Demand SFSU Cancel Homophobic and Antisemitic Event

The Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Program (AMED) at San Francisco State University is hosting a homophobic and antisemitic event this Monday. The event exploits the tagline of “Queer Justice” to spread a false LGBTQ narrative. The truth is not a single LGBTQ group has endorsed or is participating in this event.

This entire event is a poorly conceived smoke screen to disguise the organizers’ true motive - to demonize Israel and marginalize gay Jews. It’s simply an excuse to claim that Israel commits human rights violations, but if we’re talking about violating human rights, we need not look further than the Palestinians. In reality, Israel is the only accepting and inclusive country for LGBTQ people in the Middle East. Israel is a haven for the LGBTQ community in a region surrounded by nations that are unaccepting of and even hostile to the LGBTQ community. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which control the Palestinian territories, suppress LGBTQ activism and have even killed people for being gay.

The Hamas-controlled territory in the Gaza Strip is so hateful towards members of the LGBTQ community that, under the law, gay men may be punished for their “sins” by up to 10 years in prison just because of who they love. In practice, gay Gazans are more likely to face beatings and even murder than incarceration. LGBTQ people are tortured and killed just based on the suspicion that they are gay. Israel has become the only safe place in the Middle East for these persecuted individuals, allowing them to participate in Gay Pride festivals and be their true selves.

The AMED program is taking advantage of queer audiences and embodies the very definition of pinkwashing that the event claims to counter. We can not let this organization operate under the guise of advocating for the LGBTQ community when the Palestinians are the ones discriminating against them in the first place. 

AMED and other anti-Israel hate groups don’t care about LGBTQ persecution, they care about gaining supporters for their radical agenda that includes supporting Hamas, who tortures and kills people for being gay. This event is offensive to the Jewish and LGBTQ communities and needs to be canceled immediately.

Sign the petition to cancel this homophobic and antisemitic event.