Homonormative Patriotism: Queer Solidarity with Palestine and the Imperial Imaginary

Abstract

In the context of international queer resistance against the ongoing Palestinian genocide, this paper aims to address the disciplinary measures that the imperial state takes against its queer citizens that refuse a homonational agenda and challenge their state’s imperial aspirations. Drawing on Jasbir Puar’s notion of the “monster-terrorist-fag,” it argues that the subversive nature of both the queer and the anti-imperial revolutionary’s existence is met with state discipline, revealing the ways in which the state draws connections between subversive sexualities and subversive acts of violence. In light of these analyses, it ends with a reflection on the decisions of many Canadian governmental institutions to drop out of 2024 Capital Pride following the organization’s statement of solidarity with Palestine. It argues that this mass retreat of Canadian government from pride celebrations reveals the conditional and performative solidarity of the Western state with its queer citizens.