My project explores sites of contestation and contamination resulting from Arab queers' adherence to the politics of the Western “closet.” The project examines three historical moments in Arabic literature and culture which articulate differing relationships of same-sex individuals to the concept of the closet: inside the permissive closet, out of the closet, and beyond the closet. Through examining premodern poetry, contemporary novels, plays, films, artistic installations, and virtual blogs, my presentation will highlight the gains and challenges of adopting an international LGBT agenda. It also explores how conflicts in gendered identity have been shaped and sharpened by the politics of authoritarian regimes, civil war, and failed revolutions. I argue that we must shift away from fixed, binary epistemologies of the closet discourse to dynamic models that can accommodate the stretching of the Arab closet borders to accommodate a “coming in” versus a “coming out” discourse, and to capture the Arab queer body’s movements and affects as it performs flexible, intimate models of citizenship and belonging in the era of globalization.