Gay group who ejected Jews claim victimhood
THE ORGANISERS of a gay pride march who ejected people carrying flags bearing the Star of David are fundraising for a “self-care retreat”, claiming that they have received “countless threats of violence and aggression” since the event.
On Youcaring, a “compassionate crowdfunding” platform, the Chicago Dyke March Collective have asked people to give them cash so they “can take a much needed retreat to rest, re-energise & be in a space of pure love”.
Last week, the march organisers were reported to have forced people carrying Jewish Pride flags, which feature a Star of David over the LGBT rainbow, to leave the parade. They claimed that the Jewish star “looked too much like Israeli flags… triggering people and making them feel unsafe”.
One of the Jewish flag wavers said she was ignored when she told the organisers that “being told my Jewish pride is unacceptable, that I can’t be visibly Jewish… actually makes me feel unsafe”.
Far from apologising, the march organisers subsequently made statements reaffirming their decision, saying they had thrown out people who “repeatedly expressed support for Zionism during conversations with Chicago Dyke March Collective members”.
The group’s description of itself on the crowdfunding website reads: “The CDM Collective creates a space, even if for just one gorgeous day, where people are seen, loved and celebrated for being queer, trans, gender nonconforming, nonbinary, intersex, black, brown, fat, kinky, undocumented, disabled.”
So far, the group has raised $1,700 of the $5,000 they say they need to pay for the retreat — but a number of people have donated the $1 minimum in order to have the chance to criticise the CDM Collective on the website.
“I hope you use the retreat to ‘recover’ from your antisemitism and think about the damage you’ve done in the community to the trust of those of us who are queer, trans and Jewish”, one comment reads. Another points out: “If I went around asking LGBT Muslims if they support ‘radical Islamic terrorism’, you’d (rightly) identify that behaviour as Islamophobic dogwhistle nonsense. But interrogating Jews because they have a flag and may be ‘Zionists’ isn’t antisemitic? Ok.”