This is wild: Center "lifts moratorium", NYC electeds bid to reimpose it.

Check out this announcement from the NYC LGBT Center, posted about 15 minutes ago... and the racist, repressive press release from NYC electeds (below), posted about four nanoseconds later.

STATEMENT ON CENTER SPACE USE POLICY FROM GLENNDA TESTONE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AND THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CENTER

February 15, 2013 – In 2011 the Center was thrust into a controversy involving the Israeli/Palestinian conflict about which we took no position, but were forced to expend significant resources to address. This controversy placed substantial strains on management resources and front line staff, and created an environment that interfered with our ability to assist those in our community who needed our services. In response, we imposed a moratorium on renting space to groups that organize on all sides of this conflict, which, while itself controversial, allowed things to cool down and gave us time to rethink the Center's space use policies.

Our resulting Space Use Guidelines, Terms and Conditions will govern the use of our space going forward, and, accordingly, the moratorium is no longer in effect. The Center does not endorse the views of any groups to which it rents space. We adamantly believe in and defend free speech and the open exchange of ideas, but we deplore the rhetoric of hate and bigotry. As stated in our guidelines: "no group utilizing space at the Center shall engage in hate speech or bigotry of any kind." Therefore, all groups wishing to utilize space at the Center must agree and commit to our Pledge of Nondiscrimination and our above-described prohibition on hate speech and bigotry.

Going forward, if members of the community feel that hate speech or bigotry has occurred at the Center, they are encouraged to submit a formal complaint in writing. The Center does not have the resources to "pre-vet" all content that comes through groups that rent space, and we encourage community members themselves to help us keep our space safe through this formal process. In the coming weeks, the Center will publish the details of a formal resolution process to address space use-related complaints.

Provided applicants agree in good faith to fully comply with our guidelines, we will process current and future requests for space, including from entities who were previously declined under the moratorium. And we encourage other groups or individuals of differing viewpoints to apply to rent space as well so that all voices may be heard.

The Center must move forward and remains strongly committed to serving the needs of our community as best we can. We hope everyone will join us in good faith.

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Joint Statement by NYC Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, NYS Assembly Member Deborah Glick, NYS Senator Brad Hoylman, and NYC Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer

Re: New LGBT Community Center Space Use Guidelines

“We support the new Space Use guidelines, terms and conditions being implemented by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center. Their decision to allow groups to have open discussion and to create a resolution process to address complaints of potential hate-related speech is the correct approach. Under the Center’s new guidelines, all parties will have access to rent space to organize around LGBT issues, and the Center will remain a safe space, where hate-related speech will not be tolerated. This will allow the Center staff and board to promote its core mission of providing health and wellbeing services to our community, in addition to providing a safe and secure forum for issues relevant to NYC’s LGBT community.

That said, we want to make abundantly clear that we categorically reject attempts by any organization to use the Center to delegitimize Israel and promote an anti-Israel agenda. We adamantly oppose any and all efforts to inappropriately inject the Center into politics that are not the core of their important mission.

We vehemently oppose the absurd accusations by some groups that Israel is engaged in so-called “pinkwashing”. We find this charge offensive and fundamentally detrimental to the global cause of LGBT equality. These accusations should be understood as just one part of the arsenal of those who seek to completely discredit the state of Israel altogether. In fact, Israel’s highly laudable record in advancing LGBT rights deserves praise, not scorn. Given the very poor record of much of the world on LGBT issues, we should be celebrating Israel's – or any country's – LGBT equality advances. We must always encourage countries with strong records of achievement for our community to be rightly and publicly proud so they may set an example for others. We continue to believe that the boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS) movement against Israel is wrongheaded, destructive, and an obstacle to our collective hope for a peaceful two-state solution.

We applaud the Center Board and staff for taking this important step. We now hope everyone will respect the Center as a safe space for open and safe discussions. We hope the Center can move forward and serve the LGBT community as it has always done.”