Ahmad Ray is a queer activist and creator from Palestine, currently living in Canada and building a following on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Ranging from light to serious, their content focuses on glimpses of queer Arab life, Palestinian liberation, and social taboos within their communities. This episode focused on Ahmad’s challenges since immigrating to Canada and their experience becoming an online creator. They explain how they’ve navigated hate from Zionists, heteronormative Palestinians, and privileged members of the Arab diaspora, as well as the suppression of pro-Palestinian content on social media platforms. However, they have also received an overwhelming amount of positive responses from people with similar experiences. We discuss the underappreciated emotional labor of being a content creator for an audience of marginalized people, particularly one who responds to personal messages seeking support.
Stay tuned for a future episode with Ahmad focusing on queer life in Palestine!
Follow Ahmad on their social media platforms! https://solo.to/realahmadray