What does it mean to be LGBTQIA+ in a context shaped by occupation, displacement, and conflict? This is one of the questions explored by Fabio Coriolano and Giuseppe Zago, EDI Officer at the EUI, as they discuss the experiences of LGBTQIA+ Palestinians.
Fabio identifies isolation and overlapping forms of surveillance as central aspects of their daily lives. LGBTQIA+ people may face pressure within their families and communities while also living under conditions shaped by occupation, displacement, and violence. Leaving the Palestinian territory does not necessarily provide safety, as those who move to Israel may encounter precarious living conditions, marginalisation, or exploitation. These realities challenge simplified narratives that portray Palestinian and Israeli societies as opposites, with one inherently hostile to LGBTQIA+ people and the other uniformly safe and inclusive.
For Fabio, sexual liberation cannot simply be postponed until national liberation has been achieved. Queer Palestinians navigate these struggles simultaneously, as different dimensions of the same lives. Expectations surrounding marriage, family, gender roles, and reproduction may place additional pressure on LGBTQIA+ people. From this perspective, national liberation must also create space for social and sexual liberation, rather than treating LGBTQIA+ rights as a secondary concern.
The discussion then turns to one of the episode's central themes: solidarity. Fabio argues that LGBTQIA+ communities can help counter isolation by creating transnational networks and supporting spaces where queer Palestinians can share their own perspectives. Rather than assuming all forms of oppression are the same, solidarity recognises the connections between struggles against homophobia, colonialism, racism, and political violence, while building alliances across different forms of marginalisation.
Fabio also reflects on the concept of "pinkwashing", describing how LGBTQIA+ rights can sometimes be used to portray a state or society as progressive while diverting attention from the oppression of other groups. While acknowledging the existence of homophobia within Palestinian society, he argues that addressing it should not reinforce narratives that present LGBTQIA+ identities as inherently Western or use LGBTQIA+ rights to legitimise occupation. Supporting Palestinian self-determination and supporting LGBTQIA+ Palestinians, he suggests, are not contradictory positions.
Turning to Italy, Fabio draws on the evolution of the Italian Queer movement, in particular, following the failure of the Zan Bill, which sought to strengthen legal protections against discrimination and hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. For some activists, this moment exposed the limits of a gradual, rights-based approach centred on institutional and legislative reforms, raising questions about whether progress for some parts of the community should ever come at the cost of excluding those facing greater vulnerability, particularly transgender people.
Against this backdrop, pro-Palestinian mobilisation has become an important point of discussion within parts of the Italian LGBTQIA+ movement and political engagement. Fabio identifies several frameworks through which activists articulate solidarity, including intersectionality, anti-colonialism and opposition to the violence in Gaza. At the same time, he recognises that the Italian LGBTQIA+ community is far from uniform. It encompasses institutional and radical approaches, generational differences, and contrasting perspectives on Israel and Palestine. Rather than viewing these differences solely as a source of division, Fabio suggests they also reflect the diversity of a living and evolving political community. The challenge, he argues, is to create spaces where different perspectives can engage with one another while pursuing concrete change and questioning the structures that perpetuate inequality.
Ultimately, this conversation invites listeners to move beyond binary narratives by centring the voices of queer Palestinians and reflecting on debates within Italian activism. In doing so, it explores how different forms of liberation can intersect while highlighting the importance of listening to those directly affected and resisting narratives that instrumentalise LGBTQIA+ identities to justify the oppression of others.
For those wishing to explore these themes further, Fabio recommends Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique by Saeed Atshan, which combines personal experience with an analysis of queer life and activism in Palestine. He also suggests Dan Frommer's article Queering Zion, which examines changing attitudes towards Israel within LGBTQIA+ communities in the United States and offers an additional perspective on debates taking place in Europe and Italy.
Listen to the episode on:
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Episode details:
Host: Giuseppe Zago, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the EUI
Guest: Fabio Coriolano, Doctor of Economics and Finance, and Assistant Professor at the Warsaw School of Economics
This initiative was produced in collaboration with the EUI's researcher-led web radio, Radio Cavolo. Do you have a question about the podcast? Drop a line to radiocavolo@eui.eu or edi@eui.eu.