Rasha Moumneh, a researcher for the MENA…

Rasha Moumneh, a researcher for the MENA region at Human Rights Watch, gave a keynote address for the Outgames Human Rights conference on a plenary panel entitled: Our Rights, Our Differences: The Global and Diverse LGBT Community. In the address, she argued that the “global LGBT movement” depoliticizes gender and sexuality, and ignores the intersectionality of different forms of oppression, in the Middle East and the “global south” at large.

“There is an un-self-reflexive othering that takes place of people from the global south generally and from the Middle East in particular. A few weeks ago I was introduced to a gay European activist, a lovely, earnest, well meaning fellow who had this insight about Iran to share with me; he said: “you know, something has changed for the average person in your average Western democracy. We now see that people in Iran wear Chanel sunglasses and high heels and use mobile phones just like us, and that’s led to an amazing transformation. They’re like us, we can relate to them now, we can support them.” Of course he was making a point about how the media has the ability to shatter stereotypes, but that statement in itself is so incredibly loaded. Does that mean that if they didn’t possess the trappings of “modernization” then people from Europe would be less likely to support them? Or that “like us” amounts to having the latest mobile phone? Or that we need to start proving our credentials in order to earn European support?”

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http://menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/7040-global-lgbt-movement-not-inclusive-other-rights-issues