Hi everyone, we’re on hiatus for a bit! Our next season will be focused on queer spirituality, broadly defined. Thank you to everyone who made Season 2 such a success and so much fun, from our brilliant guests to all of you, who have listened and passed these episodes along. It’s great to hear your feedback.

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I'm excited to be on today with two longtime friends. They met in medical school in Beirut and have been together for 18 years. I jokingly call their story the worst one night stand ever– because 18 years, two countries, several cities, and two children later, they’re still going strong. Their story is beautiful, and it has it all – from years of one having no idea that the other was pursuing them, to long distance before they could be together, making hard decisions about love and career, navigating family and the world, and finally where they are now, bringing up their two little boys, starting with an adoption call that changed their lives forever. 

I was 35 when I met a long-term gay woman couple for the first time, in which the women were significantly older than me. It brought to mind an Adrienne Rich quote about the consequences of invisibility and lack of modeling. It goes: “When those who have the power to name and to socially construct reality choose not to see you or hear you...when someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked in the mirror and saw nothing. It takes some strength of soul--and not just individual strength, but collective understanding--to resist this void, this non-being, into which you are thrust, and to stand up, demanding to be seen and heard.”

As those who’ve been listening to the podcast know, part of this project is to offer our stories to people like us and to the world. We are here. And it is my pleasure and privilege to be able to share about who we are. 

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In this episode, I continue my conversation with Mx. Yaffa, a queer, indigenous, displaced Palestinian person who currently serves as the executive director of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity. 

In this episode, we talk more about the challenging and necessary work that they do with queer muslims and Palestinians. I am struck by Yaffa’s commitment to doing work that is really hard. You may recall the efforts earlier this year by a conservative coalition of American Muslim groups to ally themselves with right-wing efforts in the US to target queer and trans people. LGBT people face homophobia and transphobia everywhere right now, and Muslim LGBT people often face the double-bind of transphobia and homophobia in their home communities, and Islamophobia in the queer community and the world at large. Community spaces are more important than ever right now. 

Yaffa also has a collection of poetry called Blood Orange, which just dropped on November 16th. She tells the story of how she was inspired to write it in this episode as well. All profits from the collection go to supporting queer and trans Palestinian work on the ground and elsewhere, so please consider getting yourself a copy– links in the show notes.

Buy a copy of Blood Orange!

Follow Yaffa on Instagram at @yaffasutopia

Follow MASGD on Instagram at @themasgd and sign up for their newsletter here.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.queereverything.com

My guest today is Mx.Yaffa, Executive Director of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, or MASGD. Yaffa is a queer Palestinian poet, author, activist, and death doula whose family history of multiple displacements goes back 3-4 generations.

In this episode, Yaffa shares their and their family’s history of displacement and movement. In the next episode, we will hear more about what she and MASGD are doing to support the queer muslim and Palestinian community in this period of danger, violence, and escalating Islamophobia. Yaffa's forthcoming collection of poetry, Blood Orange, is available for pre-order here. Follow the instructions at this post to get the e-book version if you pre-order the book. Book profits support queer and trans Palestinians on the ground and queer and trans Palestinian work elsewhere. Follow Yaffa on Instagram at @yaffasutopiaFollow MASGD on Instagram at @themasgd and sign up for their newsletter here.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.queereverything.com

My guest today is Paul Nabil Matthis, whom you can find on Instagram and TikTok as @paulnmatthis. Paul is an author, musician, social media educator (among other things). Paul’s channel is great- he posts a variety educational videos, ranging from topics in middle eastern/SWANA history to nerdy videos about different percussion styles in the Arab world, to social justice topics, to history of science– and most recently, helpful content about what is happening right now in Palestine, which I particularly want to highlight as a resource. In the videos, does things like breaking down confusing rhetoric, distinguishing between judaism and zionism, and offering historical background and down-to-earth, fact-based analysis of the situation. We'd originally recorded back in August, and then had another conversation in light of what has been happening in October 2023.  I’m releasing both conversations today as a double-length episode, with the Palestine one first.

So in this first part we talk about what he has been posting about Palestine and the response he’s gotten, both positive and negative, and he also offers his thoughts as a social media educator on the kind of rhetoric we’re seeing, shadow bans and repression of posts, and his strategies for sharing on various platforms. 

In the second part, we talk about the queer SWANA history TikTok series, his experiences living in the US and the middle east as a Syrian-American, and how he handles trolls on his social channels. And I couldn't resist asking him to bring out his drum and talk us through some of his favorite middle eastern beats.

With love, rage, and solidarity– Free Palestine.

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I'm happy and also sad because of the circumstances to welcome back Ali for a conversation about what is happening Gaza right now. Ali previously spoke with us in Season 1 episodes 9 and 10, and shares his perspective as a queer, Muslim, Palestinian man.We recorded this episode on October 19, 12 days after the attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians, and 10 days into the displacement, civilian bombardment, and cutoff of electricity, food, water, and supplies to the people in Gaza.

Things we mentioned in the episode:

La Tetlaa'i song (lyrics below, at end of list)

Safar Barkelt song (with lyrics here)

The (very handsome) Ali's IG profile: @feeding_seahorses27

Books to read about Palestinian resistance

Books to read about Palestine, continued

Films to watch about Palestine

Gaza awareness- accounts to follow

Gaza awareness- places to donate for humanitarian aid

Documentaries to watch on Palestine

For boycotting

La Tetlaa'i -- Ali's translation: "Don't leave your home, and the wind is from the west.Don't leave your home, and the wind is from the west.A country for travel, a country.Your spouse was a stranger, and they set my heart on fire.Your spouse was a stranger, and they set my heart on fire.A country for travel, a country.Don't leave your home, and the wind is from the north.Don't leave your home, and the wind is from the north.A country for travel, a country.Your spouse was strange, and occupied my thoughts.Your spouse was strange, and occupied my thoughts.A country for travel, a country.And yesterday, my friend, it was you and me.How's work, my companion, have you gotten married?A country for travel, a country.Oh, what a pity! Our neighbor's daughter hurt me, oh how!They dressed me in the shroud of death, yet I'm still alive.A country for travel, a country.Oh, traveler, take me with you at dawn I’ll eat any kind of breakfast.A country for travel, a country.I endure hunger, but I can't endure separation.A country for travel, a country.A country for travel, a country.A country for travel, a country.A country for travel, a country."(Wind in Arabic in this context can also mean passion)

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My guest today is Dr. Eman Abdelhadi, professor at the University of Chicago, author of a forthcoming academic book called Impossible Futures: Why Women Leave American Muslim Communities, as well as the co-author of a speculative fiction novel called Everything for Everyone. Eman is also the subject of a documentary called Coming Around that is now, if you’re listening to this at the end of July 2023, screening virtually at the OutFest film festival in Los Angeles.***Watch the virtual screening here until July30!***

The documentary portrays Eman’s relationship with her mother, a devout Palestinian Muslim woman who raised Eman and her siblings as a single mother in a small town in Missouri. The document is a nuanced portrayal of their deeply loving and complicated coming around to each other in spite of their differences. 

In this conversation we talk about the documentary, Eman’s sociological work on Muslim American communities and what’s happening with the conversation in those spaces around queerness now, and about other places where the themes of family– blood, found, and otherwise– emerge. 

Follow Eman on Instagram @eabdelhadi
Follow Eman on Twitter @eabdelhadi

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A conversation with Lamya H, author of Hijab Butch Blues, which came out earlier this year. Lamya is South Asian and grew up in a wealthy Arab Gulf state. The book is a series of memoir essays drawn from their life, told alongside beautifully personal, queer readings of stories of the prophets from the Quran. 

Find Layma on:Instagram @lamyaisangryTwitter @lamyaisangryOr at www.lamyah.comBuy their book!

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My guest today is Mohammad Mertaban, a proud, publicly out, queer Muslim man. He’s a physician, a father, and a devoutly religious person who always knew he was gay but followed the path laid out by his community’s interpretation of his faith. He was married for 8 years, and only came out in his mid-30s. And, because of his standing in the community, and how he struggled, he made the decision to come out publicly.  You can find him on Instagram @mothegayarab.

In this episode, Part II, we talk about how he came out to his family and community,  connecting with other queer folks, and leaning into the sweetness and joy of living authentically. 

This episode is coming out at a particularly fraught moment for LGBTQ folks-- where we are being targeted politically. I talk about what has been going on for queer Muslims at the top of the episode. The Queer Muslim Solidarity network, in Instagram as @qmsolidaritynet, is an excellent resource. 

Find us!Website/Substack: http://www.queereverything.comYouTube: Queer Everything's channelSocials: Visit our LinkTree

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.queereverything.com

My guest today is Mohammad Mertaban, a proud,  publicly out, queer Muslim man. He’s a physician, a father, and a devoutly religious person who always knew he was gay but followed the path laid out by his community’s interpretation of his faith. He was married for 8 years, and only came out in his mid-30s. And, because of his standing in the community, and how he struggled, he made the decision to come out publicly.  You can find him on Instagram @mothegayarab.In this episode, Part I, we talk about his early life, what led him to get married, and how he ultimately was able to reconcile his faith and his queerness.

This episode is coming out at a particularly fraught moment for LGBTQ folks-- where we are being targeted politically. I talk about what has been going on for queer Muslims at the top of the episode. The Queer Muslim Solidarity network, in Instagram as @qmsolidaritynet, is an excellent resource. 

Find us!Website/Substack: http://www.queereverything.comYouTube: Queer Everything's channelSocials: Visit our LinkTree

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.queereverything.com