LGBT rights in the Palestinian territories
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The topic of LGBT rights in Palestine (a.k.a. The Palestinian territories) is interconnected with a range of other regional human rights concerns. While precise information on a highly taboo topic is difficult to obtain, it would appear that LGBT Palestinians are often subjected to harassment, even violence for their sexual orientation or gender identity.
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[edit] Criminal Law
Homosexuality is technically illegal under the sodomy prohibition originally enacted under the British Mandate. It is unclear if their are any specific prohibitions against cross-dressing or whether or not the criminal code has been updated.
Under Araft, the Palestinian Authority employed a special police force to track down LGBT Palestinians. Those people who were caught, were subjected to harassment, torture, and even murder. Beyond the police, LGBT Palestinians must worry about being the victim of an honor killing [1]. As a result, many LGBT Palestinians attempt to flee to Israel. For more information please see, LGBT rights in Israel.
[edit] Civil Rights
Palestine (a.k.a. Palestinian territories) has no civil right laws that protect LGBT people from discrimination or harassment. A handful of LGBT-organizations have arisen to aid LGBT Arabs and Palestinians;
- Jerusalem Open House
- Black Laundry [2]
- Aswat ("Voices") - women [3].
[edit] Marriage and Family
Same-sex marriages, civil unions or domestic parnterships are not given legal recognition in Palestine (a.k.a Palestinian territories). A limited form of common law marriage does have legal status in Israel, although it is difficult for an Israeli to get legal residency status for his same-sex Palestinian or Arab partner.
Some LGBT Palestinians have fled, legally or illegal, to Israel. Their are some reports of LGBT Arabs and Jews having relationships, thus breaking ethnic, religious and gender-based taboos [4]. LGBT Jews and Arabs tend to be the least prejudiced people in the region, as seen by the cross-cultural relationships and the fact that gay bars are often a peaceful mixture of Arabs and Jews [5].
The documentary film titled "Zero Degrees of Separation" explores the challenges facing same-sex couples in Israel when one of the partners is Palestinian or Arab [6].
[edit] AIDS/HIV
A Palestinian National AIDS/HIV Health program was established in 1998. Dr Ezzat Gouda is the current doctor to focus on sexually transmitted diseases for the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Reports claim that very few people have become infected since 1987, and those people who are infected face prejudice and shortages of medicine [7].
In 2003 a report from the Palestinian Health Minister [8]made some references to the infections, under "communicable diseases" [9].
[edit] References
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