July 4: Arab Lesbians Live! and "Beyond the Money Paradigm"

A few weeks ago, kidnapped Syrian American lesbian blogger Amina Arraf was unmasked as Tom MacMaster, a straight white guy from the U.S., now living in Scotland.  Then, the blogger who first promoted and later helped expose him was found to be ... you got it, another straight guy, leading John Stewart to comment "It turns out, the lesbians we care most about in the world are dudes!"

We talk about the meaning of all this with Lebanese American cartoonist Jennifer Camper, who says "I always assumed men were pretending to be lesbians, and I always figured they would end up talking to each other."  Turnabout is fair play, she says, so she created the blog hetwhiteboy where she, as an Arab lesbian, can pretend to be a white man pretending to be an Arab lesbian.  Also joining us is Alia Ghabra, an actual Syrian American lesbian, who talks about what's really happening for LGBT folks in Syria, and what the support for Amina says about the Arab queer community.  (cartoon at left (c) Jennifer Camper)

Listen here or Get MP3

To learn more about queers in the Arab world, check out these excellent sites:
Bint el Nas, online journal "designed to serve the needs and interests of women who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (including female-to-male and male-to-female trans* people in any state of transition), and who are identified ethnically or culturally with the Arab world"
Meem, a community of lesbian, bisexual, queer and questioning women and transgender people in Lebanon
Al Qaws for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Palestine
Aswat Palestinian Gay Women
Helem, Lebanese Protection for LGBTs

Jadaliyya, an independent ezine produced by Arab Studies Institute, a network of writers associated with the Arab Studies Journal
Now Lebanon, for up-to-date info about Arab Spring and political news from the Arab world

Listen to entire July 4 show, including "Beyond the Money Paradigm" from WINGS, and the Women's Community Calendar.