Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumCalling Out Insensitive, Anti-Semitic Protest
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
(14,851 posts)Little Tich
(6,171 posts)King_David
(14,851 posts)Truth.
Long but worth the read.
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)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:
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.