A Voice for Peace
One Writer: Many Communities
I see myself as…as an author whose work
reflects a voice for peace; as an Arab-American woman speaking out for global
human rights; as a mother promoting healthy living conditions for poor women
and children; and as a lesbian advocating international equality for LGBT
people. The process of living in so many
communities can be very tricky.
Sometimes I don’t know which is more
stressful: being “out” as a lesbian in the Arab -American community; being open
about being of Arab descent in my local American community; being the “other
mother” in the lesbian community; or being a writer about issues that affect
poor women and children in the affluent profit-based world of publishing.
In day-to-day life it as if people see me
walking towards them and many labels, cultural assumptions, prejudices,
judgments, and other misunderstandings hit me like a freight train. Upon meeting someone it may take a while for
them to get to know me or at least who I am in life. I see
my role in this situation as one that begets patience, compassion and
repetition in educating others about me, about my diverse family structure and
my cultural communities. For example:
- In the heterosexual world, I often say things like, “No, I am not my son’s step mom, or the new wife of the ex-husband of his other mother. Well, my son has two mothers because I was married to his other mother.”
- In the LGBT community, I often say things like, “I was not married to a man. I have been a lesbian all of my life. I am both a lesbian and a mother.”
- In the Arab community, I say things like, “I can’t be quiet. I am a writer. That is what I do. Arab-American lesbians can live openly and publically if they chose too. It is their choice. My parents accept and love me as I am. “
I am not saying that everyone should live
openly today. How we chose to live is a deeply personal choice that each person
must make individually. I only know that
this is right for me. No matter what the
consequence I will face it when it comes. I feel that being honest about who I am
is essential to my growth as a writer which affects the quality of the literary
work I will eventually produce. More
than that, I believe that we need many small voices, artists and activists to
be working toward the same goal so that one day our efforts will weave together
providing the momentum to push our society forward…forward into a future path lined
with peace, equality and compassionate human values.
That means that I will write about topics
unpopular and mix cultural themes in ways that upset some people. I may combine
Palestinian themes with lesbian love stories, feature poems about refugee
children going to school against farm crops being plowed over by Israeli bull
dozers, or write about parenting in poverty and LGBT homeless youth in America. I cannot deny who I am when I write.