Can you believe we are practically halfway through May? You know what that means, right? Pride Month is just around the corner! Time to haul the Pride Tree out of the garage, stir up the Pride Lights on the house, get your Pride cards in the mail, and gather friends and family to sing your favorite Pride Carols. It is indeed the most wonderful time of the year. Because the alphabet community gets absolutely zero recognition during the rest of the year, we devote an entire month to celebrating whatever acronyms, genders, and identities are in vogue this season.
With the arrival of Pride month will come the inevitable concerns that bad actors will somehow seek to derail the impending festivities, perhaps for the purposes of "genocide." These bad actors are, of course, straight white Christians. Never mind the fact that most straight white Christians are content to let people do what they will to themselves or one another, so long as it is not done in public and children are not dragged into the mix.
Despite the fact that "Queers for Palestine" may be all the rage, the DHS and FBI have issued a warning, via a public service announcement, that foreign terrorist groups may take it upon themselves to disrupt the upcoming Pride Month activities. The announcement reads in part:
The FBI and DHS are issuing this Public Service Announcement to provide awareness to the public of foreign terrorist organizations (FTOS) or their supporters potential targeting of LGBTQIA+-related events and venues. Foreign terrorist organizations or supporters may seek to exploit increased gatherings associated with the upcoming June 2024 Pride Month.
FTO efforts to commit or inspire violence against holiday celebrations, including Pride celebrations or LGBTQIA+-related venues, are compounded by the current heightened threat environment in the United States and other western countries. FTOs and their supporters have previously promoted anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and targeted LGBTQIA+ related events or venues for attacks. (sic)
By way of example, the agencies note that "In February 2023, English language ISIS messaging featured an article focused on anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and rallied against the growth and promotion of the LGBTQIA+ community. The same issue called for followers to conduct attacks on unidentified soft targets, although the attacks and targets were not specific to LGBTQIA+ venues." They also cite an incident in June of last year when "three alleged ISIS sympathizers" attempted a knife attack during a Pride parade in Vienna. The announcement also warns that June 14 will mark the eighth anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting that killed 49 people and injured 53. The attacks were praised by ISIS and the FTOs.
Does anyone, particularly the student protesters, understand any of this? The answer to that is likely no. A recent article on The Publica talked about a Google Drive document instructing students on how to mount demonstrations, damage property, and create chaos. And this:
In perhaps the most bizarre file, titled “Queer voices from the Fight for Palestinian Liberation,” protestors are taught that the West Bank has a bustling LGBTQ+ scene, including claims that gay raves take place in Ramallah.
The first page of the zine quotes Zaheer Suboh, a self-described “queer” Bay Area DJ who was born in the United States to Palestinian immigrant parents. At the age of six, his family moved back to Palestine but later returned to California during his teenage years.
“What do any of you know of my Palestine? Of the late night queer parties in Ramallah? Of raves held in biblically aged buildings? Of lesbians in hijabs, of gay men in hoop earrings, of trans Palestinians dancing with joyful abandon?
Suboh continues: “We fear Israel first, before our families, always. We’re 100 times more likely to die at the hands of an Israeli gun or bomb than by western propagandized ideas of honor killings. I’ve seen White Christian Americans wish their child be dead rather than gay … Israel is the one that weaponizes the homophobia that Queer people all over the world of all religions experience to justify murdering Palestinians of all kinds, young and old, Christian and Muslim, Queer and Straight.” (sic)
Last month, Campus Reform reported that Maya Mikdashi, who is an associate professor of women’s, ender, and sexuality studies at Rutgers was onstage with University of Illinois professor Nadine Naber for a presentation called “Palestine is a Feminist and Queer Anti-Imperialist Abolition Struggle.” Mikdashi stated that pointing out the fact that LGTBQ people in the Gaza Strip are persecuted is Islamophobic. The article cited a piece in Reason. That piece noted that gay and trans people in Palestine could face long prison terms or even death sentences. The piece mentions Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a Hamas commander who was murdered in 2016 for being gay. Then there is the case of Ahmed Abu Marhia. He was murdered by decapitation last year for being gay. His head was found along the side of a road. It also mentions that LGBTQ Palestinians have sought sanctuary in Israel. Those are facts that Mikdashi seems to have chosen to omit when it comes to her rhetoric.
The LGBTQ revelers may do well to heed the warnings from DHS and the FBI. The danger may well come from those they perceive to be allies.
