Pride Toronto stands its ground against pro-Israel lobbyists

Earlier this week, I wrote [3] about pro-Israel lobbyists threatening corporate and government funding for Toronto’s gay pride unless the festival banned a pro-Palestinian contingent from the parade. On May 27, the National Post erroneously reported [4] that Pride Toronto had banned the “Queers Against Israeli Apartheid” contingent. In fact, no such decision had been made, and Pride Toronto issued a public clarification the next day to say that no groups had been banned.

The premier corporate sponsor of Pride also disputed the claim made in the B’nai Brith newspaper [5] that they had asked for the contingent to be banned. “We know that political issues may arise during Pride,” said Gregory Harrison of TD Bank Financial Group. He said they have no problem with any group’s presence, as long as they don’t violate hate laws.

The tactic of trying to censor the group appears to have backfired for pro-Israel lobbyists. In response to the rumour that the pro-Palestinian contingent would be banned from the parade, outrage poured in from across the queer community.

Tim McCaskell, one of the organisers of the 1981 protests against the bathhouse raids, penned an open letter to the Pride Committee, urging them to allow the contingent to march. Community activist Peter Bochove was quoted in local queer newspaper Xtra, “When you don’t allow people to join the Pride parade you’re no longer representing the community.”

B’nai Brith’s sudden foray into queer community politics also provoked backlash among those who questioned its track record on LGBT rights. In her Toronto Star column [6] yesterday, Antonia Zerbisias pointed out that B’nai Brith has allied itself with prominent leaders of the anti-gay movement, Charles McVety and John Hagee.

Regardless of B’nai Brith’s legitimacy in the queer community, it is still a powerful lobby organisation. That is why some are still cautious about calling this a victory.

“Pride Toronto has stood its ground in favour of free speech, and they should be congratulated,” said Faraz Vahid Shahidi of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. “But we know that supporters of apartheid won’t give up that easily. They will keep approaching sponsors trying to exert whatever pressure they can upon the Pride Committee.”

Vahid Shahidi wants members of the queer community to show their support for Pride Toronto as it will likely face increasing threats to its funding over the coming weeks.

The best way to show your support?

“Join us in the parade!” he said. “Let’s show them that Pride is political.”

Submitted by tukutin100 on May 31, 2009 - 12:36am.

I find it very ironic that members of the queer community would chose to support a nation that openly condems homosexuality, in favor of one in which homosexuality is legal, and civil unions are legally performed. I am both gay and part lebanese, living in Toronto, and while I believe evey group should be allowed to protest freely, I can't help but feel a number of these people protesting are highly uneducated in their understanding of the Israel-Palestine situation.

I would just ask that members of this so called ''anti-israeli apartheid group'' to really ask themselves who and what they are supporting.

I'm sorry if this seems rude, but I feel the need to call into question the 'seriousness' of this group. Joining a cause for the sake of joining a cause will never help anyone work towards the greater good.

Well, just my 2 cents...

Submitted by spatrioter on May 31, 2009 - 12:51am.

So, your argument is if a country has some gay rights legislation, LGBT people are not allowed to criticize any of its policies? This group is not supporting homophobia, wherever it exists -- Israel, Palestine, or wherever. I don't know why you're making that assumption.

If you lived in Lebanon, would the fact that you are gay make you in favour of Israel bombing the country?

Submitted by tukutin100 on May 31, 2009 - 1:45am.

ah, now I feel you are the one making assumptions about my views. I never said the group supported homophobia, nor did I say LGBT people are not allowed to criticize foreign policies. I think I made that quite clear. What I am questioning however is the depth the lgbt protesters took in understanding the conflict. I am merely pointing out the irony that comes in supporting Palestine to such extremes against the Israeli state. Think about it. Do you genuinly think Palestinians welcome support from an LGBT group? Now I may just be making an assumption about this, but if my faith in a religion was so extreme that homosexuals are the most disgusting creatures on earth and they are unworthy of existance, I doubt I would be welcoming in having their support in a conflict involving another abraiamic faith.

as for lebanon, thats an entirely different matter. To discuss whether or not I agree with Israel bombing 'my country', is one thing, but lets just say that if my country hated me enough to lock me away, I wouldn't be strong in supporting it, much less living in it.

Submitted by bento on May 31, 2009 - 2:17am.

Talk about assumptions, suggesting that Palestinians would not welcome support from LGBT groups, implying that all Palestinians are straight and homophobic. Aside from support from the mainstream Palestinian solidarity movement in Toronto, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid has been endorsed by Aswat, the gay women's organization in Palestine. Both Aswat and the Lebanese gay rights group Helem fight for queer rights in their respective countries yet also oppose Israel's military policies. These two positions are not contradictory if you believe in peace and justice.

The thing you don't seem to understand is that queer people are also victims of Israel's actions. Queer people are not made any safer when Israel bombs innocent civilians and keeps them under brutal occupation. Apparently you disagree, but most queer people would rather not get bombed into liberation.

Submitted by deegee2 on May 31, 2009 - 5:40am.

Queers campaigning for Palestine makes as much sense as Turkeys campaigning for Christmas

Submitted by spatrioter on May 31, 2009 - 10:27am.

I see that B'nai Brith has its google alerts turned on.

tukutin100: Member for 10 hours 2 min deegee2: Member for 4 hours 49 min

Submitted by Cueball on June 1, 2009 - 1:39am.

Quote:

I agree. Definitely. Some problems understanding the conflict. For one thing there is no "state" of Palestine, so therefore no properly formulated system of laws, not even a legal and judicial system that is full functional, largely due to the Israeli practice of targetting police and judicial infrastructure as part of its military "terrorism" practice. In other words no basis for comparison. But perhaps your point is about the cultural milieu, and tollerance. Granted, many of the Arab countries seem to have intollerant culture. that said the fire fighters union in Jerusalem went on strike in order to try and cancel the gay pride day there, and the mayor and the Minster of Tourism filed legal injunctions to have the parade cancelled. In the end Jerusalem Gay pride was able to walk 500 meters, before having to break up. Perhaps you should try another topic if you want to demonstrate the superiority of Israeli culture, since even a peripheral examination of the facts, as opposed to the propaganda is only exposing your own ignorance and the failure of the Israeli state to defend queer rights.

Submitted by tukutin100 on June 1, 2009 - 3:01pm.

To Spatriotrioter: I have no idea what B'nai Brith is. I saw this link posted on a friends facebook page and felt like responding.

In regards to Bento and Cueball's posts, seriously. Do I really need to get into a debate in terms of which people of israel and Palestine are the most tolerant? Honestly now, there is a reason why LGBT groups aiding the palestinian community are based in Israel.

I won't pretend to know alot about the Israeli-Palestine conflict, because I genuinely do not. However, I am well aware of how lgbt individuals are treated in most parts of the middle east, INCLUDING palestine, so trying to somehow point out ways in which Israel has failed in its "defence of queer rights" to somehow promote palestinian sentiment from the gay community is, well, laughable in my opinion. Ether way, I am in favour of allowing this pro-palestine group in the parade. Banning a group because of conflicting interests is just ridiculous.

Submitted by Cueball on June 1, 2009 - 8:07pm.

Exactly the point, what B'nai Brith has done is try to make such comparisons actionable in the political discourse. You don't have to go very far to find significant personal prejudice against non-straight people the world over. People are murdered routinely all over the world because of these kinds of prejudices, even in this glorious domain of rights and freedoms that is our North America.

Where you can make a distinction is in the kinds of laws that are enacted to defend people against prejudice. Bnai Brith's assertion is entirely ridiculous because there is no Palestinian state upon which one can make a comparison and a judgement.

Case in point the first Arab state to legalize gay sex for adults was none other than Iraq under the Baathist regieme of Saddam Hussein in 1968. This before most "sodomy laws" were repealed in the United States. Those are the laws. They can be compared. Then there is how those laws are applied? Are they really or do state officials act prejudicially despite the laws. This can be compared. Then there is the cultural millieu in which the laws and the application of those laws is practiced. This can also be compared.

So what is the Bna' Brith comparison really about? It is about comparing the cultural norms of a society which basically has no laws or judiciary or even a code of rights to a society which has a complete state structure in which laws can be applied, and enforced. However, when we look at the underlying culture of Israeli society, we can surely see that a great deal of prejudice is indeed present, and if it were not for the existance of those laws and the judicial system that enforces it one can imagine that all kinds of prejudices might be expressed in the most brutal fashion.

An Orthodox Rabbi was caught red handed trying to bomb a pride even a year or so ago. But that is just an individual, what is important, is how the state acts to protect people from such individuals.

So, in fact the B'nai Brith attitude expresses a great deal of hypocrisy because it is priding itself not on the basis of the fact that Israelis can be seen to have superior sensibilities, but upon the fact that it has a state that controls social behaviour, exactly the kind of state that it denies Palestinians as an act of state policy. They are in fact denying non-straight Palestinians the right to have a legal code within which their rights might have a chance of being protected, and touting the supposedly superiors "sensibilities" of Israel that is really just an artifact of legal order, when Israel is directly acting to deny the rights of queers in Palestine, by refusing to allow a state to come into existence that could enforce a system of rights for anyone.

It is rank hypocrisy.

Submitted by GayForIsrael on August 20, 2009 - 7:25pm.

As an Israeli and lesbian, I can tell you this is one of the most bizarrest news articles I have ever seen.

How could hatred of Israel be so intense that it blinds people to what they perceive as their most basic self-interest.

Anyone REMOTELY familiar with how the Palestinian government operates will understands gays and women are NOT respected.

In fact, thousands of Palestinian gays currently live in Tel Aviv out of fear for their lives. Not from the government - but from their families.

Al-aqs martyers brigade, one of the principal suicide-bombing faction within Fatah, actively recruits homosexual Palestinians, promising them that their contribution to the "resistance" will cleanse them of their moral sin.

It is truly dispicable to see homosexuals, Canadian homosexuals no less, marching lock-step with Arab bigots against "Apartheid." If Israel were an Arab state, these homosexuals would be under threat of death.

In Israel, homosexuals and women actively serve in the military. No Islamic country in the Middle East affords rights to gays as Israel does. In Syria, if you kill your wife the maximum penalty is 6 months. In Gaza, it's encouraged - if not demanded in the event that she disobeys.

2/3 of all killings in the West Bank and Gaza are not by Israeli bullets but by honor killings. Since the Jew/Palestinian conflict began 80 years ago, less than 15,000 Palestinians have died, half of which have been killed by Palestinian.

This is opposed to the Hama Massacre, where the Syria military killed 40,000 people in 24hours. OR Black September, where the Jordanian military killed 20,000 Palestinians in 11 days. Or the Arab Islamists in Darfur who have murdered 400,000 Black Muslims and Black Christians since 2003 - having destroyed 1,000+ villages, and gang raping their inhabitants. OR the 2.6 million people the Islamic republic of Pakistan killed in 3.5 weeks in 1971 during the liberation of Bangladesh.

These are the friends of the Palestinians, friends who lobby against Israel - when in reality the Arabs and Islamists have killed far more people than the Zionists ever had. Hell, Canadians have killed more people than the Zionists.

In fact, the Arabs have killed more Palestinians than the Jews have.

It is utterly disgusting to see gays fall for the Jimmy Carter drivel - a man who has received 20+ million from the despotic Gulf States. google "Carter Council."

This manic obsession with Israel is nothing less than infantile. Even the most extreme Arab narrative - Israel is an Apartheid State, Israel disrupted peaceful, Muslim social hegemony and forced us to kill our wives, our children, ourselves - to eliminate the Zionist entity....for PEACE, does not even compare to the wars of Europe, America, Canada, and the Islamic warlords in Somalia, Darfur, or the canabilism in Congo, the 30 million people that died in India under British occupation.

Canada would be lucky to have a friend like Israel - a friend that invented cell phones, voice mail, cancer treatments, virtually all of the new versions of Windows, even Google has hired Zionists to write algoitithms.

What have the Arabs done in the last 80 years? Wars? Genocide? Murder? Rape?

More women and children have been killed in Muslim honor killings than the ENTIRE ARAB-ISRAELI conflict. 15-20k women and gays r killed at the hands of their own families annually, 10k in Pakistan alone.

But people in the West are too stupid to read beyond liberal-drivel and bogus UN reports written by the UNHRC (run by Islamic dictatorships) and prefer to burn a flag rather than think critically.

Only in Canada.

Soon it will be you. Soon your embassies will be torched and planes will be hijacked. Islam is not designed to integrate with western civilization, it is meant to conquer it.

No one knows about the Jewish exodus, the arab revolts, the Mufti of Jerusalem who actively sought to create a Palestinian SS that murdered 12500 Jews in Bosia. He was the leader, the representative of the Palestinians, and one of the few non-Aryans who had the privilage of meeting with top Nazi officials.

Not much has changed since then, and virtually all the leaders of the Palestinians are certified holocaust deniers. I guess the gays in Canada express solidarity with that. Who knew, eh?

The Gays will be the first to go, thank god I live in Israel where our perception of the world is not determined by bigots and trolls.

Pride Toronto stands its ground against pro-Israel lobbyists

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