Outrage!- Jerusalem gay Pride unites fundamentalists but...

Stonewalled
by David Sheen

They won. The axis of evil won the war today. Yesterday, the mainstream
gay umbrella organization caved in to the homophobic death-threats and
cancelled the Jerusalem Pride Parade. The Judeo-fascists succeeded in
containing the gays into a ghetto, a self-contained stadium where straight
sympathizers were allowed to make impassioned speeches preaching
tolerance, and not much else. They promised police not to permit any
outward displays of gay pride anywhere on the streets of the city; they
sold out the queer community right back into the closet.

A small group of radical fags and dykes, feeling betrayed and scared
shitless, but too proud to cower in the corner, decided to reclaim the
streets anyhow. They met in a public park on the day of the parade, but
before they could even organize, much less simply walk down a city street,
religious right-wingers swooped in with signs, screaming insults. Within
a minute, the media started snapping pictures, and after another sixty
seconds, occupation Israeli border police cordoned us, the silent
majority, out of the park and onto the sidewalk outside.

Once outside the park, it was easy to cart us off onto a big bus with bars
on the windows, headed straight for administrative detention. We waited
on the bus for hours until the cops emptied us out and interrogated us.
Eventually, we were abandoned on the outskirts of Jerusalem as the sun
went down, once we could no longer be of any consequence politically. We
weren’t charged with any crime, so we wont have to face any court battles,
but it took the wind out of our rainbow sails. The homophobic haters ran
the fags out of town, and the police provided efficient logistic support.

I learned a couple of lessons today. One, the Jerusalem Open House and
their so-called leaders many be homosexual, but theyre also as straight as
they come, and most definitely not queer. If theyre fruits of any kind,
its dragonfruit: you know, pink on the outside, and white on the inside.
Two, if you want to make a statement, take a page out of the playbook of
our opponents: no need to talk, just carry a big torch. Propaganda by
the deed speaks volumes. When they incite their minions to slaughter us
in the streets, don’t speak or turn the other cheek; just burn down the
motherfucking house on their heads.

Queerifada
þ2006

*** *** ***
Petrus: Eye-witness report on Pride Day events in Jerusalem

Pride events in Jerusalem today (Nov 10) passed without any of the
large-scale violence anticipated, but also without the actual march
taking place and amid 30 arrests of queer demonstrators.

Throughout the past few weeks, tension in Jerusalem has been intense.
All over the city, posters signed by ultra-orthodox rabbis were calling
for mass protests against the “sinful march of filth”, and some even
called for killing the marchers. For several nights in the religious
neighborhoods there were demonstrations and garbage bins burning in the
streets, and among those planning to participate in the march there was
genuine fear for our safety. The police were also threatening to cancel
the march because they said they could not secure it.

Finally, the Open House organizers of the pride march cancelled it of
their own initiative. Instead, there would only be a rally with speeches
and bands, at the University stadium where the march was supposed to
culminate. In return, the rabbis called off the counter-demonstrations.

But not everyone agreed with the cancellation of the pride march. In a
communiqué issued last night, radical and anarchist queers called to go
ahead with a march anyway, without permission. They said: “The
arrangement reached with the police and the ultra-orthodox is not a
compromise but a surrender. There is no difference between ‘don’t march’
and ‘do what you want, but in your houses behind closed shutters’. In
both cases we are banished from the streets into a space that is
fenced-in, policed and worst of all – invisible. This is a defeat to the
community, to democracy and to human rights. Those who oppose the march
understand well that they have won…But it doesn’t have to be like this.
We don’t need the police or the Supreme Court to fight for our rights.
Change starts when wo/men stand up and declare: Here we stand, we cannot
do otherwise”.

Thus the day began with over 30 activists gathering with signs at the
entrance to Liberty Bell park – the original starting point of the
cancelled march. They were met by a large armed police force, including
riot cops. Also on scene were a handful of people from the extreme-right
who were verbally abusing the queers, calling them disgusting perverts
and shouting at them to get out of the holy city. The police did not act
against these abusers, declaring instead that due to "a danger to public
safety" the queer activists had to disperse, in groups of 3 and without
displaying any signs, or they would be arrested. After some 15 minutes
arrests began, with the usual excessive violence. The arrestees were
hauled into police bus and driven to a nearby border-police base. They
spent the next 3-4 hours inside the vehicle, and in the afternoon were
released without charge.

Meanwhile at the stadium festive events were in full swing. The scene
was colorful and celebratory, with speeches, stalls and bands on the
stage. A small pink-and-black bloc was also present, with signs and
flyers linking the struggle for LGBT rights to the struggles against
militarism, the occupation of Palestine, economic exploitation and all
other forms of oppression. Participants from the bloc later joined the
weekly Women In Black vigil against the occupation in central Jerusalem.

The intollerance shown to the Gay community in Israel was a coalition of religious extremists, which, though not insignificant, were certainly in the minority.
In general most Israelis wholly support gay rights and indeed gay people can even serve in the army.
Further freedom of religion and equality for women are also halmarks of the only real democracy in the Middle East
What Mr Tatchell fails to understand with his vision of one state for all is that if this was to occur, Israel would lose its democratic character and such rights would seek to exist, such as they do not exist in any other country in the Middle East.
Israel is not without faults and it is right that she should be held accountable for those faults, but insofar as political rights and freedoms are concerned, she is head and shoulders above Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Nigeria etc, yet of course one would not expect the legitimacy of those states to be questioned.