. We argue along with our interlocutors in Lebanon that asymmetrical systems of gender, class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and family are entangled in the historical conditions of transnational capital, empire, and war, and necessitate an intersectional approach that refuses to impose false binaries or hierarchies on a complex social reality. We conclude by arguing the importance of reframing the war on terror and reimagining feminist and LGBTQ policies as a critique of the post-racial discourse, beyond dominant imperialist and nationalist discourses, which are exclusionary, sexist, and homophobic in different ways.

Frictional encounters in postwar human rights: an analysis of LGBTQI movement activism in Lebanon

“…Law 534 of the Penal Code, which is used to enforce the status laws, criminalises sex deemed as 'unnatural', is directed at the LGBTQI population, and it carries a minimum one-year jail sentence. 28 Expressions of non-conforming gender identity is further prosecuted under several other articles regulating public morality.…”

“…Thus many activists in the Lebanese LGBTQI movement link their campaign against homophobia with the wider fight to oppose the sectarian system Naber and Zataari note that some activists view 'Lebanon's sectarian structure … as a key site of struggle not only because it is divisive … but also because it is patriarchal and requires compulsory heterosexuality'. 71 This opposition to power-sharing is evident in the statements of movement activists. For one former Helem leader, a fundamental objective of the LGBTQI movement is 'fighting to end confessionalism of the political system'.…”

What are the Consequences of Consociationalism for Sexual Minorities? An analysis of Liberal and Corporate Consociationalism and Sexual Minorities in Northern Ireland and Lebanon

“…The experience of Lebanon’s sexual minority population is shaped by Article 534 of the Lebanese penal code, which bans sexual relations that supposedly ‘contradict the laws of nature’ (Naber and Zataari, 2014: 109). Although Article 534 was repealed in court in January 2014, its legacy ranged from ‘discrimination in employment and arbitrary dismissal, to limited access to housing, health, and social services, to political and financial extortion’ (Makarem, 2011b: 100).…”

Queer exceptionalism and exclusion: Cosmopolitanism and inequalities in ‘gay-friendly’ Beirut

“…While the literature on LGBTQ lives in the Arab Middle East has focused on the marginality of queer communities (El-Feki, 2013; Whitaker, 2006), another growing body of research has taken into account the multiple positions that queer individuals occupy (Makarem, 2011; Merabet, 2014; Naber & Zaatari, 2014). In this article I build on the latter research and examine how gender, class, and normativity shape LGBTQ individuals’ everyday life experiences and their engagements with discourses of cosmopolitanism and national exceptionalism in Beirut.…”