We don't like to pay much attention to Michael Lucas. Yes, he was the initiator of the "Muslim panic" at the LGBT Center which led to the Center's horrifying series of repressive actions: panic-cancelling a Palestine-related event; holding a kangeroo "community forum" in which they totally ignored the calls of the queer community to resist the panic; suddenly reframing the Center's mission as fulfilling social service contracts instead of being home to a community engaged in messy but important self-determination; totally ignoring the calls from queers of color, immigrant queers, trans people etc. that the Center's actions were further closing it off to queers who are already marginalized; banning all mention of Palestine (unless you could talk about Palestine without talking about Israel's occupation, so... just all mention of Palestine); refusing for two years to meet with the community or discuss the issue; and generally acting like a right-wing fortress instead of a community center.
But Lucas, we always say, is not the point. The point is the Center and the web of politics and money -- mostly not queer at all --- that seeks to squash critiques of Israel.
That said, it's worth a moment to look at who Michael Lucas is. Two reasons: first, he's a major advance-man for pinkwashing. Maybe he's to the right of other defenders of apartheid like Stuart Appelbaum, but his extremeness gives them cover to claim that they're centrists. And the queers who are reached by his porn may not be activists, but their consumption of pro-Israel, anti-Arab propaganda definitely shapes the queer community as a whole.
Second, Lucas' extremeness
doesn't rob him of credibility as it should. He's the partner of the Center's former board chair. He's a full-fledged, much accepted member of a social network that includes wealthy and powerful queers -- in fact, Lambda Legal held a Fire Island fundraiser at his house last year. There is a massive failure of queer power brokers and institutions to say "this guy is a known racist, let's stay away" -- much less challenge him.
So let's have a look.
Mondoweiss posted a story last week with some links to Lucas' history. We've all been quoting his well-known, deeply revolting statement about Muslims, reposted in Queerty in 2008:
'I hate Muslims, absolutely. It's a horrible, horrible religion. It's a plague. People ignore me the way they ignore Rush Limbaugh because he’s a drug addict. Michael Lucas is just a porn star. People take time to call me irrelevant. They write three detailed pages on a blog about my irrelevance. … There are moments in life when silence is your fault and truth is your responsibility. The religion, the institution, the system of Islam — they are as talented and creative and passionate as anyone else. But they’re stuck in a horrible lie, brainwashed from birth to death. And now they have been stuck in time Jsince the 7th century. They have not contributed to civilization in any way, in any field — political thought, science, music, architecture, nothing for century after century. What do they produce? Carpets. That's how they should travel because that’s the only way they travel without killing people.'
But Mondoweiss rightly prompts us to look further. Let's get really familiar with this beast. Let's all primary-sourced on his ass.
- Here are his ravings at The Advocate.
- Here's a 2008 article at the Forward where Lucas talks about his pinkwashing initiative. ('“Nobody goes to Israel for Golda Meir, I’m so sorry,” Lucas said in heavily Russian-accented English."')
- Here's a 2008 US News article that references Lucas' NY Blade piece (no longer online) in which he compares the Koran to Mein Kampf.
- Here's a blog repost of an unhinged Frontpage Mag interview with Lucas.
("Europe is very anti-Semitic and very nationalistic, which is a bit different than in America... It was not the primitive, Russian form of anti-Semitism, but rather a ridiculous Germanic form. They were obviously taught not to act on their anti-Semitism, but rather to keep their mouths shut. I remember when I would say that I was Jewish, people would reply, “No problem.” I would tell them that I didn’t care whether they had a problem or not. Then they will say, “When I talk to you, I don’t see a Jew, I see Michael.” My response was usually, “Where the hell are you looking?” So the Germans and I were not on great terms. As for the French, I shouldn’t even begin to elaborate. They completely sold themselves to Sons of Allah. If a Muslim steals your wallet, he will claim that he chased you down because you hate Muslims and not because he stole from you.")
- Here's the Boston Edge article, cited in Mondoweiss, about the uproar at Stanford over Lucas' appearance there. That appearance led to a dialogue in and around the Stanford Daily (no longer online) in which Lucas reiterated everything hateful he'd previously said about Muslims, queers who don't agree with him, and everyone else.
- Here is a celebratory repost, on jihadwatch.org, of Lucas' retort in the Stanford Daily to those who called out his racist rants.
There's nothing reticent about the guy. Let's look at the other places he's been, and the other things he's said.
And let's not let people, politicians or institutions get away with staying connected to him.
