Queering Solidarity: A Panel on Pinkwashing and LGBTQ Activism for Israel-Palestine
Featuring Columbia Law School Professor Katherine Franke and Harvard PhD Candidate Sa’ed Adel Atshan
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine is honored to present a panel on Palestinian queer experiences in activism, the January 2012 LGBTIQ delegation to Palestine, the role of solidarity groups and the urgent need for full and comprehensive equality of all peoples in Israel-Palestine.
Sa’ed Adel Atshan is a Lecturer in Peace and Justice Studies at Tufts University and a Joint PhD Candidate in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University where he is a Soros Fellow and National Science Foundation Fellow. Sa’ed has worked for the American Civil Liberties Union, the UN High Commission on Refugees, Human Rights Watch, the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department, Seeds of Peace, and the Government of Dubai. He is a member of al-Qaws, a national Palestinian community-based organization working with LGBTQ Palestinians.
Katherine Franke is the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia University and director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law. She is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies. A recipient of a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship, she is among the nation’s leading scholars on feminism, sexuality and race. Franke also serves on the Executive Committee for Columbia’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Center for Palestine Studies. Professor Franke was among the attendees of a queer delegation to Palestine in January and has most recently worked with women lawyers in the West Bank to build a Women’s Committee within the Palestinian Bar Association.