by MATTHEW HAYS

When one thinks of the Middle East’s Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the region’s dire ethnic and religious divisions most definitely spring to mind.

But gay issues aren’t necessarily thought of—at least not initially. A spokesperson for Jerusalem Open House, the city’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community centre, was in Montreal to discuss the unique challenges faced by queer citizens in Israel, in particular by the Palestinians living in the country and its adjoining territories.

Haneen Maikey is the Palestinian outreach coordinator for Jerusalem Open House, a community centre that is open to all queers in the region—Arab, Israeli, Jewish, Christian and Muslim. “This can be an extremely hard life,” Maikey confirms of being both Palestinian and gay in the region. “There’s not really one type of experience—it varies from territory to territory.”

Maikey was in town last week to meet with gay Arab groups in Montreal and to promote the Jerusalem World Pride festival, which is slated to run Aug. 18 to 28. A social worker, Maikey is part of JOH’s three-year-old program to reach out to Palestinians in particular. Roughly one-third of Jerusalem’s population is Arab, she points out, and within that culture overt discussion of the topic of homosexuality remains taboo. Only complicating the situation are the elaborate checkpoints that strictly regulate the travel of Palestinians, making any visits to JOH by Palestinians who do not live in Jerusalem very difficult indeed. “I do talk to many by phone, and the Internet is amazing in its ability to connect people,” Maikey reports. “The political situation in Israel complicates everything.”

This year, JOH staff have taken the very bold move of organizing the international pride parade and festival, titled Jerusalem World Pride: Love Without Borders. It may seem a logical idea, what with the city being a holy site for three major religions, but the task is also a challenging one: “Jerusalem is a very conservative city,” says the soft-spoken Maikey. “We’ve certainly had protests over this.”

A romantic might like to think that the unifying aspect of the community centre—attendees all being sexual outlaws of some sort—might bring JOH visitors together. But Maikey says that religious Jews and Arabs who attend often meet separately. Giving people a safe and open place to go is of vital importance, she says, but the other differences are often difficult to overcome.

Maikey says some of the things Arab queers face are differences in attitudes between the West and the Middle East. “The idea of coming out is a very western concept,” she argues. “To many Arabs, this is not necessarily the ideal, or the way people exist in their cultures.”

Ironically, the JOH’s World Pride plans have proven a unifying force—between religious conservatives of all different stripes. Since the World Pride Jerusalem event has been publicized, right-wing Jews, Christians and Muslims have all protested the event, effectively bringing together three faiths which traditionally have had trouble agreeing on anything.

“It’s a strange combination,” Maikey says of the protesters. “But they were only a few, and we expect to have thousands at the event in August.”

World Pride info: www.worldpride.net