News Flash
QuAIA to march in 2012 Pride parade
In a move that's sure to be cause for controversy, Pride Toronto's Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) ruled that Queers Against Israeli Apartheid will be permitted to participate in this year's Pride Parade. City of Toronto funding for the parade is not contingent on the group's non-participation this year, but the presence of the group is likely to result in at least some tension this weekend. The panel has not made its reasoning public at this time, promising to do so at a later date.
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Press Release from Pride Toronto:
Pride Toronto announced today that it has received a ruling from its arm's-length Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) that Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) will receive a permit to march in this year's Pride parade on Sunday, July 1. The decision comes as a result of a DRP hearing earlier this week on the complaint against QuAIA and the request that they not be permitted to march in this year's Pride parade.
"Pride Toronto is aware of the politically and emotionally sensitive nature of this issue for all parties involved. In line with the ruling of the Dispute Resolution Panel, and Pride Toronto's stated commitment to abide by the outcome of the process, the Board of Directors will respect the DRP's decision and will authorize a permit for QuAIA to march in this year's Pride parade," said Luka Amona, Pride Toronto Board co-chair.
Last year, Pride Toronto established a Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) process to provide an objective, transparent appeal mechanism to review and resolve complaints about participation in the Pride parade.
"Pride Toronto has taken extraordinary measures in its commitment to diversity, fairness and inclusiveness to address any concerns. We have made the Dispute Resolution Panel available to work through issues where conflicts amongst participants may arise," said Francisco Alvarez, Pride Toronto Board co-chair. "We are confident that all parties have had a fair hearing and that the complaint has received due process."
Pride Toronto is confident that the officers understood their roles and the requirement for impartiality. Appointments to the DRP were recommended by a Community Advisory Panel and approved by Pride Toronto's Board of Directors. Officers on the hearing panel were selected in accordance with a system laid out in the rules of the process in which all parties agreed to participate. All panel members serve on a volunteer basis as a service to the community.
The DRP was a key recommendation of the Community Advisory Panel (CAP) report, creating a process whereby an arms-length panel of experts in law and arbitration would make an impartial decision regarding disputes that would be binding on all parties, including Pride Toronto.
Released in time for implementation for this year's parade, the panel's decision can be downloaded here. Its reasons will follow at a later date.
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I hope all participating parties (the complaint having arisen from a non-participant) have a great time :)
Have a fun and safe time everyone!
i don't attend anymore because this group has made me feel uncomfortable at a community event that i am part of.
however have a fun and safe time everyone who does choose to attend!
Why is this sub-group now going out of their way to confirm that they are nothing more than a bunch of juvenile buffoons ???
Since when do foreign politics have anything to do with preference for sexual partners ???
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Pride funding in peril as Queers Against Israeli Apartheid plans to march
What I find most interesting here is the wish that council will pull funding. This issue of QuAIA is a fly at a banquet, Pride has always had political message, some far more controversial then a few people marching with a sign that a few find offensive. Yet it was when our current mayor got elected, giving voice to homophobic councilors, news media, giving a platform for those to crawl out from under their rocks and spew some of the most disgusting hate I have heard in a long time. No other funded organization has been questioned or threatened, only Pride. To what gain? this whole issue is motivated by homophobia.
Maybe they should direct their energy towards promoting tolerance, acceptance and celebration of the LGBTQ community in their own land.
Uh, I think you need to study your history.
You wrote:
"Maybe they should direct their energy towards promoting tolerance, acceptance and celebration of the LGBTQ community in their own land."
The members of QuAIA are Canadian (of all backgrounds) so I'm not sure what you mean by "their own land"; their own land is Canada. If you're referring to Palestinians, the only problem is that their own land was stolen from them.
The gay community if it wants to be taken seriously it cannot be seen as hypocrites meaning if you find Mayor Rob Ford homophobic and a Fascist, TCSSB as homophobic then you definitely cannot support Palestine. Because just recently the Palestinian Authority along with 56 other Islamic nations known as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation(OIC) told ’the UN's top human rights body that its 56 member states and the Palestinian Authority would ignore a scheduled UN rights panel on anti-gay violence, saying they were “disturbed" at the "attempted focus on certain persons" on the grounds of their "abnormal sexual behaviour,” which "have nothing to do with fundamental human rights."
Meaning the the Palestinian Authority succeed in getting a U.N. General Assembly panel to delete condemnation of anti-gay killings from U.N. resolution. The Palestinian Authority and the rest of the (OIC) justified this action by stating that Homosexuality is a ““Licentious behavior promoted under the concept of ‘sexual orientation’ is against the fundamental teachings of various religions including Islam,” Pakistan’s envoy said.
“From this perspective, legitimizing homosexuality and other personal sexual behaviors in the name of sexual orientation is unacceptable to the OIC,”
If the Toronto Catholic School Board or any another organization or person, country, especially Israel, believing they are victims and are suffering and was part of the above action they would definitely not be part of the Pride Parade and no question asked regardless of their sob story. Why then is Pride supporting Queers for Palestine it makes no sense which explains why the straight community is puzzled and makes us all look like fools. Are gay that easily hustled.
According to some estimates, there are now 300 gay Palestinian men secretly living and working in Israel.
Their willingness to live there - despite the risk of being detained and deported as a security threat - is due to Palestinian attitudes towards gay men, they claim.
One 22-year-old gay man who fled from Gaza into Israel four years ago told BBC World Service's Outlook programme he was almost killed when his family found out about his sexuality.
. . .
many Palestinian gays say they would still rather live under house arrest in Israel, where homosexuality is not considered a crime, than at home.
The 22-year-old who fled his home in Gaza alleged that those who do stay in the occupied territories are often coerced into working for the Palestinian police.
He said that he himself had been stopped by police in Gaza, who had threatened to expose him as a homosexual. He alleged he was told by the police to sleep with another man in order to acquire damaging information about him.
The man alleged that after he refused, the Palestinian police had tortured him.
"They hit me. They put me in a pool of water with just my head sticking out," he claimed.
Disguised with a wig, sunglasses and a fake mustache, he offered only his first name, Ali. He said he was unwilling to reveal his last name or hometown for fear of being discovered by the Palestinian Authority.
Ali had harsh words for the environment he said homosexuals were forced into by the Palestinian Authority. “There is no freedom to speak about my homosexuality,” he said. “That’s what I’m experiencing in my Palestinian society as in the rest of the Arab world.”
According to Ali, a word for homosexuality does not even exist in the area’s native language. He said he only discovered his sexual orientation while studying in Jerusalem.
He claimed the opportunity never presented itself under Palestinian control, where he could have potentially been “subject to random arrests, torture and random killings” if he revealed his homosexuality.
Instead, Ali said he chose to live freely as a gay man in Israel rather than hide his sexual orientation. He also revealed that most of his family does not know the truth to this day.