Palestinians divided over cancelation of concert by gay singer
A group of young men in Ramallah pressured officials to cancel Bashar Murad’s concert, exposing social divisions over sexual identity.
On June 17, Palestinian youth in the city of Ramallah, in the central West Bank, prevented singer Bashar Murad from performing over what they called his support of homosexuality in Palestine.
In a story on his Facebook page, Murad, who is gay, announced the cancellation of the live show at al-Mustawda3 cultural space in Ramallah, without explaining the reasons.
But a video taken inside the cultural space that went viral on social media showed a group of young men asking employees at al-Mustawda3 to cancel the show because the performers were gay.
A Palestinian named Yaman Jarrar said, “Bashar Murad is a pervert, and shall not hold a show here. He does not represent us and does not represent any free Palestinian person. Plus our religion does not allow this.”
