Banner day

So the other day, as a headline for a post on California's despicable anti-same sex marriage PropH8, I used ''The Gay Agenda.''

It was, as most of my readers would, I hope, understand, completely ironic. Just like these guys use it.

The thing is, people who actually use that term ''the gay agenda'' in a non-ironic sense usually mean it as code for ''If we let men marry men next thing you know people will want to marry herds of goats and it will be the end of the family. Think of the children.''

I'm talking people like so-called Christians such this guy (I swear he licks his lips as he rattles of his list of ''perversions.''):

All of which is a long way of getting into today's treeware column, about ... among other things ... how the self-described ''Jewish human rights'' champion B'nai Brith, has, once again, attempted to stifle legitimate criticism of the state of Israel in Toronto.

Here's the column, with additions, annotations and links.

You might want to go read the original, and then come here for the extras:

If there is one group that well understands oppression, it's the gay community.

So understanding is it of the need for diversity that, according to Pride Toronto, it is the "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex, queer, questioning and two-spirited" community.

LGBTTIQQ2S for short.

After attending 14 Pride parades – not in any official capacity but certainly in a drunken one – I have seen all kinds of groups participate. Some carry banners identifying members as everything from Catholic gays to Cambridge gays. Some groups have political affiliations. Some are controversial. Some are not.

In the past, there have been debates over whether the Canadian military should be part of the parade. Let me tell you, when I myself saw those troops march by last year, I and everybody else on the sidelines whistled, screamed and cheered. 

And it was not just because some of the soldiers were really cute. Really cute.

This year, I am hearing rumours of Tamil-Sinhalese clashes which may result in a not-so-gay parade.

Even though it's now become a glitzy event, sponsored by banks and beer companies, and, except for some hairy "bears" and their dangly bits, totally family friendly, it has never abandoned its grassroots.

Those roots lay long buried through many years of prejudice and persecution.

Never forget, in Nazi Germany, when Jews were forced to wear yellow stars, gay men wore pink triangles and lesbians black triangles. All were sent to the camps to perish together.

And no doubt, some were both Jewish and gay/lesbian.

Indeed, gay pride marches began exactly 40 years ago in New York City, after a brutal police raid on the Stonewall Inn.

Reader Roger (and Matt) wrote to me today pointing out that gay pride began in Canada when former PM Pierre Trudeau announced that the state had no business in the bedrooms of the nation, and was cemented by the Toronto bathhouse raids of 1981. (Vintage CBC-TV video here.)

So it's pretty rich when the language of gay oppression is used against Toronto's Pride parade, to be held June 28, by another group that purports to champion human rights.

Especially a group that is openly aligned with anti-gay rights Christian fundamentalists such as Charles McVety, Canada's most vocal lobbyist against same-sex marriage, and John Hagee, who claimed God sent Hurricane Katrina to stop "a homosexual parade."

A word about Christian Zionist fundies. They truly believe that in Armageddon and all that Revelations Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse stuff. Fine. Whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess. But they also believe that, after Jews have returned to Jerusalem, the end times come and everybody turns Christian.

Which means the end of the Jews, no? So I am not really sure why B'nai Brith would make common cause with these people.

Anyway ...

This is what happened last week when B'nai Brith issued a news release asserting that the gay community's "agenda" was being "hijacked by anti-Israel agitators."

B’nai Brith Canada urges LGBT community not to allow their agenda to be hijacked by anti-Israel agitators

TORONTO, May 20, 2009 – B’nai Brith Canada has called on members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to voice their public opposition to Israel apartheid campaigns that seek to delegitimize the Jewish State and its supporters here at home. The Jewish human rights organization issued this call in the wake of an event being convened this week in Toronto by a group calling itself “Queers Against Israeli Apartheid”. The organization also noted with concern that a featured speaker at this event is the 2009 Pride Grand Marshal.

I really don't think there was much irony in the use of ''agenda'' there, do you?

What B'nai Brith was objecting to, first, the get together held by Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QAIA) last weekend; second, the fact that the Muslim parade grand marshal was speaking at the event, along with Tim McCaskell, a man who lived through South Africa's apartheid regime; and, third, at least by implication, the fact that (QAIA), which had participated in last year's pride parade, would likely be back this year.

Here's Rabble.ca's Andrew Brett on the matter:

McCaskell spoke of his involvement in the Simon Nkoli Anti-Apartheid Committee, a Toronto-based queer group that fought against South African apartheid. Khaki, who is also grand marshal of this year's Pride parade, spoke of how the language of queer rights is being used by the Israeli government to justify its occupation of Palestine and racial apartheid.

B'nai Brith accused the organisers of the forum of "hijacking" the gay agenda. McCaskell, well known in the queer community as a co-founder of AIDS Action Now and co-organiser of the 1981 protests against the bathhouse raids, responded with disappointment: "The B'nai Brith press release saddens me. One cannot be a credible voice for human rights while acting as an apologist for ethnic cleansing in Palestine."

B'nai Brith's sudden interest in the gay agenda has surprised some, including Andy Lehrer of Independent Jewish Voices. He spoke at the community forum from the audience, saying, "B'nai Brith discovered gay rights this week."

Oh and of course: There should be no criticism of Israel, and certainly no use of the word apartheid, despite the fact that many intellectuals, progressive Jews and Israelis, former US President Jimmy Carter and even Bishop Desmond Tutu have made the case that it is an apartheid state. Here. Here. Here. Here.

And let's not even get into Israel Apartheid Week, the controversial annual on-campus event that results in, among other things, op-eds written by mealy-mouthed politicians.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

In fact, what had happened was, several weeks ago, the Pride executive committee had been approached by Martin Gladstone, a Toronto lawyer who objected to QAIA's participation in last year's parade.

Here's how the Jewish Tribune, the B'nai Brith organ, tells it:

In a letter to Toronto Pride’s executive committee this year on April 14, Gladstone stated:

“The law is clear that you cannot allow a not-for-profit corporation to facilitate political advocacy unrelated to its charter…. Support and sponsorship of Pride is not for anti-Israel political advocacy. I am concerned that the possible loss of your charter and other resources would be a huge loss for Pride and the advancement of gay and lesbian rights.”

According to Gladstone, the City of Toronto as well as TD Canada Trust, the main corporate sponsor, contacted the pride committee, urging them not to tolerate anti-Israel activity during the festivities.

Which betrays a complete misunderstanding of not only how Gay Pride works but also how it is, in and of itself, a political event, despite the corporate beer gardens and the vendors of commercial crap along Church Street. (Last year, I did buy a most excellent collapsing hat, made of paper but you'd never know it, by the way.)

Not for nothing is its theme this year ''Can't Stop, Won't Stop.'' The fight is far from over. Not for queers here, and certainly not for queers in the US and around the world.

Still, it would seem that Gladstone, apparently perturbed that politics were part of the partymaking,  complained to B'nai Brith and B'nai Brith rolled out one of its news releases.

In his statement, B'nai Brith executive vice-president Frank Dimant compared liberal gay rights in Israel with the non-existent ones in Arab countries, while ignoring the issue of Palestinian human rights in the occupied territories.

Okay, let's deal with this point, although the lack of gay rights in Muslim countries has NOTHING to do with the lack of human rights for Palestinians in Israel's occupied territories.

There is no question I would rather be a gay man in Israel than anywhere else in the Middle East, although attitudes are changing. (Wikipedia has a good round up of what laws are where.) Unfortunately, in Iraq, where things were quite liberal before Operation Shock and Aw Shucks We Blew It, it's getting to be a horror show for gay men, as it is for all women.

But it's no gay paradise for Israelis, despite their incredible gains in recent years. The political swing to the right is not helping, especially since some Jews argue that being gay isn't quite kosher anyway. What's more, things are not quite as bad in Palestine as some would have it.

Note that the Anti-Defamation League, to its credit, has advocated for gay rights in the US. But has B'nai Brith in Canada, at least since Dimant has been at the helm?

Which is why its sudden concern for the gay and lesbian agenda is laughable to say the least.

The release not only demanded that the gay community condemn the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, it also implied that this year's parade grand marshal, human rights activist and refugee lawyer El-Farouk Khaki, is "part and parcel of the anti-Israel machinery that continues to churn out hateful and divisive propaganda."

That's because Khaki, who founded a support group for gay Muslims, spoke at a Queers Against Israeli Apartheid event last Saturday.

Now you'd think B'nai Brith would be supportive of a man who not only is a progressive Muslim but who also wants to maintain peace in the Middle East.

Instead, Dimant, who is on the faculty of McVety's Canada Christian College, and accepted an honorary doctorate from the school, told the National Post yesterday that Khaki should be subject to "disciplinary action" by Pride Toronto.

But no such action is forthcoming, Pride's executive director Tracey Sandilands assured me, insisting that, contrary to the report in the Post, "Where we stand at this point in time is, we are not taking a side. We are not going to ban anybody from the parade."

However, all entrants, as usual, must meet the legal criteria for participating.

That said, the parade's voluntary security contingent and the city's police presence will be considerably beefed up this year.

Incidentally, Sandilands told me that if there is a Jewish Zionist group that wants to march with banners promoting Israel's record on gay rights, it's welcome to apply like any other group. Deadline is May 31.

And now a word about the Post's report on Thursday.

Many hours after I interviewed Sandilands on Wednesday, somebody sent me the link for the Post's story on this affair, which was published online at 8:22 p.m. Imagine my shock when I saw that, completely contrary to everything Sandilands told me, and is in Pride's online statement, it claimed that QAIA was banned. As a result, all hell broke loose on Facebook among my gay and lesbian friends who were ready to turn on Gay Pride for abandoning the event's political principles.

Despite many online comments, including some from a Pride official, plus a letter seeking clarification from Sandilands, the Post reporter refused to budge. The story went to press and appeared in the paper on Thursday morning.

Only this morning was an ''update'' filed correcting the record.

Back to my column:

As for participation by Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, spokesperson Corvin Russell told me that it intends to follow the rules – and that B'nai Brith's insistence that gays have more rights in Israel than in Arab countries is beside the point.

"If you're interested in queer rights in Palestine, then help them with their struggle and don't demonize them," he said. "Palestinian queers can't seek refuge in Israel."

But it goes much deeper than that.

As McCaskell emailed me:

The problem for queer people is that since we are found in all races, cultures, religions etc, such othering is corrosive to any sense of community. If colonialism generates racism then we have a stake in challenging colonialism.

(I)f BB had been on the front lines of the struggle with gay people they might have half a leg to stand on. They were not.

If the existence of a gay community in Israel is associated with Israeli colonialism it will set back our struggle in the Arab and Muslim world and makes things much more difficult for queers there.

Only when we show solidarity for all people struggling against human rights abuses can we demand everyone honour our human rights.

Finally, the business of stifling dissent.

There have been a number of attempts this month by Jewish organizations to silence critics and criticism of Israel.

First, was the sudden act of disassociation by the Jewish Koffler Centre from an exhibit, one celebrating Judaism in Toronto past, by artist Reena Katz. (That's her in the photo.)  Why? Because of her anti-Zionist politics. For what she thinks. For what she believes.

Then, B'nai Brith appealed to Mayor David Miller to shut down Theatre Passe Muraille's production of Caryl Churchill's controversial Seven Jewish Children - A Play for Gaza, claiming it repeated blood libels. (The Guardian has a modest production video here.)

Also, Conservative MPP Peter Shurman, who represents a largely Jewish riding, filed a resolution asking that the Ontario legislature vote to condemn Israel Apartheid Week, as if it is the role of government to eliminate legitimate debate, as if Israel's supporters don't have plenty of outlets and avenues for putting forth their views, as if there aren't mechanisms in the law to deal with hate and discrimination should it exist.

Finally, there is an attempt by The Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy to rally opposition against an academic conference looking at the possibility of a one-state solution, since a two-state solution seems all but impossible considering the Israeli settlement colonization of Palestinian lands. (The website for a similar conference has incredible maps. Check them out.)

It's all shut-up, shut-up, shut-up.

As for those of us who discuss whether there were war crimes committed in Gaza, whether the Palestinian people are being brutalized, whether human rights are indeed being abused, we're either anti-Semitic or ''self-hating Jews.'' (On the latter score, here's a horrific webbsite. You might want to turn down the volume of your computer.)

This of course has reached absurd levels. Totally misplaced.

And the tragedy is, there is very real anti-Semitism in the world.

But, at this rate, nobody will pay attention if there are cries of ''anti-Semitism'' every time somebody points out what is going on, for example, in Bil'in, (CORRECTION -- Ni'lin)where an American peace activist had the top of his head blown off by a tear gas cannister in March while trying to protect Palestinian lands. Read all about it here because you won't find much in the mainstream media.

Which, after all these words, brings me to two things.

One, you don't try to play the who-is-more-oppressed game with a community that not only has suffered, and continues to suffer, devastating persecution, but is extremely well-organized. Taking on the LGBT community was a colossal misstep by B'nai Brith, which is coming under attack by even former members of its executive and board. (PDF)

Two, it's really unJewish to stifle dissent. Just in the latter part of the the 20th century for example, Jews fought McCarthyism, stood by Martin Luther King, led the protest movement against the Vietnam War, even were at the forefront of the women's liberation and gay rights movements.

As Reena Katz told me on Thursday:

Let’s have that intellectual debate. Let’s see if the term apartheid applies.

It is so shocking that this is what we’ve come to as a people, as a people who literally culturally value dissent. For whom our holiest book is filled with arguments. It’s absurd. The Torah is one text in the middle with bunch of arguments around it. This is our holiest book. So what’s the problem with our community now that we can no longer have these arguments that actually strengthen us and make us a people?

We can do this. It’s not a threat. We will still survive.

See you all at Pride.

Note about the Photos: I am indebted to reader Roger who sent me his photo of a lone Arab protester whom I remember from last year's Pride parade. As I can best recall, his sign said something like, ''I am marching for all the other Saudi gays who cannot.''

The other Pride parade photo was lifted from Pride Toronto's website. It shows QAIA at last year's event, as part of the CUPE contingent.

UPDATE: More on Bi'lin here. Interesting how this story is ignored in North America.

While the Bil'in residents maintain their adherence to nonviolence, the same can't be said for the IDF. Last month a beloved activist from the village, Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rammah, was killed by a high-velocity tear-gas canister, and one 16-year-old child we spoke to survived a live round to the head. These are definitely not "mistakes", when you shoot a high-velocity tear-gas canister horizontally and not up in the air you only have one goal. They managed to murder Bassem with a shot to the heart. This is where the chicken faeces idea came from. "They shoot bullets at us, so we will respond with our animals faeces," said al-Rahman. At the demonstration hundreds of tear gas canisters were shot at us, and rubber bullets aimed at the children throwing stones.

WHAT'S UP WITH ZIONIST GAYS DATE: Looks like they're getting organized. And there's a brand new Twitter feed too.

Holy Queer is a Zionist Queer Group that promotes and celebrates Gay life in Israel.

When it comes to Gay Rights, Israel is not only more liberal then its neighbors, but more liberal and open then most Western Countries. Same-sex marriages are recognized in Israel; same-sex couples can adopt; individuals can serve in the armed forces without any distinction based on sexual orientation. Israel has in place very strong legislation that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; Israel protects and grants LGBTQ individuals full and equal rights.

It's time to celebrate all that through political activism, cultural events and PARTIES...

Fine. And if they put in an application before deadline that demonstrates a commitment to gay rights, they too can march in the parade.

But it's odd that they seem to be so new, and there is no website than a Facebook page.

Comments

[QuAIA member]

The Saudi guy in the photo is also a QuAIA member and helped paint our first banner. Your recollection of his sign is right.

[Skinny dipper]

My comment on Rabble:

If gays, lesbians, and others are not allowed to care about the Palestinians and Israel's treatment of them, who else is going to care about the LGBT community?

Rights for gays are not my problem. Why should I care about them?

Rights for Israelis and Palestinians are not my problem. Why should I care about them?

Rights for Israelis and Palestinains are not the LGBT community's problem. Why should they care about the Middle East?

[Edson Castilho]

Wonderful post! It's sad to see a group that represents people who know very well what marginalisation and hate is all about, calling for censorship in relation to a people who are currently suffering oppression and a vioaltion of their human rights.

[John Gilberts]

I'm with Reena Katz and her statement: "let's have that debate". However here's what you're going to be up against:
http://www.fswc.ca/spirit_of_hope.aspx

[Ellen Shifrin]

You're a brave lady. The mainstream Jewish community is totally out of control. The very idea that Dimant can teach at a fundamentalist Christian college and then have the nerve to even open his mouth is mind boggling. They have lost touch with everything Judaism stands for. I hope you haven't gotten too much hate mail - a note of support from this end.

[Antonia]

Thanks Ellen.

Actually, I am stunned to report that, aside from two emails from people calling me a ''Jew-hater,'' all response has been incredibly positive, just like yours. In fact, I have heard from literally DOZENS of progressive Jews who feel like you do.

Even more surprising is at least one conservative blogger, a guy who has bashed me several times in the past, actually agrees with me.
http://blazingcatfur.blogspot.com/2009/06/harper-instructs-canadian-jewish.html

Still, I find the silence, if not ominous, at least interesting.

[Marky Mark]

Moi aussi-I tried to create a trackback link but I'm not that technologically adept.

http://markymarkisonthemark.blogspot.com/2009/05/israel-and-pride-parade.html

[Mark]

"The mainstream Jewish community is totally out of control."

"Mainstream"? Really? American Jews voted 80/20 for Obama - compared to 70/30 for people who identify themselves as Secular or Atheist, a community that most certainly is not "out of control". (Gay men voted just 60/40 for Obama, btw...) A bunch of right-wing Jews in Thornhill don't represent the more than seven million Jews in North America.

Ironically, Reena Katz's statement that the torah "is our holiest book" ignores the 50% of the Jewish population that is Atheist or Secular from the discussion. It is sadly representative of the Toronto Jewish community - mainstream and not - to exclude non-religious Jews from the discussion.

[Antonia]

Marky Mark: Try copying the link above -- not in the address bar but just below the actual post where it says Trackback URL -- into your whatever. I am kind of dumb about these things too.

http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341bf8f353ef011570b0950c970b

[B. Ross Ashley]

Way to go, Antonia. Lovely, succinct, and just exactly what needed to be said.