‘Pinkwashing’ Conference Head Claims Dissenters are ‘Israeli Operatives’

Bizarre clash of ideals at CUNY, where Israel is accused of using its gay-rights record to conceal its oppression of Palestinians

By James Kirchick

In April, the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS) at the City University of New York hosted a conference on “Homonationalism and Pinkwashing.” If neither term is familiar, consider yourself one of the lucky few who has avoided exposure to the bizarre new inversion of language that seeks to turn Israel’s history of generally respecting gay rights into the leading edge of a sinister new campaign to justify the oppression of Palestinians.

“Homonationalism,” according to a description on the conference website, is the apparently noxious new phenomenon that “occurs when sub-sectors of specific gay communities achieve legal parity with heterosexuals and then embrace racial and religious supremacy ideologies”—including being proud of Israel’s record of respecting and upholding the rights of gay citizens and visitors. “Pinkwashing,” meanwhile, describes a “deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians’ human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life.” This latter term was first mentioned by Rutgers academic Jasbir Puar in a 2010 Guardian article but gained genuine notoriety thanks to a 2011 New York Times op-ed by CUNY professor and conference organizer Sarah Schulman.

In that op-ed, Schulman claimed that “Increasing gay rights have caused some people of good will to mistakenly judge how advanced a country is by how it responds to homosexuality.” A country’s record on gay rights, however, is nearly always a telling indicator of its “advancement” (a curious word choice for an otherwise reliable expositor of moral equivalence as Schulman). And not only is Schulman’s argument a non sequitur in that many of the most vocal gay-rights activists in Israel are also fervent opponents of the occupation, it is a critique that she peculiarly applies only to the Jewish state. For instance, there is no condemnation of France covering up its failure to integrate Arabs by promoting its wine industry, or China’s obscuring its appalling human-rights record by promoting the Great Wall.

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Pride and Prejudice

By Rabbi Jillian R. Cameron

During June, designated as LGBT Pride Month, we often read Parashah Balak. It is a curious tale, replete with a talking donkey and the roundabout air of prophecy; a story of attempted curses that ultimately lead to blessings.

The Israelites have been saved from cruel Pharaoh, and for the past two and a half books – Exodus, Leviticus, and now Numbers – they have been wandering the desert, perhaps a little aimlessly, toward the hope of a Promised Land. We meet Balak, the King of Moab, who is a bit nervous about the group of Israelites who have settled near his kingdom. He states in Numbers 22, verse 5, “There is a people that came out of Egypt; it hides the earth from view.” This sounds all too familiar, but Balak, takes a different path than old Pharaoh. He attempts to enlist Balaam, a Moabite diviner saying, “Come then, put a curse upon this people for me, since they are too numerous for me; perhaps I can thus defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed indeed, and he whom you curse is cursed."

Balaam agrees to the task, but each time he attempts to curse the Israelites, the Divine interferes – and all three times Balaam blesses, rather than curses, Israel. “My message was to bless: When [God] blesses, I cannot reverse it.”

As a member of the gay Jewish community, I ask: Are we blessed?

All too often, the message of religion is used to exclude rather than include; to curse rather than bless. For so long, the LGBT community has been at odds with religion, feeling this exclusion, perhaps feeling cursed. But we learn from Balaam, the unlikely mouthpiece of God, that nothing that God has blessed can be cursed. We have all been blessed by God.

So why do we – why do I – sometimes still feel the linger of the curse?

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San Francisco's Gay Jewish Hero

The late gay activist and San Francisco politician Harvey Milk seemed to have organizing in his blood. His grandfather, a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant, helped found the first synagogue in his Long Island town, and Milk himself would go on to make great strides for gay communities across the country.

Milk first became interested in politics during the rampant police raids of gay bars of the 1960s. He was already affectionately known as the "Mayor of the Castro," organizing Teamsters, firefighters, and construction unions. And though he lost his first races, when he finally won a position as City Supervisor in 1977, he immediately made history: Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected into political office in America. Tragically, his historic career ended on November 27, 1978, when Milk and Mayor George Moscone were murdered in City Hall by a fellow city supervisor.

Today, Milk's legacy has been memorialized in documentary and feature films alike. A huge rainbow flag flies in Harvey Milk Plaza in San Francisco, and New York City even has a high school named in his honor.

We're kvelling with pride.

Biden: Jewish leaders drove gay marriage changes

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is praising Jewish leaders for helping change American attitudes about gay marriage and other issues.

Biden says culture and arts change people's attitudes. He cites social media and the old NBC TV series "Will and Grace" as examples of what helped changed attitudes on gay marriage. 

Biden says, quote, "Think — behind of all that, I bet you 85 percent of those changes, whether it's in Hollywood or social media, are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry." 
Biden says the influence is immense and that those changes have been for the good. 

Biden was speaking Tuesday night at a Jewish American Heritage Month reception hosted by the Democratic National Committee. He says Jewish values are an essential part of who Americans are.