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Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!) is a gay San Francisco Bay Area political action group supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel; and opposing Pinkwashing of the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. [1] It was founded in early 2001 by a member of LAGAI-Queer Insurrection. [2]
The group "supports divestment, the right of return for all Palestinians, immediate Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories and describes Zionism as racism." [3]
The group opposes Pinkwashing (promoting through an appeal to "queer-friendliness") of the Israeli government and its anti-Palestinian policies. [1]
Some have argued the groups goals are hypocritical given the state of queer rights in Palestine. [4]
In December, 2004, one of QUIT!'s founders, Kate Bender-Raphael was arrested by Israeli authorities while "filming a clash between Israeli soldiers and activists protesting the building of the separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bil'in." [14] [15] [16] Bender-Raphael had been arrested in Israel and deported in 2003 "also for filming the Israel Defense Forces' reaction to a demonstration against the barrier." [14] As a result of her arrest, QUIT! staged a protest outside the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco. [15] [17]
In late 2004, in response to Interpride's decision that the Israeli group Jerusalem Open House would host the second World Pride parade in 2005, QUIT! launched a Boycott World Pride [18] campaign. The boycott picked up steam after the event was postponed until August 2006 because of the pullout of the Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip. QUIT and many other individuals and organizations contended that it was inappropriate to hold an event titled "Love Without Borders" in a city bisected by a 30-foot concrete wall. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) [19] decided, in March 2006, not to participate in World Pride Jerusalem, stating, "IGLHRC recognizes that many LGBTI people in the region who wish to attend World Pride 2006, named 'Love without Borders,' will be unable to do so due to travel restrictions and conditions that limit mobility and participation." [20]
In an open letter signed by more than 100 artists and writers, including Sophie Fiennes, Elia Suleiman, Ken Loach, Haim Bresheeth, Jenny Morgan, John Berger, Arundhati Roy, Ahdaf Soueif, Eduardo Galeano, Brian Eno, and Leon Rosselson, Frameline was asked "to honor calls for an international boycott of Israeli political and cultural institutions, by discontinuing Israeli consulate sponsorship of the LGBT film festival and not cosponsoring events with the Israeli consulate." [21]
A pink triangle has been a symbol for the LGBT community, initially intended as a badge of shame, but later reappropriated as a positive symbol of self-identity. In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, it began as one of the Nazi concentration camp badges, distinguishing those imprisoned because they had been identified by authorities as gay men or trans women. In the 1970s, it was revived as a symbol of protest against homophobia, and has since been adopted by the larger LGBT community as a popular symbol of LGBT pride and the LGBT movements and queer liberation movements.
Queer Nation is an LGBTQ activist organization founded in March 1990 in New York City, by HIV/AIDS activists from ACT UP. The four founders were outraged at the escalation of anti-gay violence on the streets and prejudice in the arts and media. The group is known for its confrontational tactics, its slogans, and the practice of outing.
Jewish Voice for Peace is an American anti-Zionist left-wing Jewish advocacy organization that is critical of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
A dyke march is a lesbian visibility and protest march, much like the original Gay Pride parades and gay rights demonstrations. The main purpose of a dyke march is the encouragement of activism within the lesbian and sapphic community. Dyke marches commonly take place the Friday or Saturday before LGBTQ pride parades. Larger metropolitan areas usually have several Pride-related happenings both before and after the march to further community building; with social outreach to specific segments such as older women, women of color, and lesbian parenting groups.
The Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) is a student organization in the United States which was established in 2000 after the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in Israel. The organization aims to use "divestment as a tactic to non-violently influence a just resolution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict." Aside from divestment from Israel, the group focuses on ending U.S. aid to Israel and a Right of return. PSM tactics include: education; public demonstrations and rallies; and civil disobedience or direct action.
The Frameline Film Festival began as a storefront event in 1976. The first film festival, named the Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films, was held in 1977. The festival is organized by Frameline, a nonprofit media arts organization whose mission statement is "to change the world through the power of queer cinema". It is the oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world.
The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1997 that runs an LGBTQ community center offering educational and social events and a health center that provides physical and mental care. Since 2002, JOH has also organized an annual Jerusalem Pride march.
Homosexuality in the Palestinian territories is considered a taboo subject; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people experience persecution and violence. There is a significant legal divide between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with the former having more progressive laws and the latter having more conservative laws. Shortly after the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank in 1950, same-sex acts were decriminalized across the territory with the adoption of the Jordanian Penal Code of 1951. In the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip and under Hamas' rule, however, no such initiative was implemented.
Disinvestment from Israel is a campaign that aims to use disinvestment to pressure the government of Israel to put "an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured during the 1967 military campaign." The disinvestment campaign is related to other economic and political boycotts of Israel.
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) was a Toronto-based grassroots organization involved in the movement against what the organization see as Israeli apartheid and is a member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. The group has been involved in Israeli Apartheid Week as well as Toronto Pride Week. QuAIA formed shortly after the 2008 iteration of Israeli Apartheid Week at which queer activists had a discussion about "pinkwashing", or the use of gay rights as a propaganda tool to justify Israel's policy toward Palestine. The group went on to form contingents for the 2008-2010 and 2012 Pride parades, as well as holding forums, discussion panels and cultural events in Toronto.
Homosexual relations were legalised in the state of Israel in 1988, and during the 1990s various forms of discrimination were prohibited, making LGBT rights in Israel the most progressive in the Middle East. Debate has since centred on recognition of same-sex partnerships and the rights they confer, including inheritance, residency, and the adoption of children. The staging of LGBT pride parades has been controversial in some cases.
Students for Justice in Palestine is a pro-Palestinian college student activism organization in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. It has campaigned for boycott and divestment against corporations that deal with Israel and organized events about Israel's human rights violations. In 2011, The New York Times reported that "S.J.P., founded in 2001 at the University of California, Berkeley, has become the leading pro-Palestinian voice on campus."
Pinkwashing, also known as rainbow-washing, is the strategy of deploying messages that are superficially sympathetic towards the LGBTQ community for ends having little or nothing to do with LGBTQ equality or inclusion, including LGBT marketing.
Reactions to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) refer to the views of international actors on the BDS movement.
A Wider Bridge is a United States based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which mobilizes the LGBTQ community to fight antisemitism and support Israel and its LGBTQ community. AWB connects the LGBT communities in the U.S. and Israel and advocating for LGBT rights in Israel. The organization has activists across North America and around the world. It sponsors a campaign Queers Against Antisemitism which is described as "a movement of queer activists who pledge to fight antisemitism as it spreads around the globe."
Aswat - Palestinian Feminist Center for Gender and Sexual Freedoms, also known as Aswat, is an Israel-based feminist organization that advocates for lesbians and other LGBT women in the Palestinian community. The group was founded in 2003, making it the first Palestinian organization for lesbians. It was initially membership-based, but has since transitioned to a movement-based structure. It is based in Haifa, Israel.
Brand Israel is a public relations campaign run by the Israeli government to improve the image of the State of Israel. The goal of the campaign is to establish Israel as a cosmopolitan, progressive, Westernized and democratic society, contrasting it with the Islamic, homophobic and repressive surrounding nations.
Ghadir Shafie is a Palestinian activist and feminist. She is the co-director of Aswat, an organization of queer Palestinian women, which she joined in 2008.
Queer advocacy during the Israel–Hamas war has remained a significantly contentious topic. Many queer people allied themselves with pro-Palestinian causes, especially in protest movements against the ongoing war, against the alleged Gaza genocide. Some pro-Palestinian queers have claimed common cause between Queer liberation and Palestinian liberation, though others have called such movements antisemitic and self-contradictory. Some pro-Israeli queers have complained about feeling excluded from traditionally queer spaces due to pro-Palestinian queer advocacy.
