Michael Lucas on Queers for Palestine?

COMMENTARY: We all seem to get very mad, and for good reason, when Ann Coulter or the latest right-wing pundit uses the word "faggot" or spews that gay people are the downfall of civilization. Yet we don't get upset about organizations like the San Francisco-based QUIT -- Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism -- chanting their oxymoronic mantra, "Queers for Palestine."

The motto by itself evokes such a horrific mutilation of progressive thought. If you are queer and for Palestine it means that you are for the stoning of gay people. It means that you are for the torturing and disfigurement of gay people. You are for the brutal harassment and "honor killings" of gay people -- because these are the things that Palestinians do to us.

QUIT advocates the divestment from Israel. They call for a boycott of Israeli products, an end to U.S. aid in the Jewish state, and an end to investments in universities and Israeli establishments and corporations.

What makes QUIT and their slogan "Queers for Palestine" such foolish rhetoric is that these gay people's affinity for Palestine is clearly unrequited. If these "queers" want to march around with their delusional banners for Palestine then they are free to make that irrational mistake. But do they think Palestine is for them? Queers for Palestine = laughable. Palestine for queers = horrendous torture and death.

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Beyond being homophobic, the Muslim world in general is criminal toward gay people. In most Muslim countries, being gay is punishable by death or imprisonment, and Palestine's treatment of gay people is among the cruelest. In Palestine, gays can have a choice of being publicly hanged, stoned, mutilated, thrown from the building roofs -- often by their own families -- or simply torn apart by the Palestinian sons of Allah.

These sons have even gotten creative enough to infiltrate gay chat rooms, posing as potential friends or dates to meet and hunt down their prey.

Gay life in Palestinian society can be horrifying. In fact, gay youths in Palestine frequently flee to Israel if they can get a chance -- and Israel accepts them.

So why in the world would gay activists protest against one of the centers of gay liberation (Israel) and for one of the planet's most violently oppressive homophobic societies (Palestine)?

Many call it insanity; others say naivety or poor information. But these are blatant lies. Because try as I might, I can't comprehend any other justification for being a member of QUIT other than overwhelming anti-Semitism. It is common knowledge that Palestinians are violent murderers of gay people, so it isn't misinformation. The new form of anti-Semitism is to be anti-Israeli, thus the support for Palestine and in correlation support for the deaths of gay people.

LGBT organizations are not known to fight for causes other than our own. Have you ever heard of "Gays against genocide in Congo," where millions have been slaughtered? Or "Gays against Chavez," who has dismantled democracy in Venezuela? Or "Gays against North Korea," where hunger and occasional mass starvation are endemic?

Of course not. So it's quite a coincidence that out of all the possible causes in this world, there is a gay group fighting the "occupation" of homophobic Palestine.

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Wouldn't it be more logical to fight for the rights of gays in Palestine, where the only option for a gay person is to flee to Israel or London or Paris or face a horrible death? That issue goes unspoken, as do the killings of thousands of gay people throughout the world of Islam. So what other explanation is there for this than rank anti-Semitism? Enough with the bullshit. Give me the name of one LGBT organization other than QUIT that fights for any human rights agenda other than a gay one. NONE. There is no coincidence here. This organization was created out of purely anti-Semitic feelings.

Although many gays across the world are not members of these organizations, they basically share their views. I have met hundreds of them, whether I am home in New York or abroad in Europe. This is the frightening part -- some gay people hate Jews to the point that they are ready to unite with people who are killing their own kind to fight and protest what they consider a common enemy. They would make a pact with their own enemy, with their own murderers, against the Jewish state.

This is what "Queers for Palestine" is for. In response, the homosexual and Jewish communities should unite against Islam; for it is the Muslims who seek the death of all gays and Jews.

I have always thought of myself as a liberal...because I am. But it's a shame that the good word of liberalism has been hijacked by a bunch of crazed anti-Semites.

So to the "liberals" who want to rally in support of organizations such as QUIT, you should really think about the consequences the gay people in Palestine are enduring. These horrific slayings and persecutions are the reality of the situation in Palestine. But these liberals turn a blind eye to it so that they can express a new outlet for their hatred of Israel.