Indya Moore, Munroe Bergdorf, and Other LGBTQ+ Celebrities Are Reading Letters From Gazans

Voices for Gaza

Indya Moore, Munroe Bergdorf, Susan Sarandon and other LGBTQ+ celebrities are lending their voices to Palestinians living under Israel’s ongoing blockade and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Since March, the Instagram account Voices for Gaza has been posting videos of actors, musicians, and other cultural workers reading letters from Palestinians and allies describing their experiences as Israel continues its siege of Gaza. The account is run by the collective “La culture pour un cessez-le-feu,” which translates to “Culture for a Ceasefire,” according to the French publication Telerama.

In a video posted on Monday, Moore reads the words of an 11-year-old named Dareen al-Bayaa, who lost “dozens of her family members in a single airstrike,” according to the post’s caption.

“I was in a coma for 15 days. I couldn't remember anything that happened to me. I couldn't remember my name, or anything else,” Moore reads. “I only remember that I saw my dad in front of me before he was killed. He used to spoil me. Bring me a lot of things. And take many pictures of me when I was little.”

The project also features the testimonies of relief workers and diplomatic staff on the ground, including United Nations team member Jake Morland. On Sunday, the account posted a video of activist and model Munroe Bergdorf reading from a letter written by Jake Morland, a United Nations team member who returned from Gaza in February.

“At the entrance to the hospital, we saw donkey drawn carts driven by children aged between five and six, entering with their dying parents behind them,” Bergdorf reads. "The hospital courtyard was simply covered with bodies. The bodies of the dead some burned beyond recognition. There were also patients still alive, lying among the dead in a place where all humanity seemed to have disappeared.”

Israeli forces have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, injured more than 78,000, and displaced most of the area’s population of more than two million since Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel that killed approximately 1,200 and took 253 hostages, per Reuters. But beyond the casualties from airstrikes and ground invasions, the United Nations has reported that there is “full blown famine” in northern Gaza, largely due to “severe Israeli restrictions on humanitarian deliveries” Israel to the area, per the Associated Press. The AP also reported on Tuesday that no food has entered the two main border crossings in southern Gaza for the past week, with 1.1 million Palestinians facing catastrophic levels of hunger, the AP reported.

A February letter read by Sarandon highlighted that aspect of the crisis. Attributed only to “a civilian at a food distribution point,” Sarandon read, “There's no more food, nothing to drink, nothing in the markets.”

“Our children scream and writhe on the ground in hunger,” she read. “We stand there for hours queuing up to try and get some food. We left the kids at home crying. They don't want them to go hungry. We don't want them to starve at our hands. You can't even breastfeed the infants.”

Other out LGBTQ+ celebrities involved in the project include R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe and actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart.

LGBTQ+ people have been outspoken advocates for a ceasefire and Palestinian freedom recently as well as historically. ACT UP New York recently issued a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and endorsing the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign. In December, Indya Moore spoke at a New York rally organized by Queers for a Liberated Palestine. The organization Queers for Liberation has also started a petition calling on LGBTQ+ organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, to call for a ceasefire in Gaza; at the time of publication, it has over 26,000 signatures.

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Originally Appeared on them.