July 10, 2001

Editor:

As members of Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, we would like to thank Peter (Pini) Altman, Robet Daroff Tom Herz, David Maltz and Saralie Pennington ("Saddened and thrilled at Pride," BAR 7/5/01) for telling the queer community about our contingent in the recent LGBT Freedom Day parade (something the queer media did not do). Their letter calls us "a fanatical anti-Israel group." QUIT! holds the "fanatical" view that people’s rights should not be determined by their racial, ethnic, religious, sexual, or gender identities. We hold other "extremist" views, which we happen to share with that left-wing United Nations: that after 53 years, Palestinian refugees have the right to go home, and that Israel must withdraw from territories which it invaded in 1967.

We marched in the LGBT Freedom Day Parade, or Pride, because we are queers, and we belong there. Like other progressive queers, we have struggled for years to get the mainstream human rights movement to acknowledge, and respond to violations of our human rights. Now, Amnesty International has a section which focuses on human rights abuses of queers, and a recent report documented violations in many countries, including the U.S. And just as we demand that queer rights are human rights, so we are responsible to ensure that human rights, all human rights, are included in our fight for queer rights.

The history of human rights abuses goes back to 1947 and before, when a campaign of terror drove Palestinians from their homes. The current intifada started on September 28 of last year, when Ariel Sharon, the former defense minister, brought a thousand armed police to the site of the Al Aqsa mosque. Sharon is widely believed to have been complicit in, or directly responsible for, the massacre of 2,000 Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982. He is now being sued and investigated for prosecution in Belgium for crimes against humanity. He was elected prime minister in Israel this year.

Since September 28, 2000, Israeli forces have shot and killed over 600 unarmed civilians, demolished over 400 houses, prevented Palestinians from getting to hospitals, isolated villages from their supplies of food and water, and destroyed the civilian infrastructure. Inside Israel police looked on, while mobs beat, and in some cases killed, Palestinian citizens. Just last week, Sharon announced that the Israeli government would continue its policy of assassinating suspected or potential "terrorists." This is a clear violation of human rights -- to have the state armed forces go out and kill people who they decide are going to oppose them.

We were very glad to be marching in SF Pride this year, and we got a very warm reception from most of the crowd. Queers in the Bay Area have been active in supporting the rights of Palestinians for over 30 years, and this is not the first time we have carried banners and signs supporting the liberation struggles in the middle east. We were particularly proud to have marched with our banner this year, when we learned that 250 Palestinian and Israeli queers marched in Tel Aviv, carrying signs reading "No Pride In The Occupation" and "Human Rights for All," in Arabic, Hebrew, and English.

Although we have been participating in Pride for decades, and have seen it go from a community march and be-in, to a well-oiled commercial machine, we are still surprised that some people think that there are issues that do not belong at Pride. Queers are everywhere and in every population. Which means that any issue effects us, and every violation of human rights is a violation of our community. Queer liberation can’t be achieved in isolation, because queers don’t exist in isolation. That is our strength. And when we queerly act in support of the liberation of any of our peoples, that is our Pride. If you are interested in joining QUIT! you can call (510)434-1304, or e-mail us at quit_palestine@yahoo.com.

Signed

Tory Becker

Deeg Gold

Kate Raphael

Tom Reynolds