Aswat

Palestinian organization for LGBT women's rights

Aswat (Arabic: أصوات) is a Palestinian group for lesbian rights. Rauda Morcos is the co-founder. Aswat means "voices" in the Arabic language.[1] The group started in 2001.[2]

History change

Aswat started as a forum for discussion on the internet.[1]

The first group for LGBT Palestinians was the international Jerusalem Open House. Palestinians started to meet there in 2001. After the Oslo Accords in 1993, many Palestinian groups were part of Israeli groups. But later, in the 2000s, many groups decided to be independent. In 2002, "Aswat: Palestinian Gay Women" started as an independent project with Kayan, a Palestinian feminist group in Haifa.[2]

In March 2007, the group had its first conference in Haifa. The meeting had 350 people. The Islamic Movement protested outside the meeting with 30 people.[1]

The group publishes Arabic literature about homosexuality. They published five newsletters in Arabic about gays and lesbians, and they published an Arabic glossary of terms of sexual orientation. They also published a book called "Home and Exile in Queer Experience".[1]

Books change

Other websites change

References change

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Lesbian Palestinians Break Social Taboos".
  2. 2.0 2.1 Murphy, Maureen Clare (12 July 2013). "Though small, Palestine's queer movement has big vision".
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "مشروع المعلومات والمنشورات, مكتبة مثليّة, أصوات, نساء, مثليات, فلسطينيات - أصوات - نساء فلسطينيات مثليات". Archived from the original on 2017-01-15. Retrieved 2017-01-17.