Calling Out Insensitive, Anti-Semitic Protest

[King_David]

When I was a boy of 13, my grandmother took me to my first civil rights demonstration to teach me about racism and social justice. She knew those issues well: Our family fled from the pogroms in Russia, others in our family perished in the Holocaust and Grandmom even fought for women's rights.

On that day, I marched with Cecil B. Moore and Robert N.C. Nix. Five years later, in 1969, I'd be a member of New York's Gay Liberation Front and, in the name of justice, we'd march with The Black Panthers to free Angela Davis from her arrest and detention, chanting, "Hey hey, ho ho, House of D (New York's Women's House of Detention) has to go." But last week, when I heard LGBT activists at the National LGBTQ Task Force's Creating Change conference in Chicago using part of that slogan against our own community, it was a sad day. And it sickened me to the pit of my stomach.

Creating Change is the largest gathering of LGBT activists across the nation. Typically, all issues affecting our communities are discussed, with people being able to agree to disagree with respect. But a major controversy happened this year. And what usually is and should be a place for dialogue became unsafe. This incident was at the very least insincere, and at its worst anti-Semitic.

A Wider Bridge, which promotes ties between LGBT Americans and Israel, was scheduled to have a reception at Creating Change. But some conference participants complained about an event featuring a group with ties with Israel. Presto, the Task Force cancelled the event. This led to a debate about anti-Semitism, apartheid and political correctness. Eventually, conference organizers did the right thing and reinstated the session. After all, this conference was about "creating change," and change occurs with communication. However, the event led opponents of Israel to protest; such protesters essentially urge people to boycott any LGBT event relating to Israel, not due to its LGBT laws, but because of how it treats Palestinians. They use terms like "apartheid" and "racism."

http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=75184

[King_David]

1. Excerpt

We members of Gay Liberation Front have varied views on Israel and Palestine, but one thing we would never do is act with such insensitivity and suggest support for those who wish to put LGBT people to death or eradicate an entire race of people. Shame on you!

[Little Tich]

2. I'm sorry, but I think the OP is pinkwash. n/t

[King_David]

3. This OP is 100% spot on,

Truth.

Long but worth the read.

[Little Tich]

4. I've got nothing against the promotion of LGBT rights in Israel.

There's nothing wrong with criticizing the PA for their atrociously bad record when it comes to LGBT rights either. It's however wrong to use LGBT rights as a justification for or a deflection from what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, and it's called pinkwashing to do so.

The OP has a self-righteous tone and it conveys a sense of "Israel good - Palestine bad" because of LGBT rights. For me, that's pinkwashing:

"No, you single out one entity: Israel, the Jewish State. Yes, "Jewish." We all know why Israel was created, as a safe haven for Jews. We also know how Palestinians have fought Israel, at times suggesting it be wiped off the face of the earth, along with its people, the Jews. Yasser Arafat coined that into a slogan: "From the (Jordan) River to the Sea." To Jews, that slogan represents extermination. Now, imagine being a Jew in a room with 200 people outside banging on the doors yelling that slogan, or wrapping a Palestinian flag over the head of a Jew trying to make his way into the room."

In the end though, I think the decision to cancel A Wider Bridge was wrong, and it's good that the decision was reversed. My disagreement with the OP is only a minor one.