The city of Seattle’s LGBT Commission has cancelled a reception for a delegation of Israeli gay leaders at the behest of anti-Israel gays. The Israeli gay delegation had already visited San Francisco and Los Angeles to discuss the cause of forwarding gay rights. In Seattle, however, they came up against heavy pro-Palestinian forces, who forced the cancellation. As the Seattle Times reports:
At a heated commission meeting Thursday, a small, vocal group spoke out against the Jewish nation, saying Israel is masking what some call its poor treatment of Palestinians by promoting its positive record on gay rights — a phenomenon that has become known as “pinkwashing.”
The co-chair of the commission, Mac McGregor, said nobody wanted to choose sides. The anti-Israel campaign was started by Seattle University law professor Dean Spade, who said that the delegation was participating in “apartheid and occupation” under the guise of gay rights.
This is absolutely absurd from any perspective. Israel is one of the most gay-friendly countries in the world; it accepts same-sex marriages performed in other countries, has allowed LGBT parades through its holiest city, Jerusalem, over the objections of religious Jews and Muslims, and allows gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. Touting Israel’s gay rights record isn’t “pinkwashing,” it’s plain truth. By contrast, Hamas makes homosexuality punishable by death.
Nonetheless, the term “pinkwashing” has become a favorite slander of anti-Israel activists like Max Blumenthal and the folks at J Street. Facts are secondary to the political goal of such activists, who seek only to harm Israel in the public relations square by undercutting Israel’s record on social liberalism, even while empowering gay-murdering regimes all over the Middle East.
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