A US organization challenges Queers for Palestine by offering funding for a Pride parade in Gaza, sparking debate over LGBTQ rights and activism
“Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming, ‘Gays for Gaza.’” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked during his July address to the US Congress. “They might as well hold up signs saying, ‘Chickens for KFC,’” he added, referring to groups such as Queers for Palestine. A US organization is now challenging Queers for Palestine by offering to fund an LGBTQ Pride parade in Gaza.
The offer is pretty clear: $1 million to underwrite expenses for Queers for Palestine or any organization that can host a gay pride parade in Gaza or the West Bank
“The offer is pretty clear: $1 million to underwrite expenses for Queers for Palestine or any organization that can host a gay pride parade in Gaza or the West Bank. Floats, banners, glitter —gay pride parades can be expensive,” Gregory T. Angelo, president of the New Tolerance Campaign (NTC), told The Media Line. “I’d be happy to review a budget when Queers for Palestine takes us up on our offer.”
Angelo previously served as a White House press secretary under the Trump Administration and was president of the Log Cabin Republicans, the nation’s largest Republican organization advocating for LGBT conservatives and allies. The group says it “works within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for LGBT people in the United States.”
Some critics have labeled the New Tolerance Campaign’s proposal as a “pinkwashing” stunt.
Initially used to describe the commercialization of the breast cancer pink ribbon, “pinkwashing” was adopted by the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement in the early 2000s. American writer and BDS activist Sara Schulman popularized the term in her 2011 New York Times opinion piece, “Israel and Pinkwashing.”
The Palestinian BDS National Committee also addresses this, stating: “Pinkwashing is an Israeli government propaganda strategy that cynically exploits LGBTQIA+ rights to project a progressive image while concealing Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies oppressing Palestinians.”
Pinkwashing is the symptom, settler-colonialism is the root sickness
“Pinkwashing is the symptom, settler-colonialism is the root sickness. Recognizing pinkwashing as colonial violence can help us understand how Israel divides, oppresses, and erases Palestinians on the basis of gender and sexuality,” according to a 2020 paper by the Jerusalem-based LGBT organization alQaws.
Equaldex, a US-based organization, compiles data on LGBTQ rights. Its Equality Index factors in legal protections for LGBTQ individuals and public opinion reflecting societal attitudes toward LGBTQ people, with scores ranging from 0 to 100, where 100 is the highest.
Israel scores 59 on Equaldex’s Equality Index, with 71 for legal rights and 47 for public opinion. Palestine, by contrast, scores 22 overall, with 39 for legal rights and just 6 for public opinion.
In comparison, the US scores 71 overall, with 86 for legal rights and 56 for public opinion.
The Equaldex rankings align with assessments from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch notes that the “Occupied Palestinian Territory, Gaza Strip” has laws criminalizing same-sex relations. Amnesty International also reported that Hamas condemned a UN Relief and Works Agency paper on LGBTQ issues as promoting “deviance and moral decay.” The West Bank is somewhat more LGBTQ-friendly.
In the Middle East and North Africa region, after Israel, the highest-ranking countries on LGBTQ issues are Cyprus, Turkey, Bahrain, Djibouti, Pakistan, and Jordan, all of which score higher than Palestine.
However, Palestine’s score of 22 is still above the regional average of 18.9.
This puts Palestine on par with Syria and ahead of Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Qatar, Yemen, Kuwait, Iran, Oman, Somalia, and Afghanistan.
Although Israel leads the Middle East in LGBTQ rights, Israeli law does not recognize same-sex marriages unless performed abroad. Cyprus is the only country in the region that officially recognizes LGBTQ marriages.
Founded in 2020, the New Tolerance Campaign describes itself as a watchdog organization that mobilizes Americans to confront double standards on intolerance by institutions, civil rights groups, universities, the media, and socially conscious brands. The campaign seeks to “empower ordinary Americans to hold accountable self-proclaimed arbiters of tolerance when they betray their own stated values.”
On September 16, the New Tolerance Campaign began promoting its Gaza Pride parade offer through mobile billboards in several US locations, including Columbia University in New York City, the Human Rights Campaign headquarters in Washington, DC, and the University of California, Los Angeles campus.
Although the organization claims it has received “phenomenal” responses to its latest campaign, it has also encountered opposition. On September 16, the driver of the mobile billboard truck promoting NTC’s $1 million offer reported being harassed outside the Human Rights Campaign headquarters in Washington, DC.
Opposition to a gay pride parade at the Human Rights Campaign—did you ever think you’d see the day?
“Opposition to a gay pride parade at the Human Rights Campaign—did you ever think you’d see the day?” Angelo remarked.
According to its Instagram bio, Queers for Palestine is a group of “queers committed to the struggle for a just world, free of settler-colonialism, Zionism, and capitalism.” The group is affiliated with Ravers for Palestine, a Germany-based DJ collective with a GoFundMe page supporting musicians boycotting Israel. Queers for Palestine is also connected with alQaws.
Five years ago, the Palestinian Authority blocked alQaws from hosting events in the West Bank. However, in June, alQaws published an article on its website stating that nothing compares “to the reality of Gazans trying to survive the imperially supported and Zionist-sanctioned starvation, prohibition of medical care, and the exercise of sexual, psychological, and fatal warfare.”
AlQaws did not respond to The Media Line’s request for comment.
“It is very clear from a lot of evidence that the level of knowledge of those who are criticizing Israel tend to be fairly low. And they may espouse opposition to Zionism, but would fail a test question to define Zionism,” Ethan Felson, executive director of A Wider Bridge, told The Media Line.
A Wider Bridge is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in New York that “connects LGBTQ communities in North America and Israel.”
“Right after October 7, we saw worksheets for the Palestine and BDS working group telling people to say ‘Stop the genocide in Gaza,’ before there is any ground war. After Hamas has just attempted a genocide, they’re saying, ‘Stop the genocide.’ That’s gaslighting. They know that there’s significant gay and lesbian support for Israel, and they knew that Hamas kills gays, so they led with Queers for Palestine. It’s gaslighting,” Felson said.
Queers for Palestine has not responded to the New Tolerance Campaign, which has outlined the following conditions to receive the funding: The parade must have at least 200 participants, 80% of whom must be Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza. At least half of the signs must be in Arabic. The parade route must be at least 1 kilometer long, on a major public street, with visible Pride items, and must be filmed by the New Tolerance Campaign.
Queers for Palestine has not yet responded to the offer, which expires on March 16, 2025. The offer is also available to any US 501(c)(3) organization willing to meet the outlined conditions.
“We haven’t heard a peep from them. If they do reach out, I’d be happy to discuss how we can help make this happen. If they reach out and decline our offer, I’d like to know why,” Angelo told The Media Line.
