Before the Parade Passes By…

August 4, 2006 - 2:31 PM by

Mobius offers an update on what is happening in the gay and lesbian community after the big Jerusalem international event was cancelled because of the security situation;

Next week’s World Pride festival in Jerusalem will proceed but not precisely as planned. Due to the present conflict, the hotly contested and highly controversial pride parade (which brought about numerous protests and threats from Jerusalem’s religious communities) has been cancelled. This may be good or bad depending on where you stand on the issue. I marched as a supporter in the parade last year. This year’s parde I’m not so sure I could get behind.

A number of gay men with religious backgrounds that I’ve spoken with said they felt that unless conducted with the utmost respect for Jerusalem’s religious communities, the event was no more than a provocation that would be counterproductive to advancing “the cause.” In their estimation, it would only generate more hatred and contempt that will further set back the acceptance of queers within the religious community. From a rational perspective, I can’t help but agree.

If the parade would be conducted in a modest fashion, it could make the profound statement “We’re here, we’re queer, and we deserve the same amount of respect we give to you.” That would be an effective action. However, if making peace with the religious world isn’t your agenda (as I know it’s not for some, like my friend Yossi) and you’re coming to Jerusalem with the willfull intention to “stick it” to religious people by “rubbing it in their faces” as it were, then I certainly don’t think the parade is appropriate, in the same way I don’t think it’s appropriate for neo-Nazis to stage rallies in Black neighborhoods (hate, as I do, to draw such a comparison). But I digress. War has made this conversation a non-issue.

In that vein, on the other end of things, organizations such as QUIT! have called for a total boycott of World Pride activities due to Israel’s current actions in Gaza and Lebanon (though, to be fair, they were already calling for a boycott when the situation here was more subdued). They have since been joined in this call by 22 other organizations.

Such a boycott can easily be justified, however, the conference organizers feel that it squanders the opportunity for the queer community to make a bold statement about the present conflict, by underscoring the need for tolerance:

“It has always been very challenging to do this work,” said Hagai El-Ad, executive director of Jerusalem Open House, the Israeli LGBT community center that is helping coordinate the event. “This only makes it more meaningful and powerful.”

Regional and religious conflict only strengthen organizers’ resolve, they said.

“We’ve always seen World Pride for the LGBT community as an opportunity to make a statement about tolerance and pluralism,” said Noa Sattah, chairperson of Jerusalem Open House. “I think the current events give us a unique opportunity to do just that.”

Perhaps that’s so. But then an even greater case can be made for attending the Queeruption, the “free DiY radical queer gathering” in Tel Aviv, which began last night and shall continue through the end of next week. This year the Queeruption, which is held annually alongside the World Pride festivities, will focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and radical queer culture in the Middle East. (Stay on top of the Queeruption with their blog here.)

I’m excited to attend the Queeruption (as it was organized, in part, by several of my friends), though, for obvious reasons, I’m also excited about Wednesday’s World Pride program at the World Union of Progressive Judaism (Beit Shmuel), “Reclaiming Our Faith and Our Heritage: Jerusalem WorldPride Multi-Faith Convocation.”

Though I don’t identify as queer myself, I have a great affinity for queer culture, as I believe it to be deeply intertwined with radical Jewish culture. We share more in common then we often care to admit, and I for one am all in favor of fostering that relationship.

That said, I am also — to be frank — morally repulsed by the treatment of homosexuals in the religious Jewish community, and I would like to become the most effective activist I can in healing the rift between the queer and religious communities. Though I have my reservations, I’m hoping Wednesday’s program will be conducive towards this mission.

Tags: • Category: A New Reality 

Comments

One Comment on Before the Parade Passes By…

  1. Michael on Sun, Aug 6th 2006 5:49 PM

    2. Why not pioneer and break new ground with a Gay Pride Day or World ( Gay )Pride in Egypt, Iran or some capital of the Islamic world, a typical “in your face” event showing courage of conviction that would galvanize world attention? This could be the Islamic/Jewish break through in multiculteral relations. Sodomites and Saracen Ishmaelites in solidarity for world peace and the environment. That kind of covers it all under one umbrella.

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