by Joe Siegel

Many of this year’s Pride parades featured pro-Palestinian protests by LGBTQ groups. The ongoing war in Gaza has caused divisions within the LGBTQ community and marred what is usually a joyful time of year when our diversity is celebrated.

New York City’s parade was one of them.

“Commotion broke out on Christopher Street at about 2:30 p.m., about a block away from Stonewall, when several activists protesting the war in Gaza sat down in front of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) float, blocking its path. Some of the activists smeared themselves with red paint as they sat over banners about freeing Palestine and handed out leaflets,” Michael Luongo of Gay City News reported on June 30.

“Many in the crowd joined in their melodious chants of ‘Free, Free Palestine’ and ‘Shut it Down,’ including some on the HRC float, who began to work these words and others into the queer anthems the vehicle was blasting through the narrow street,” Luongo wrote.

San Francisco’s Pride parade was also marked by a massive protest.

“Demonstrators took to the streets of San Francisco’s Castro and Mission neighborhoods June 30, boycotting the city’s Pride parade due to ‘sponsorship and participation’ from politicians, groups, and corporations who didn’t call for, or opposed, a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip or who contract with the Israeli government,” according to the Bay Area Reporter. “The protest, ‘No Pride in Genocide: Queer and Trans March for Palestinian Liberation,’ started at Church and Market streets and made its way down Church Street to the Mission before making its way to Castro and Market streets.”

In Seattle, “Pro-Palestinian protesters had an evident presence at most of the major Pride events around Seattle this year,” said Renee Raketty, editor of SGN (Seattle Gay News). “However, I think there should be space for that, especially in the LGBTQIA+ community, which encompasses such beautiful diversity, including of ideas and opinions. Our community has had many divisions over the decades, but came to a consensus through internal dialogue. This might look messy to outsiders. However, when we all start to think alike, that’s when things get scary.”

In Toronto, where part of the Pride parade was cancelled due to a blockade set up by pro-Palestinian protesters, Toronto-based Xtra ran a June 19 analysis piece entitled, “No Pride without solidarity.”  Its subhead read, “Queer activism has never been solely in the service of LGBTQ+ people.”

Angered by such sentiments, Mark Segal, publisher of Philadelphia Gay News (PGN), penned a blistering editorial on July 8. Sega excoriated members of the LGBTQ community for disrespecting Pride.

“This year in many cities, members of our community attempted to stop Pride by attempting to block Pride parades chanting ‘No pride during genocide,’” Segal wrote. “Others wrote posts asking what there is to be proud of. All of the people who did that do not understand the meaning of Stonewall, our history, or Pride. They forget, or simply choose to disregard, the reason that they’re able to be out of the closet is because of the visibility we brought to the world, because of the rioting at Stonewall, and because of the community created where there was none before. That visibility is more important today than ever with over 450 pieces of anti-LGBT legislation introduced across the nation designed to make us invisible again.”

“Those who tried to stop Pride want to take us back to the 1950s,” Segal wrote. “They want us to go back to being silent. You can feel strongly about the situation in Gaza, but not at the expense of erasing our visibility. It’s because of Pride that the LGBTQ community can publicly exist — with all the differing opinions of any other group. It’s because of Pride that the pro-Palestinian LGBTQ people can be as public as they want. And now they’ve tried to stop the very thing that allows them to exist in the first place.”

On June 5, Segal wrote an editorial where he took aim at the Pro-Palestine demonstrators for their stance:

“Last Sunday in Philadelphia, a group carrying signs saying ‘Queers4Palestine’ attempted to disrupt the Pride parade. They believed that our Pride should be shelved due to the war that is raging in Gaza. Let’s put this clearly: They wanted there to be no LGBTQ+ Pride. As someone who was at Stonewall, a marshal at the first Pride one year later in 1970, and has fought for our rights for 55 years, I say: YOU WILL NOT TAKE OUR PRIDE AWAY. And you failed to do so. Maybe it’s because you don’t understand the meaning of what Pride is to our community. You have no appreciation for those who fought the battle so you can be out and protest, and your actions show a lack of respect for LGBTQ+ history.”

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Volume 26
Issue 5