30/10/2023
Hi ***rrootscinema Family,
Our group was born to create discussions about the q***r community, to take a look at our history through a contemporary lens, and to discover new sections of our community around the world. And right now, one of those communities is under attack. I, as one of the cofounders of QRC, am stating that QRC stands with the people of Palestine and stand against the genocide being committed by the nation of Israel.
I encourage all people to try and understand the history of Palestine from Palestinians, rather than through Western news outlets that have a history of ties to heteronormative imperialist forces. These same forces are the ones that have told us that q***r lovers were “friends” and that homosexuality and pe******ia are intrinsically tied. They are the same forces that had police raids where q***r people gathered, that dragged us away when we protested the government’s treatment of the AIDS epidemic, and that uphold a government that today doesn’t listen to Palestinian q***r voices, and which uses Islamophobia to garner support from people by touting Israel as a beacon of Western “Democratic” ideology as it commits atrocity after atrocity.
In July of 2022, QRC watched the film, Oriented (2015), “A feature documentary that follows the lives of three gay Palestinian friends exploring their national and sexual identity in Tel-Aviv during the Israel-Gaza conflict of 2014.” - The documentary shows the subjects hiding in stairwells as bomb raid sirens sound. It shows their journey in trying to represent a q***r presence in Palestine. It shows them navigating family, friends, and lovers across Palestine, Israel, and Germany, and how each of these locations affects their self identity.
If you are in NYC and looking to get more involved in supporting the people of Palestine, please check out or (a q***r palestinian journalist living in NYC). For our community members in NJ, out amp_newjersey
To read the voices of q***r Palestinians check out ***ringthemap and the words from those living in Palestine.
***rimages ***rspaces ***rfilms