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Queer advocacy in the Israel–Hamas war

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Picture of Crowd at Pro-Palestine Protest at Logroño Pride Carrying Pride Flags and Slogan "Stop the Genocide"
Pro-Palestine Protest at Logroño Pride
A sea of Israeli flags during The 2023 March for Israel Rally, including one Pride flag with the Star of David in the center
2023 March for Israel Rally
2024 LGBTQIA March in Curitiba, with Pride flags and a man holding a Palestinian flag and slogan "From the River to the Sea" in Portuguese
2024 LGBTQIA March in Curitiba
Concert Venue in Tel Aviv Israel with Pride Flags. One person is wearing a trans flag as a cape with the Star of David in the center
2024 Gay Pride and Hope Rally in Tel Aviv

Queer advocacy during the Israel–Hamas war has remained a significantly contentious topic. Many queer people allied themselves with pro-Palestinian causes, especially in protest movements against the ongoing war, against the alleged Gaza genocide.[1][2] Some pro-Palestinian queers have claimed common cause between Queer liberation and Palestinian liberation,[3] though others[who?] have called such movements antisemitic[4] and self-contradictory. Some pro-Israeli queers have complained about feeling excluded from traditionally queer spaces due to pro-Palestinian queer advocacy.[4][5]

Background

This section is an excerpt from Israel–Hamas war protests.[edit]
The Israel–Hamas war has sparked protests, demonstrations, and vigils around the world.[6] These events focused on a variety of issues related to the conflict, including demands for a ceasefire, an end to the Israeli blockade and occupation, return of Israeli hostages, protesting war crimes, and providing humanitarian aid to Gaza. Since the war began on 7 October 2023, the death toll has exceeded 40,000.[7]

Pro-Palestinian queer advocacy

Queer pro-Palestinian activists have stated that Israeli usage of the Pride flag and advocacy of queer rights is pinkwashing, especially when attempting to bolster Israel's image globally.[8][2] Pro-Israeli voices argue that queer and trans Palestinians face significant repression in the Palestinian territories, while Israel has significant protections for queer people.[9][10][11] In response, Pro-Palestinian voices also point out hypocrisy of arguing that Palestinian views on homosexuality are generally repressive when far-right Israeli ministers push homophobic discourse.[8][11] Pro-Palestinian voices have also pointed out hypocrisy of celebrating equal rights for queer people when Palestinians "don’t have equal rights as humans" and when queer Palestinians face significant violence from the war and from Israel exploiting their sexuality.[8]

Queer Palestinians who attempt to seek asylum in Israel continue to face significant racism, and may be barred from the healthcare system and from residence permits.[8] One queer Palestinian professor, Sa'ed Atshan, argues that it is "very dangerous to pathologize Palestinian society as uniquely homophobic" and "uniquely bigoted on collective level", suggesting that it dehumanizes and stigmatizes Palestinians.[11] Many queer pro-Palestinians have protested due to sympathy with the humanitarian crisis as a result of the war, claiming shared goals between Queer liberation and Palestinian liberation.[2]

Queers for Palestine

Many queer groups have come out for advocacy with Palestine against Israel, with queer journalists[who?] resigning from the New York Times over coverage, and many queer entertainers[who?] publicly announcing support for Palestine.[11] One anonymous social media group, Queers for Palestine, has formed to track which queer advocacy groups have signed a "No Pride in Genocide" statement.[11] Many pro-Israeli writers have dismissed the increase in advocacy, arguing that being queer for Palestine is similar to "chickens for KFC", as Palestinian society remains conservative against queer rights.[11][9] As a result of increased pro-Palestinian activism, many Israeli comedy sketch shows began airing comedy bits lampooning the supposed hypocrisy by suggesting Hamas fighters would throw student protesters off of buildings.[11][12]

Response from queer Jews

Many queer Jews, both Zionist and non-Zionist, have sought support from queer Jewish advocacy groups during the conflict. Both groups have described fallouts with various communities due to their intersecting beliefs.[13] One opinion writer at The Jerusalem Post wrote that Queers for Palestine had caused significant pain and betrayal for many queer Jews and Israelis.[14] They also condemned some of the queer Jews who supported Queers for Palestine due to accepting "the false leftist binary of ... the oppressed and oppressor".[14] Amichai Lau-Lavie, a queer rabbi, argued that despite his opposition against occupation of the West Bank, he felt that framing of the issue by many queers was reductive, which had pushed him away from participating in some queer spaces.[15] Elliot Kukla, another queer Jewish writer, has argued that Jewish and queer backgrounds of suffering is the context for pro-Palestinian activism by many queer Jews during the war.[16]

David Kilmnick, founder and president of the LGBT Network, a queer advocacy group in New York City and Long Island, called on queer groups and leaders to support Jews and Israel, criticizing the LGBT community's widespread lack of condemnation for the October 7 attacks and support for Hamas. Kilmnick rejects the accusation that Israel "uses it's LGBT-friendly image as a tool to divert attention from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict".[17]

Other groups

The organization ACT UP NY has helped organized significant advocacy and protests for Palestine and to call for a ceasefire in the war.[18][19][20] The chapter has also endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.[18][19][20] One group, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, has organized multiple protests as a result of the war, including "to pressure the local LGBTQIA+ film festival to stop taking money from the Israeli consulate, and performed street theater to support Boycott Divestment and Sanctions."[1] Pro-Palestinian queers have also been calling for other queer advocacy groups to also endorse ceasefires, such as GLAAD and Human Rights Campaign.[21][1][22]

Pro-Israeli queer advocacy

As a result of the ongoing Israel–Hamas war hostage crisis, Tel Aviv cancelled its 2024 Pride Parade celebration.[23] The Israeli Consulate in New York announced that it would reduce its presence at the 2024 Pride Parade, due to both safety concerns and the solemn mood in Israel with the ongoing war. Spokesperson Itay Milner said that "our commitment to the cause of equality for all remains foremost and unchanged.”[24] Many pro-Israeli queers have felt unease in some queer spaces as a result of queer pro-Palestinian advocacy.[14][13][25]

In Cincinnati, two prominent leaders of queer Jewish life were forced to resign after facing harassment and threats of violence for their support of Israel. The organizations Cincinnati Socialists and DisinvestCinciPride distributed flyers alleging that the Israel-Hamas War was a "Final Solution" against Palestinians. The Cincinnati Jewish Community Relations Council condemned the flyers as Holocaust inversion. Cincinnati Socialists also doxxed the director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for Cincinnati Pride, and their spouse, both board members. Cincinnati Pride acknowledged the threats, and said that the two had resigned "for their personal safety", but their statement did not mention that they were told they would be voted off the board if they did not resign.[26]

Gay New York Congressman Ritchie Torres, a strong supporter of Israel, told NBC News “The anti-Israel wing of the LGBTQ community is essentially telling pro-Israel Jews that if you wish to be a part of the LGBTQ community, then you have to be in the closet about your Zionism, you have to be ashamed of your Zionism. That to me is not Pride. That’s a perversion of Pride.”[27]

Protests

During various Pride parades in 2024, while the war was ongoing, some groups organized counter-marches for Palestine.[3][22] Many Dyke marches became explicit call outs against ongoing conflicts, such as "in Palestine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan and Ukraine."[21] During Philadelphia's Pride Parade, queer counter protesters disrupted the march,[3][28][29] with one video showing a Philly Pride Parade marcher arguing with the counter-protesters.[28] At one point, the pro-Palestinian protesters faced off against the drumline.[22][28] Protesters were noted to be chanting various slogans such as "No pride in genocide".[28][30]

Queer pro-Palestinian activists called for a boycott of San Francisco Pride in 2024 due to the presence of corporate sponsors, police, and appointing Billy Porter, who had made pro-Israeli statements, as a grand marshal.[31] Other pro-Palestinian groups also called for boycotts. SF Pride's executive directors' called the boycotts the results of misinformation.[31] An alternative "No pride in genocide" march was held by queers to protest San Francisco Pride, with more than a thousand participants.[32] SF Pride received criticism from pro-Israeli groups when they posted a statement suggesting an Israeli float would be barred from participating in the march. They later clarified that there had been no Israeli float registered by the deadline, and that they "practice radical inclusion as a core value."[33]

In Boston, over 100 protestors blocked the Boston Pride parade.[22][34] Two protestors were detained by Boston police.[34] Over 60 pro-Palestinian organizations called for Boston Pride to divest from companies they said had ties to Israel.[34] Pro-Palestinian activists affiliated with Writers Against the War on Gaza temporarily blocked the NYC Pride March in 2024 when several protesters breached the barricade and painted the streets red.[29][35][36] Activists led a "call and response" chant with the parade audience, until NYPD arrested 10 of the activists.[35] The parade also had pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian marchers.[35] Two of the Pride March's grand marshalls claimed that Israel had been committing a genocide during the war.[37] Three members of Queers for Palestine were arrested on May 11 on a road to Disneyland after barricading traffic.[38]

The Glasgow Greens and Rainbow Greens of the Scottish Greens marched in a "No Pride in Genocide: Radical Bloc" instead of the parade's "Green Bloc".[39]

In Washington DC, queer Israeli-American actor and activist Yuval David posted a video of Capital Pride participants booing him and other pro-Israel marchers.[4]

On June 27, 2024, the NYC Dyke March issued a statement supporting the safety of Jewish participants at the march and condemning the 7 October attacks. Within thirty minutes, this statement was deleted and replaced by another that referred to the first as a "mistake" that did "not reflect the official stance of the Dyke March", adding that the organization "unapologetically stands in support of Palestinian liberation".[40][41] The march also raised money for the hardline anti-Zionist group Within Our Lifetime. In opposition, a group of Jewish dykes held a separate event at the same time as the march.[41]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Prager, Sarah (2024-02-05). "Queer people continue organizing in solidarity with Palestine". Prism. Archived from the original on 2024-07-08. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  2. ^ a b c Howse, Lito; Jones, Ziya (2023-11-21). Queers tell us why they're marching for Palestine. Xtra Magazine. Archived from the original on 2024-07-09. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
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