Rauda Morcos is a Palestinian poet and

LGBTIQ Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (such as genitals, gonads, and chromosome patterns) that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual ...

activist living in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

in Israel. In 2003, she was outed as a lesbian by a national newspaper, leading to dismissal from her job, physical assaults and attacks on her car. She then set up

Aswat Aswat - Palestinian Feminist Center for Gender and Sexual Freedoms, also known as Aswat , is a feminist organization that advocates for lesbians and other LGBT women in the Palestinian community. The group was founded in 2003, making it the first P ...

, the first Palestinian group dedicated to supporting lesbians.

Career

In 2003, Morcos lost her job as a youth educator after she was interviewed for ''

Yedioth Ahronoth ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' ( he, יְדִיעוֹת אַחֲרוֹנוֹת, ; lit. ''Latest News'') is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in British Mandatory Palestine, ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' is the largest paid n ...

'' (an Israeli tabloid newspaper) about her poetry. The journalist promised not to reveal her sexual orientation but then outed her as a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, which led to her being physically assaulted and her car being damaged many times. She received anonymous threats and was concerned for her life. Morcos then set up Aswat ("Voices") in 2003 as an organisation supporting lesbians and bisexual, inter-sex, queer, transsexual, transgender and questioning women. It was based in

and the first regional group to offer support to lesbian Palestinians. The

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission OutRight Action International (OutRight) is a LGBTIQ human rights non-governmental organization that addresses human rights violations and abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. OutRight Action International docum ...

(now OutRight Action International) presented its Felipa de Souza Award to Morcos in May 2006, recognising her work with Aswat. She was the first Arab person to receive the award. Aswat held its first conference in Haifa in 2007, with 350 attendees. Taking a

post-colonial Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...

stance, Morcos has argued that human rights aid organisations from the United States and Western Europe can be patronising to Arab communities. She has also drawn attention to the links between the Israeli repression of Palestinians and gay people, criticising the Israeli LGBT rights movement for not focusing more upon it. She commented that "I think the Palestinian identity and the Queer identity converge in being both marginalized and they are both about resisting oppression". Morcos has worked as a regional advisor for organisations including the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, the Coalition of Women for Peace, the

Global Fund for Women The Global Fund for Women is a non-profit foundation funding women's human rights initiatives. It was founded in 1987 by New Zealander Anne Firth Murray, and co-founded by Frances Kissling and Laura Lederer to fund women's initiatives around th ...

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

and

Mama Cash Mama Cash is the oldest international women's fund in the world, founded in the Netherlands in 1983. In 2013, Mama Cash supported 118 women's, girls and trans rights organisations with 4.3 million euros. History Mama Cash was founded in the Nether ...

. As of 2012, she was working freelance for

Hivos Hivos ( nl, Humanistisch Instituut voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation) is an international cooperation organization, with its global office in The Hague, The Netherlands. Hivos provides support to civil ...

, a Dutch

development aid Development aid is a type of aid, foreign/international/overseas aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political International development, development of developing countries. Closely-rel ...

organisation, and pursuing a law degree at the Carmel Academic Center in Haifa.

Activism

Morcos said in 2008 that gay Palestinians are sometimes blackmailed by Israeli intelligence into outing them if they do not collaborate. In August 2020, Morcos spoke about a positive change in the Palestinian community's treatment of LBGTQ members after the funeral of Ayman Safieh, who was a leading member of the Palestinian queer community.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morcos, Rauda Palestinian women poets Lesbian feminists Lesbian poets People from Haifa Year of birth missing (living people) LGBT in Palestine Israeli lesbian writers Israeli LGBT poets Israeli LGBT rights activists Human Rights Watch people Felipa de Souza Award Living people