Muslim women (Muslimatoon) hold conference in Haifa on their lives as lesbians

Photo courtesy of HAARETZ

HAARETZ: The first conference of Israeli Arab lesbians was held Wednesday in Haifa by the organization Asawat ("Voices").

The discussions dealt with homosexuality in the Arab public and the so-called "triple discrimination" of being women, lesbian and Arab in Israel.

News released in the past two weeks of plans to hold the conference aroused bitter opposition in the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, members of which demonstrated Wednesday outside of the Haifa auditorium where the conference was planned.

At the conference, participants discussed the difficulties faced by Arab lesbians in dealing with their identities and coming out of the closet. First Israeli-Arab conference of lesbians convened in Haifa

Mark Alexander