Gay institutions vs. progressive queers, in the Village Voice ("Does Gay Inc. believe in free speech?")

We've been thinking it, you've been thinking it, and now the Village Voice's Steven Thrasher has written an excellent article on it: GLAAD, HRC, the LGBT Center and other gay institutions are obstacles to queer community organizing, not helpers. They answer to their boards full of finance industry gay-bots, not queers. They use queers -- and especially queer tragedies of violence and exclusion -- as their platform for taking a seat at the table with corporations and politicians. There, they hold on to power by not making waves, and pulling the curtain over queers who do.

The article is "Does 'Gay, Inc.' believe in free speech? In the battle over gay rights, dissent during wartime isn't always tolerated."  It ranges over the Center's weird, wrong banning of Palestine-supporting queer groups, and the larger lockdown on queer political organizing that squeezes out "radical" ideas like ensuring that all people can access health care. It charts the almost-funny contortions that BGOs have to go through to define homophobia and equality in ways that serve them, but make no sense in real life. Here are some pull-outs:

'I first learned the term "Gay Inc." from Lieutenant Dan Choi when I was writing a profile about him in 2010... Choi was a darling of the gay establishment, including the Human Rights Campaign, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, and the Courage Campaign. His name was attached to e-mail blasts routinely to raise money or rally activists.

But Choi was so outspoken, he couldn't really be "handled." He chafed at the PR box Gay Inc. tried to put him in and was apt to go "off message" anytime. He described Gay Inc. as "those groups so desperate for a place at the table, they'll do anything to keep their place at the table."

By the day "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was first on the floor of the U.S. Senate in September of 2010, Choi had worn out his welcome. As we got lunch in the cafeteria before the failed vote, a good chunk of Gay Inc.—HRC, SLDN, and various staffers of Democratic legislators—was assembled at one table like a high school clique. Choi was clearly at odds with them.

Almost two years later, I was reporting last week from the East Room of the White House as much of Gay Inc. attended President Obama's LGBT Pride Month reception. There was no denying, as the president affirmed his commitment to a number of Gay Inc.'s issues, that there is a benefit to having a place at the table. But many of the most radical voices that had helped push Obama to that point (including Choi) were noticeably absent.'

and

'The first and only time I covered an HRC event in person was on the eve of the National Equality March in 2009 in Washington, D.C. President Obama addressed 3,000 donors at a black-tie gala in the Washington Convention Center, but he was only a warm-up act, he joked, for a rising talent named Lady Gaga. 

The real stars of the evening for me (a neophyte at such functions) were the ads. There were endless videos promoting various corporations, mostly defense contractors. Like supporting a telecom merger, I wondered naively, "What does peddling the latest hardware in the military-industrial complex have to do with being gay?"'

There's more -- it's a good read! One correction to the article: ACT UP chapters around the country have been demanding single payer health care for many years. Real queer organizing lives on in the shadow of the Gay Inc. behemoths.

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Flyer for 3/3 action: Occupy the Center!

Saturday, March 3, 2012
PROTEST 4-7pm
@ LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th St.

Occupy the NYC LGBT Center!
End the ban on Palestine solidarity organizing!

Since March 2011, the NYC LGBT Center has banned Palestine solidarity activists (queer and non-LGBT) from meeting at the Center and imposed a "moratorium" on any discussion of the Palestinian struggle. This censorship, in response to pressure from wealthy supporters of Israel’s anti-Palestinian policies, flies in the face of our community's commitment to diversity and offering safe space for discussion of "controversial" issues. Petitions, appeals to meet with the Center’s board of directors, calls and letters have not succeeded in winning back our right to free speech and assembly.

If you agree that the wealthy and powerful 1% should not be allowed to silence the voices of the 99%, then join us in defying this ban.
Occupy the Center!

We demand:
1) End the ban on Palestine solidarity organizing at the Center.
2) Open the Center to all who respect its stated mission.
3) Open the Center's board meetings and decision-making process to the community.

This event is open to all.

Initiated by NYC Queers Against Israeli Apartheid: queersagainstisraeliapartheid.blogspot.com
Facebook: NYC Queers Against Israeli Apartheid

This event is part of Israeli Apartheid Week: newyork.apartheidweek.org
http://www.facebook.com/events/106123286178242/

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'The Center Cannot Hold' - Jasbir Puar on queer anti-occupation activism (not at the Center.)

Jasbir Puar writes about why Palestinian queers are not devoting resources to fighting the LGBT Center's ban, and how the Center controversy has helped exposed both pinkwashing and deep conservatism in the queer community "leadership."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jasbir-k-puar/the-center-cannot-hold-th_b_991572.html

"Calls for free speech and equal access for all groups sound democratic on the face of it, but they leave unquestioned the default political positions of those running the Center; worse, it does not address the exclusionary logic of inclusion itself. If inclusion is granted without changing the terms upon which an exclusion was originally articulated, the granting of space is tokenistic at best... 

[F]or many Palestinian queers, gaining access to a LGBT Center that has positioned itself as indifferent to their concerns is a minor point in the agenda for political transformation. There is an incredible wealth of progressive queer organizing in this city that never did and never will originate or coalesce in the Center."

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LGBT Center sit-in: weird success, failure & pix.

This evening's sit-in by Queers Against Israeli Occupation and Siegebusters, with support from QFOLC, went oddly unchallenged by the LGBT Center. About 60 people gathered in the lobby to hold the scheduled-then-banned QAIA meeting, since the Center had refused to allow QAIA to rent a room.

The meeting went on for about 90 minutes and broke just about every rule the Center has ever enforced about the lobby: meeting attendees sat on the floor, blocked the flow of traffic (not on purpose, but because there were so many people), spoke and applauded loudly, etc. The Center made absolutely no response -- staff just let the meeting go on. And amazingly, the sky didn't fall as queers discussed controversial topics and organized action.

While the Center was arguably wise to just let the moment pass without escalating (remember that in March they panicked and hired private security goons, ostensibly to protect the Center from the queer protest outside), it doesn't necessarily add up to good news. Instead, it seems like the Center will just go along with whatever pressure it most currently feels.

The LGBTQ community urgently needs the Center actually to stand up for queer space, for openness, for community and accountability. That includes refusing to be bullied into pushing queers out of the Center, making its operations transparent and public, and explicitly affirming that the Center is open to all facets of the community -- not just whenever it's convenient. Nothing like that happened tonight, and the fight goes on.

Here are photos from the sit-in. More will be listed here as we see them posted.
https://picasaweb.google.com/117132485970294538173/QaiaSitInPix#
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150269586599859.376954.716419858

Gay City News:

Critics of Israeli Occupation Occupy Center Lobby

Queer group terming treatment of Palestinians “apartheid” defies ban on its meetings

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For tomorrow's LGBT Center Sit-In: the flyer.

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Siege Busters statement on exclusion of all Palestine organizing groups

Siege Busters Statement - June 4, 2011
Regarding LGBT Center Exclusion of all Groups Organizing in Support of Palestine

It is with deep disappointment that we, the members of Siege Busters, receive the news that the Executive Committee of the LGBT Community Center has decided to extend the ban of our group to all of those organizing for justice in Palestine. It is clear from the established pattern that this decision reflects capitulation to an exceedingly small number of financially influential donors who have threatened to destroy the Center for renting space to groups who hold an opinion that differs from their own. In response to these threats, the Center has in every instance complied with the demands of this small number of donors by cancelling events, banning groups, and even disallowing an entire category of activism and speech from taking place within the facility.

Of particular concern to Siege Busters with this latest incident of exclusion is the adoption by the Executive Committee of demonizing language. By stating that all groups organizing around the Palestinian liberation struggle were to be banned due to “anti-Semitism in political expression,” the Executive Committee has chosen to promote the characterization of pro-Palestinian activism as hateful and racist. This despite the fact that a large number of the activists banned from the Center are themselves Jewish, and not a single incident of anti-Semitic language or action has been cited by the Executive Committee when this characterization has been challenged.

In all honesty, we are not surprised by hateful rhetoric and demonizing language emanating from those who oppose Palestinian self-determination, human rights, and dignity. Our disappointment is focused on the failure of the Center’s Executive Committee to appreciate the commonality between queer struggles worldwide and the Palestinian struggle in the United States and Israel. Both of our communities have been portrayed as a menacing presence and suffer the injustice of denied equality. We have both endured violence by those who perceive themselves as superior and us inferior. We have both witnessed the devastating effect upon our communities when the bigotries hurled at us are internalized; and for these reasons among others, we stand shoulder to shoulder – sisters and brothers in a common struggle.

While the occupation of Palestine is often portrayed as a purely divisive issue, the truth of the matter is that there are few causes as unifying as the liberation of Palestine. In upcoming weeks, we will be outside of the Center protesting this latest decision and any passerby will be able to witness this unity: Arabs and Jews, Muslims and Christians, black and brown, white and Asian, queer and straight – all hand in hand.

It is our position that harm has been done to the Center through the exclusion of this spirit of universal human justice and solidarity, and we demand that the Center immediately end this ban and return to its 28-year policy of being a haven for the marginalized and oppressed, open to all who respect the rights of LGBT people.

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Gay City News: LGBT Center announces community forum

Gay City News was the source of news about the community forum for most of the groups and individuals (as well as Siegebusters) who protested the Center's actions.

Responding to Israel Flap, LGBT Center Announces Mar. 13 Community Forum

http://www.gaycitynews.com/articles/2011/03/04/gay_city_news/news/doc4d70e596b68b2049621442.txt

Dispute over pro-Palestinian event cancellation continues, Jewish state’s critics plan Mar. 5 protest on W. 13th St.

In the wake of an emotional debate pitting the LGBT Community Center and defenders of Israel against critics of the Jewish state’s treatment of Palestinians living in the territory it controls and other community members concerned about the cancellation of a fundraising party those critics had planned at the West 13th Street facility, the Center is now planning a “Community Forum” on Sunday, March 13 at 5 p.m.

...

The Center’s announcement of the March 13 forum followed by one day failed negotiations between its top staff and representatives of Siege Busters about the possibility of holding a town hall meeting the evening of March 5 at the time the IAW fundraiser had initially been planned.

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Siegebusters rejects a Center-controlled forum... and the Center announces a forum

According to Siegebusters reps: on March 3rd, Siegebusters met with Glennda Testone. Hoping to let the Center back out of its corner, Siegebusters reps said they would be amenable to a community forum rather than the Israeli Apartheid Week fundraiser they'd planned. Their terms: that they would plan the agenda, that the event would be open to the media, and that it would still be a fundraiser.

Testone was not agreeable to those terms. Reportedly, she said that the Center would have to control the content, no media would be allowed in because that violated the "folksy way" of the Center, and that fundraising could happen, but not as the overt intent of the event.

With no resolution in sight, plans for protest at the LGBT Center (not organized by Siegebusters) went forward. The next day, Gay City News ran an announcement of the Center's plan to hold a public forum. True to Testone's word, the Center forum was planned without input from Siegebusters, the individuals and groups involved in organizing the protest, or those who had written to the Center to object to everything that had happened so far.

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LGBT Center cancels "Israeli Apartheid Week" fundraiser, expels Siegebusters

Below is the press release from March 1, 2011, describing the LGBT Center's act to cancel Siegebusters' fundraiser party, and ban Siegebusters from meeting at the Center. (From http://newyork.apartheidweek.org/en/pr-lgbt-center-3-1-11.)

The release includes statements from queer groups, queer anti-Occupation groups and anti-Occupation groups that are heavily queer even if not directly queer-identified.

----------

Many Demand that NYC LGBT Center Reverse Cancellation of Israeli Apartheid Week Event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 1, New York, NY – Individuals and groups from diverse communities have reacted with dismay to and called for a reversal of the New York LGBT Center's decision to cancel the scheduled March 5 “Party to End Apartheid” at the center, and to ban the organizers of this event, the Siegebusters Working Group, from holding regular meeting at the center. Siegebusters was co-planning the party with Existence is Resistance (EIR).The party is part of the annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), Israeli Apartheid Week, now entering its seventh year internationally and its fifth year in New York City, and the Siegebusters are a member of New York’s IAW Coordinating Committee.

On Tuesday, February 22, 2011, gay adult film producer and right-wing columnist Michael Lucas issued a press release threatening to boycott the LGBT Center for allowing local IAW organizers to meet and plan an event there. Lucas denounced IAW as a “hate group” and “anti-Semitic,” charges categorically rejected by Siegebusters, EIR, and IAW organizers. Hours after Lucas issued his press release, the LGBT Center released a two-sentence statement cancelling the event, banning Siegebusters, and saying "We have determined that this event is not appropriate to be held at our LGBT Community Center, which is a safe haven for LGBT groups and individuals."

A petition criticizing the decision has to date been signed by around 1330 individuals and groups to date. Below are examples of some of the reactions from people - queer, straight, Palestinian, Jewish, and much more – who are critical of the LBGT Center’s decision. They include statements from the Siegebusters Working Group and Existence is Resistance; the Coordinating Committee for Israeli Apartheid Week in NYC; the Palestinian groups alQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, Aswat – Palestinian Gay Women and Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions; CUNY Professor Sarah Schulman; UC Berkeley Professor Judith Butler; NYU Professor Lisa Duggan; Jews Against the Occupation-NYC; peace and justice activist Leslie Cagan; and Reverend Pat Bumgardner, pastor, NYC Metropolitan Community Church.

The Siegebusters Working Group and Existence is Resistance: The Siegebusters Working Group and Existence is Resistance express our outrage at the cancelling of our "Party to End Apartheid" and the barring of Siegebusters from meeting at the LGBT Center. The LGBT Center is effectively pushing away Middle Eastern LGBT people and their allies who support equal rights for all. Half of Siegebusters are LGBT folks and the rest are allies; several are long-time queer activists who have been using the Center for years to educate, agitate and organize around a myriad of social justice issues. As long-standing members of the LGBT community, we declare that the Center belongs to us. It is not for sale. Management of access at the Center cannot include pandering to the petty name-calling of bigots. The Center was founded as a “safe haven” from that.

The Coordinating Committee for Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) in NYC (full IAW statement): “Let us not allow one individual to drown out the voices of millions of Palestinian people. Let us not allow one individual to change the nature of the LGBT Center from one of democracy and safe space to one of censorship and exclusion. We demand that the LGBT Center reverse its decision and guarantee the right of organizers to continue to meet and hold events there.”

Palestinian groups alQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, and Aswat – Palestinian Gay Women (full statement here): We have recently concluded a first of a kind tour to the US, where we shared our personal, social and political struggle as Palestinian Queers living in Israel and Palestine … Your decision to ban an activist organization focused on Israel/Palestine limits freedom of expression for everyone who relies on the Center as a safe haven. In addition, your decision also tells LGBTQ Palestinians in New York and our community in Israel/Palestine that their human rights as Palestinians are not welcome at the Center, and that while they visit the Center, a part of their identity must be left at the door! … After experiencing such overwhelming support from prominent LGBT organizations and LGBT leaders in the US, we never imagined that the LGBT Center of New York would not join us, and the larger community, in connecting the struggle for LGBT rights to the struggle for human rights… We strongly urge you to reconsider your decision and allow the event "Party to End Apartheid" to take place as scheduled.

Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions: The Palestinian Queer Movement does not want to be used by Michael Lucas and his friends to justify the Israeli Occupation. Now that we are firmly emerged as an organic and integrated part of the global Queer Movement, Palestinian LGBT people are here to tell you that we need an end to the Occupation. Israeli fantasies about being "Democratic" while violating our Human Rights are absurd. And Israeli fantasies that they are rescuing us, are pathetic. The Occupation is keeping us from moving forward. Thus an anti Apartheid Party in the LGBT Centre should not be canceled on the basis of being irrelevant, or not related to LGBT issues. It is totally relevant and in the heart of LGBT struggle in Palestine, in NY and all around the world.

Sarah Schulman, novelist and Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at The City University of New York: “The Palestinian Queer Movement is thriving, and Occupation is its greatest obstacle. For the NY LGBT Center to choose this moment to turn its back on Queer people in Gaza, and to use that betrayal as grounds to introduce censorship to our beloved Center is the opposite of everything we should be doing. American Queers need to acknowledge and support opening of oppressed societies, democracy and human rights. We need to oppose Occupation and Dictatorship. Only with open, equal societies can women and queers thrive. We need to respect the dreams, visions and desires of the Palestinian Queer Movements and do everything we can to end the Occupation.”

Judith Butler, Professor at University of California, Berkeley and author of “Gender Trouble” (Letter to the LGBT Center): “We look to you now to show that the LGBTQ movement remains committed to discussing social justice issues and will not be intimidated by those who seek to expand the powers of censorship precisely when so much of the rest of the world is trying to bring them down. There is still time for you to act with courage and wisdom.”

Lisa Duggan, professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University and author (Open letter to the LGBT Center): “This breach of the open policy of the Center is an ominous sign that LGBT community institutions are subject to unilateral control by wealthy donors–the Center in this case did not even open a dialogue with your other constituencies.”

Jews Against the Occupation-NYC: "Jews Against the Occupation is appalled that the LGBT Center has submitted -- and so easily! -- to the pinkwashing of Israeli violence against Palestinians, queer and otherwise. It's no coincidence that JATO's membership has always been disproportionately queer - or that queers have been at the heart of Palestine solidarity groups for decades, from Women In Black and the Jewish Women's Committee to End the Occupation to New Profile and Tayyush (not to mention specifically queer projects from Kvisa Shchora to QUIT). The demonization and dehumanization of Palestinians under occupation resonates loudly for queers, as do other forms of racism and militarism. In the past and now, queers are deeply engaged in fighting back. For those of us who do not identify as LGBT, queer perspectives and strategies have deeply informed our political analysis of Palestine.

The Center is dead wrong to submit to claims that anti-occupation organizing is somehow "not queer," and outrageous to claim that it somehow makes our community spaces "unsafe." What is unsafe for queers is the Center's decision to collaborate with right-wing queers who seek to silence the rest of us."

Leslie Cagan, peace and justice activist: “It is not too late for the LGBT Community Center to reverse your disastrous decision to cancel the March 5th event organized as part of the Israeli Apartheid Week! If the Center's decisions about what events can take place there are subject to pressure from large donors then we are in serious trouble. The Center has always been one of the few places in New York City where all parts of the queer community have been welcome, and were our allies and friends have also found a safe space. Our community, indeed the nation as a whole, needs to know we can have open and fear-free discussions about so many important issues. Now is not the time to slam the door shut. This decision must be turned around, and now is the time to do it!”

Reverend Pat Bumgardner, pastor, NYC Metropolitan Community Church: “Queer people have a long history of being targeted for our differences and denied the freedom to assemble and speak freely. It is my sincere hope that the Center will not add to that repressive past, but rescind its recent decision to cancel the IAW event and to ban Siegebusters from the premises. The issue is not political persuasion, and certainly not popularity with a particular donor base. The issue is freedom of speech and the need for safe space for all LGBT people and our allies to assemble. “

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