These days, it’s not easy for anyone living in Gaza. Hardly any safe refuge can be found amid Israel’s unrelenting airstrikes of the territory in retaliation to Hamas’ terrorist attack on October 7. But for LGBTQ+ Gazans, the specter of death from the Israel-Hamas war only compounds what was already a struggle to live freely in a place where homosexual relations between men are outlawed and open queerness violates social and religious mores. Amid the dual threats of escalating violence and ongoing repression, a six-year-old interactive site in Canada named Queering the Map has emerged to provide the world a rare glimpse of the perspective of members of Gaza’s LGBTQ+ community. The site allows LGBTQ+ identifying users to make anonymous geotagged posts. One post written in Arabic and geotagged in Central Gaza, reads: “The only thing that keeps me patient in Gaza is the sea and you.” Another post shows a geotag of a place where the gay account holder kissed his crush for the first time. Many messages geotagged within Gaza express solidarity with the decades-long cause of Palestinian liberation. There are some heartbreaking messages too – talking about lost love, uncertain future, and looming death.
