"Queers Against Israeli Apartheid" is being held Saturday to "reignite Toronto’s queer community in the fight against apartheid," according to an announcement on the Ontario Public Interest Research Group Web site."Israel has now begun to frame itself as a tolerant, queer-positive democracy," the announcement read. "This can never be reality under occupation."
The keynote speaker is El-Farouk Khaki, co-founder of Salaam: Queer Muslim Community and Pride 2009 Grand Marshall.
B’nai Brith Canada called on members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to reject the program.
“It is the height of irony to single out democratic Israel in this fashion when it is the only country in the Middle East that guarantees the fundamental freedoms of all its citizens without distinction," said Frank Dimant, the executive vice president of B’nai Brith Canada. "In stark contrast, the rights of the LGBT community in neighboring Arab countries are routinely trampled on.
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/05/21/1005320/queers-against-israeli-ap...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v5yJULDm54
Look at this gay pride parade in Nablus! Oh wait. That's Tel Aviv.
I can't wait to see Bnai Brith's float in the pride parade.
Yes. Looking forward to that. Isn't the CJC going to offer one up too? How about a joint float!
Yeah, I anticipate the Hamas and Hezbollah floats. They have such gay-friendly attitudes.
Go to a gay bar in Tel Aviv and see how many Palestinians are there. Go to a gay bar in Gaza and...never mind. There are no gay bars in Gaza.
You ridicule the victims of the Israeli mass murderers for not being as enlightened about homosexuality as their murderers are.
That you don't even grasp the fundamental immorality of what you just said shows how evil Zionism or any form of ethnic chauvinism is. It turns people's hearts to stone.
Supporting the right of gay and lesbian people to live in dignity is now an indication that one's heart is made of stone? Applauding the country that's been msot welcoming to the community of any country in the region (some countries there punish the "crime" of homosexuality by death) is "immoral"?
And since when do Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, etc. not also qualify as "mass murderers"?
So. First off, you have to come up with some kind of proof that Arabs are more homophobic than Israelis, at the core of their beliefs. Now you have to justify repression through marshal law and murder on the basis that Arabs are more likely to be homophobic than Israelis. You have a moral dilema, it seems to me... you don't have any.
Actually the only time I participated in the Gay Pride Day event as a member of the parade was with a Palestinian group. Where is the proof in your pudding? When will the CJC and B'nai Brith be taking up their legendary part in the community as active anti-prejudice campaigners, and put a float in the parade?
I think it's great that Palestinian people can celebrate gay pride. I jsut wish they were able to do it IN Palestine, not Toronto. or Tel Aviv. I'm not a member of either Bnai Brith or the CJC. If they WERE to enter a flaot in the parade, I'd certainly applaud that.
Any parade, or gathering of more than 4 people on a street corner in the occupied territories is an invitation for an Apache helicopter attack. Palestinians and Palestine have nothing to do with this. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Until the B'nai Brith and the CJC actively promote public participation in this parade, under their own flag, their words are nothing more than a convenient instrumentalization of gay rights as a political tool to forward their own agenda.
The mayor goes, as does the police chief. I don't see why Bernie Farber can't.
neither do I. He SHOULD be there.
But i find it odd that there's a group called "queers agaisnt israeli apartheid" as if being queer had anything to do with the issue. Or as if gays and lesbians in Israel weren't infinitely better off than anywhere else in the region. i mean where is "queers against iranian executions of gay teenagers"?
I see so queers should only talk about queer things. Gotcha.
Yes, how dare LGBT people oppose bombings, mass murder and occupation if the state that is doing it allows gay marriage! LGBT people should all take direction from you on which issues to discuss or act upon. (note the heavy sarcasm)
I'm not sure whether to file this under homophobia or simple support for the oppression of Palestinians. Little bit of both, really.
Naw its just cogniphobia.
Interesting lineup:
ASWAT:
Solidarity with Gaza, Aswat Palestinian Arab Lesbians ,Gay Women, transexuals, bisexuals, queer, intersexual, LQTBQI
This article has everything you need to know about the Bnai Brith's position on human rights in general and LGBT rights in particular.
Israel doesn't allow gay marriage. Neither does the country where Star Spangled lives - but he'd rather ridicule the Gazans, or the ones still alive, for homophobia. Oh, did I mention that Israel doesn't even allow civil marriage between opposite sexes. That's ok too, because they're, like, almost Americans, so we're all in this together.
Wow, quite the article aka. Who knew that the BBC, and presumedly the CJC too, want all Jews in Canada to move to Israel.
One wonders if there was a dispensationalist Christian totalitarian government in Canada, if Jews would all be expelled, and just how people would be determined to be Jewish? ;)
Meanwhile, BBC does this, when the International Day for LGBTTQ was celebrated last Sunday. And I notice that no other political party acknowledged this other than the NDP.
"Statement by New Democrat Leader Jack Layton on the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia
Sun 17 May 2009
Today, I stand in solidarity with Canadians across this country, and with citizens around the world, in marking the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. I also stand in solidarity with my caucus, member of the New Democrats and with the LGBTTQ community in speaking out against violence, discrimination, and prejudice.
New Democrats are committed to ensuring equality, diversity and understanding among all people. We will continue to work towards the day when the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people are recognized around the world and homophobia and transphobia will no longer exist."
***know it is a thread drift but if people can start carrying on about Layton's statements about Victoria Day in a CAW thread, I can certainly carry on about this here.
Or US Members of Congress?
"Committed to ensuring ... diversity?" Hahaha. This must be the same braindead speechwriter who made Jack say we were celebrating "our roots in Europe". Surely a cheap style book would have produced many acceptable verbs, like "celebrating diversity", "respecting diversity", "cherishing diversity", whatever... But "ensuring diversity", from the same pen that just got through Europeanizing everyone, is just plain titillating.
Europe is my favourite continent - why not celebrate the fact that it is part of our planet!
I think the point is that Jacko isn't being the inclusive politically-correct smurf he's supposed to be.
Some of us have roots in Asia.
To be fair to the CJC (I can't believe I'm saying this), they haven't said anything about this...not yet, anyway.
But I agree that this whole line about "gay-friendly Zionism" is just opportunistic.
There's no way that continuing the Occupation and building more settlements, or the overkill retailiatory bombing inflicted on Gaza, can possibly lead to anything positive for Palestinian gays and lesbians. And I think we can assume that almost no Israeli gays and lesbians would have voted for Likud or Yisroel Beitenyu.
Edited to add- To make sure my recollection was correct I Googled for reference. The only thing I found was from an unabashed rightwing site (who else would complain about CJC having a float in the Pride Parade?) but at least it proves my memory is not whacky!
"Why, look-there's a float from the Toronto District School Board. Hi guys! Nice to see you could take some time out from deliberating about whether or not to go on strike come fall! And, gadzooks!, isn't that the Canadian Jewish Congress?
http://scaramouche.motime.com/post/718477
Hmm, I don't think so, if ones looks at the NDP website he pretty much covers statement to everyone.
And what do your Asian roots have to do with Victoria Day? Not trying to be insensitive here, just asking, seeing as how it was the European colonialist activities, that caused other peoples immigrations to Canada to become possible.
If that is the case. Fine. Though I don't remember it. I do remember that there were some activists in the CJC promoting gay rights within that organization, and these may indeed be the ones. Lets be clear on the principle here, the rights of queer people are fundamental rights, and not to be construed as a battleground for winning talking points for one particular cause or another. Participation in the parade should be predicated on the principle that community organizations are showing their soilidarity and their support for Toronto's queer community first and foremost, and that they are proud to be doing so. That is my fundamental opinion.
In the light of their recent associations with the Christian homophobic right and their lack of vocal support for the Canadian queer community, it would seem their recent statement attacking Palestinian and Muslim (and indeed some Jewish) queer people for their political stands against Israeli Apartheid on the basis of the alledged superiority of the attitude of Israeli culture toward LGBT people seems opportunist at best.
Cueball did CJC make the same comments as Bnai Brith? And I was at the Pride Parade last year and saw the CJC float.
I wasn't there. I don't usually go anymore because its turned into such a commercialized corporate thing, but that is my personal view. If you say there was a float there was a float. Good. Nonetheless this thread is not about the CJC, it is about the B'nai Brith. Are you suggesting that because the CJC had a float that covers off for the B'nai Brith? I had know idea that the organizations were wedded like that, even though it is hard to tell them apart.
Meanwhile, the world demands Bnai Brith disappear from the galaxy.
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/andrew-brett/2009/05/pro-israel-lobb...
Yes, that is heavily implied.
It seems some Jerusalemites are not very happy about Pride celebrations in their city. Hmm?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6225444.stm
As I stated in the other thread about their trying to get the funding pulled from the event, 2 birds one stone, it keeps their evangelical friends happy by getting rid of the pride parade, and silencing voices in support of Palestine.
From other thread
"This is a bigger issue than that, 2 points are converging into public face of this.
The BB knows that there would not be exclusion occuring on the part of Pride parade organizers. Therefore, attacking the funding effectively would shut down the parade, which is what the Christian fundamentalists that they are now closely associated with want.
2 birds 1 stone.
And one wonders who the real fascists are?"
Not very happy is a understatement!
Fireifghter's Strike Douses Gay Post-march Rally
In somewhat related news...
Lebanon's First Queer Book Now Out
I'm enraged. I can't write any of my own words at this time.
The latest news:
Pride Toronto has banned Queers Against Israeli Apartheid from marching in the parade this year.
Fucking bullshit.
Full story here. Of course the article is in the National Post.
Tim McCaskell's letter to Toronto Pride (it's circulating on the net so I'm reproducing it in its entirety):
SAME SHIT (aka Mycroft, Unionist Cueball) DIFFERENT DAY.
Don't you bigots have anything else to talk about?? Go get some self tanning cream and join the rest of the people who go OUTSIDE everyday. I can just imagine how big your dimpled asses must be from sitting on your computers 24 hours a day.
Evidently some people are mightily embarassed by the mess Bnai Brith has made and are defensively lashing out. I don't think we need a Rabble Racist. Thanks for coming out though.
Whatever. RabbleRacist is gone.
tick,tock,tick,tock...
I have to thank RabbleRacist for giving me the unique experience of being attacked by anti-Semites and pro-Israel advocates on the very same day (though in different forums).
We appear to have two threads on the same issue. I read Mark Singh's letter, and it seems to confirm (by its silence) the allegation that they have banned QAIA. Whoever made this decision must be condemned. The oppressed and marginalized people either stick together, or they are all lost. Succumbing to the pressure and dollars of the wealthy and powerful is the beginning of the end for any struggle.
Do they carry banners for political parties, and address their political platform? No that I have seen in Vancouver anyway!
I know that the CPC and the Liberal party have had booths at the Toronto Pride fair in the past, don't know about the parade as I haven't bothered to watch it or march in years.
I had the misfortune of being across from the PC Ontario party's booth one year at the community fair. They had a giant inflated gorilla (I'm not joking) which I had to stare at all day. I never understood what it meant, and don't really want to think about it too much, as it's so frightening.
And maybe I'm missing something, but wasn't the creation of the Pride Parades part of a "political agenda" in the first place?
They certainly carry banners for political parties, yes. They don't "address their political platforms" because it's a festive parade not a policy seminar.
They certainly carry banners for political parties, yes. They don't "address their political platforms" because it's a festive parade not a policy seminar.
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