QUEER VICTORY! Today's action is still on!

Dear friends,Pressure works! Yesterday afternoon, the LGBT Center reversed itself, and offered Queers Against Israeli Apartheid a meeting room for tonight's meeting. Thanks for all your very effective emails, calls and action RSVPs.But the huge problem at the LGBT Center is not fixed.The Center is clearly still panicked over queer political organizing -- they jettisoned their whole space request process because they didn't like the name of a queer group.The Center board is still refusing...

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Michael Lucas kicks up again.

This email from Michael Lucas circulated after the LGBT Center announced that it has approved meeting space for Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. Terrifyingly, it proposes that the Center is not allowed to host any political group meetings, and that the Center is itself an "anti-Israeli nest." (What does a pro-Israel nest look like, then?!)If ever there were a time to shore up the Center's principles of openness and commitment to queers' long history of political organizing, it's now.From: Michael Lucas Date:...

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LGBT Center's press release on Queers Against Israeli Apartheid

Here's the LGBT Center's press release on giving Queers Against Israeli Apartheid some meeting space.It's something of a mystery that the Center did not send this statement to any of the folks who wrote from Queers for an Open LGBT Center, nor the folks who send them emails about QAIA. So whom were they talking to with this press release?And second: really, it was worthy of a press release?! Then we still have a problem...May 25, 2011Statement on Decision to Allow Space Use by Outside Queer Identified GroupThe Center...

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Join the QFOLC mailing list.

QFOLC email updates and action alerts. Infrequent emails! Subscribe to Queers for an Open LGBT Center Email: Visit this gr...

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Action Alert! Thursday 5/26 - come out for an open LGBT Center!

ACTION ALERTWHAT:  LGBT group that is being denied meeting space at LGBT Community Center will show up to try to take it.WHEN: Thursday, May 26 at 6:30 PMWHO: Queers Against Israeli Apartheid supported by Queers for an Open LGBT CenterWHERE: LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., ManhattanMEDIA CONTACT: Pauline Park, Queers for an Open LGBT Center at (718) 424-4003 (phone); (718) 662-8893 (cell); e-mail: paulinepark@earthlink.netHOW TO SUPPORT:Join a support action at the Center on Thursday, May 26 at 6:30...

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Statement to the Community: Stonewalled by the Center -- Enough is Enough

STATEMENT TO THE COMMUNITYQueers Against Israeli Apartheid to Meet at LGBT Center May 26 at 6:30 PMRequest for Space Stonewalled by CenterQueers for an Open LGBT Center Say, “Enough is Enough”Queers Against Israeli Apartheid will hold a planning meeting for participation in New York-area Pride marches on Thursday, May 26 at 6:30 PM at the LGBT Community Center at 208 W. 13th St. Queers for an Open LGBT Center is calling on community members to show up on Thursday in solidarity with their request for meeting space.Queers...

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Press Release: Center denying space to queer political groups

QUEER POLITICAL GROUPS FACE ONGOING DENIAL OF SPACE AT LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER Call to Show Solidarity as Group Tries to Meet at Center May 26, 6:30 PM Below is a joint statement from Queers for an Open LGBT Center and Queers Against Israeli Apartheid protesting the LGBT Community Center’s ongoing attempts to filter and censor queer political organizing. The Center staff has most recently refused to grant meeting space to Queers Against Israeli Apartheid Pride-season organizing or even make a decision about the group’s...

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Time Mag on queers & Palestine (will the Center's board read it?)

This blog is not about queers and Palestine -- it's about the Center. But one can't help pointing out: even Time Magazine gets that queers are organizing around the Israeli occupation, and it's a queer issue. The Center's refusal to deal with queer organizing on this issue smacks ever more of censorship reflecting the specific political opinions of the board -- and some donors.Is Israel Using Gay Rights to Excuse Its Policy on Palestine?Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2070415,00.html#ixzz1NBCzfFtpNext...

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Another group facing denial: Queers Against Israeli Apartheid

The Center is using "procedure" and delays to deny space to yet another queer political group that it apparently finds uncomfortable. Queers for an Open LGBT Center supports the right of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid to use our community space for queer organizing.Queers Against Israeli Apartheid made a standard request for space on May 10th to organize the group's participation in upcoming Pride events. Space requests are supposed to take 2-3 days to approve.  So when QAIA didn't hear back from the Center...

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Pauline Park in Village Voice: LGBT Center 'Gave the Community the Finger'

More coverage of the LGBT Center's censorship of "controversial" queer political organizing, from the Village Voice's Steven Thrasher. Pauline gives some history of the Siegebusters/LGBT Center issue, and some sorely-needed fresh air on the Center board's skittish response to queer political engagement.http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/05/pauline_park_qa.php​Veteran transgender activist Pauline Park — responsible for adding the "T" to Manhattan's LGBT Center — blasts the center's controversial...

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Stonewalled: Center rebuffs queers seeking sunshine.

On April 5th, Queers for an Open LGBT Center wrote to the board to ask for an update on their progress -- and some accountability to community members engaged in this issue, in the form of a meeting with the board. No dice. A week later, board chair Mario Palumbo referred us to staff as the administrators of the old policies still in place, said they were working on it, and shut the door.It's worth noting that the Center's "community forum" was heavily attended by long-time organizers from many corners of the queer...

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