Examining the affordances of visibility and association on the social media of Lebanese LGBTQI non-profit organisations

I also conduct semi-structured interviews with a leader from each organisation to delve into their social media practices. Then, I interview 14 LGBTQI individuals in Lebanon and four Lebanese LGBTQI people abroad. These interviews provide insights into the individuals’ social media behaviour and their perception of the organisations’ online strategies.

I found that engaging with the affordance of visibility evokes LGBTQIphobia. Consequently, the Lebanese non-profits adopt the strategy of LGBTQI collective visibility and individual invisibility to mitigate the effect of LGBTQI-phobia without forsaking the fight for the LGBTQI cause. They utilise online counterinvisibility and counter-surveillance against LGBTQI-phobic people.

As for association, the organisations partake in transnational and Pan-Arab LGBTQI activisms. Pan-Arab activism is nuanced for the Arab region and relies on Arabic sexual minorities terms to make knowledge accessible to Arab sexual minorities and combat pan-Arab LGBTQI-phobia. Navigating these activisms, the organisations employ linguistic strategies to be intelligible to both international and Arab audiences.

LGBTQI individuals in Lebanon engage in these linguistic dynamics and sit at a crossroads between local and transnational activisms. They navigate online visibility and association, adopting strategies for their safety. These strategies align with the organisations’ endeavours and, at times, diverge.</p>