Palestine's accidental gay rights activists
Some Palestinian Facebook users' unwitting application of a rainbow filter celebrating gays' right to marry in the United States has raised heated debates around the taboo subject of homosexuality and the appropriateness of the rainbow symbol.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The colors of the rainbow have always been exhilarating, connoting optimism and hope. Thus, large numbers of Palestinians on Facebook applied a rainbow filter to their profile photos within 24 hours of it being offered as an option. Many of them, however — unfamiliar with the rainbow flag as a symbol of gay pride — did not know that the rainbow feature came in recognition of the June 26 ruling by the US Supreme Court declaring same-sex marriage a constitutional right.
“What happened was an act of deception. The symbols familiar in America and the West are not necessarily commonplace in the whole world,” Mohammed Abu al-Qomboz, and independent social media trainer, told Al-Monitor. “A large proportion of [Palestinian] Facebook users automatically rainbowed their profile picture, but few of them were aware of the meaning of these colors.”
According to Qomboz, Facebook offering the rainbow filter was a trick, since applying such icons represents approval of something, in this case support of gay marriage.
Some young Palestinian activists took to Facebook to explain what the rainbow colors meant. A day after the Supreme Court ruling, journalist Isra al-Modallal posted a message on her Facebook page, stating, “Whoever uses the rainbow-colored filter feature approves of the new law allowing homosexual or gay marriage passed by the United States.”
