On Saturday, Chicago hosted its annual LGBTQ Pride march, colloquially known as the “Chicago Dyke March.” The purpose of the march was supposedly to give solidarity to members of the LGBTQ community around the world and to demonstrate one’s pride in their identity. However, that celebration of pride did not include proud Jews.
According to Haaretz, three individuals who carried Jewish Pride Flags, flags that had the Star of David placed in the middle of the rainbow pride flag, were banned from the march because people felt “unsafe.” Some individuals believed that the flag looked similar to the State of Israel’s flag, which did not fit the “anti-Zionist” and “pro-Palestinian” march. The march organizers also provided the following statement justifying their decision:
Yesterday, June 24, Chicago Dyke March was held in the La Villita neighborhood to express support for undocumented, refugee, and immigrant communities under threat of deportation. Sadly, our celebration of dyke, queer, and trans solidarity was partially overshadowed by our decision to ask three individuals carrying Israeli flags superimposed on rainbow flags to leave the rally. This decision was made after they repeatedly expressed support for Zionism during conversations with Chicago Dyke [March] Collective members. We have since learned that at least one of these individuals is a regional director for A Wider Bridge, an organization with connections to the Israeli state and right-wing pro-Israel interest groups. A Wider Bridge has been protested for provocative actions at other LGBTQ events and has been condemned by numerous organizations for using Israel’s supposed “LGBTQ tolerance” to pinkwash the violent occupation of Palestine.
Never mind, of course, that “Palestine” does not exist and that there is no “occupation” of Palestinian territories, the Chicago Dyke March further claimed that their actions targeting proud Jews holding Jewish pride flags did not constitute anti-Semitism.
The Chicago Dyke March Collective is explicitly not anti-Semitic, we are anti-Zionist. The Chicago Dyke March Collective supports the liberation of Palestine and all oppressed people everywhere.
From Palestine to Mexico, border walls have got to go!!
Ironically, the so-called “liberation of Palestine” means the total annihilation of the Jewish state. While the marchers claim that their actions were specifically anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic, the march organizers still banned openly proud Jews from expressing themselves simply because it seemed like a pro-Israel stance. One of the organizers, Eleanor Shoshany-Anderson, told Haaretz the following:
The Dyke March is supposed to be intersectional. I don’t know why my identity is excluded from that. I felt that, as a Jew, I am not welcome here.
Laurel Grauer, who is a member of the organization A Wider Bridge, also told Haaretz that she had hoisted that flag for over a decade during the Dyke March without any incidents.
In a vain attempt to only seem like critics of Israel, the Chicago Dyke March promulgated the genocidal narrative of Palestinian-Arab terrorist governments, implicitly called for Israel’s destruction, kicked openly proud LGBTQ Jews out of a pride march, and then had the chutzpah to claim that they care for “all oppressed people everywhere” while expelling the most targeted religious community in the United States.
Not anti-Semitic? Yeah right.