Seattle University Assistant Law Professor Attempts to Silence Visiting Israeli LGBT Voices

Denying dialogue is a means to foster hate …

By Melanie Nathan, 03/14/2012
In the midst of a visit to the West Coast by a delegation of Israeli LGBT leaders, is a small group of  US anti-Israel proponents determined to silence the visitors.

Leading this effort to silence the equality activists from Israel is  an assistant law Professor from Seattle University, Dean Spade,  who had been a Williams Institute Law Teaching Fellow at UCLA Law School and Harvard Law School, teaching classes related to sexual orientation, gender identity law, as well as law and social movements.  It does not take a genius to see that in leading this effort Spade is doing so  for his own political agenda, placing such ahead of a dialogue one would hope the LGBTI community could share.

The LGBTI panelists from the Association of Israeli LGBT Educational Organizations (AILO), Israel, are on tour in the U.S. to share their LGBTI activist and organizational experiences with U.S.A. counterparts. Sponsored by A Wider Bridge, ( http://www.awiderbridge.org/ )the group consists of a coalition made up from Israel Gay Youth, Tehila, (the Israeli P-FLAG) and Hoshen, all who have been involved in the courageous and inspiring work in Israel, to ensure inclusion for LGBT youth and equality for families.

AILO, well received in Los Angeles and the Bay Area,  has completed a series of successful discussions on the West Coast and are now concluding their trip with events scheduled for Tacoma and Seattle. But not if Dean Spade can change their plans.

A Wider Bridge’s webpage  notes, that as the delegation heads to Seattle, a small group of anti-Israeli  proponents “have put pressure on local leaders for meetings to be cancelled, accusing the sponsors of bringing the visitors here to somehow distract people from the issues around the Israel-Palestinian conflict, a tactic they label as ‘pinkwashing.’”

According to Lauren B. Simonds, M.S.W. Program Director of StandWithUs, Northwest Regional Office, “This visit is about members of the Israeli LGBTQ community coming to share the experiences of their work, and to meet with and learn from organizations in the U.S. which face similar challenges.  It’s about conversation and discussion focusing on service provision, building community inclusiveness in a diverse society, and especially on serving youth.  It’s not about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and those attempting to influence the sponsors by threatening protests, are not supporting dialogue.”

Upon further investigation it would appear that  anti-Israeli proponents  may have succeeded in threatening the organizers of the Tacoma AILO event with protests, and that such threats were enough to cause the event cancellation. Dean Spade is now attempting to disrupt Seattle events via letters to organizations and groups which are sponsoring and hosting the meetings.

Dean Spade,  self described “trans activist, writer and teacher,” is delivering a message via Facebook.  In a rhetoric laden letter to local LGBT City Commissioners in Seattle Washington, Spade attributes a false designation to the purpose of the LGBTI group in the USA.

According to Arthur Slepian, Executive Director of Wider Bridges, the event in Tacoma, Washington was organized by local groups The Rainbow Center and Oasis Youth Center and was cancelled based on the threats of disruption.

Mr. Slepian informed me that the organizers were threatened with hostility and that they cancelled the event in Tacoma because they did not have enough leeway or the ability to deal with the level of hostility and conflict that they were told to expect by the anti-Israeli proponents. “The group organizers are young,” says Slepian and asserts that although he is disappointed in the cancellation, he expressed understanding and is not angry at the organizers.

The anti-Israeli protestor, Dean Spade issued a note on Facebook asserting pinkwashing as a reason to curb the group’s meetings, through the use of one sided inflammatory rhetoric, citing a personal visit in a Palestinian household and a tour in Israel as reason for his assertions.  Now Spade is trying to pressure local Seattle LGBT City Commissioners to cancel their event too; “I would strongly urge you to reconsider hosting this event, recognizing its broader significance. ”

Dean Spade, apparently an Assistant Professor at Seattle University School of Law,  notes on his Facebook page: 

“A bunch of pinkwashing events are being rolled out in Seattle this week.  I am hoping others will join me in responding.  I’m including below the text of a letter I’ve written to the Seattle LGBT Commission about the event it is hosting.”   (noted- in part) 

 Dear Seattle LGBT Commissioners:

 I am writing to express concern about the upcoming public meeting with Israeli LGBTQ leaders you have scheduled for March 16.  I am concerned that you may not be aware that this event is part of a broad campaign launched in recent years by the state of Israel to respond to worldwide opposition to its outrageous harm and violence to Palestinian people.   This campaign, called “Brand Israel,” aimed to respond to the growing movement against apartheid in Israel by portraying Israel as “relevant and modern.”  A important part of this effort, more recently, has been to promote Israel is a LGBT-friendly country.  Queer and trans activists around the world who oppose occupation and apartheid have called this strategy “pinkwashing” because it is a direct effort to conceal the extreme violence and harm that Israel inflicts on Palestinians, including queer and trans Palestinians, by promoting Israel as “gay friendly.” 

Displayed here only in part, (full text below) Dean Spade’s one sided rhetoric continued in a tirade about the impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on civilian Palestinians. The intent of his one sided depiction could not be clearer, as he omits mention of the rockets fired into Israeli towns at its innocent children and families. His failure to place his assertions in any real context of the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict, denotes a clear bias and a political agenda that is anything but unifying from an LGBT perspective.

The information provided by Spade is false and misleading as it is clear from sponsoring websites that AILO has absolutely nothing to do with the Israel-Palestine conflict.  One can only wonder if the Assistant Professor is using University computers and/or time to spread this misleading information. (Note the FB conversations from the screenshot and the time! – Monday , 3/11/2012 at 2.13 PM )

My points in countering Mr. Spade’s contentions are not intended to invoke a conversation on the merits of the conflict, per se, of a “who is right or who is wrong” argument, but rather to ‘s elucidate Spade’s agenda; and it is all but friendly to the ideal of LGBTI dialogue.

Mr. Slepian notes that AILO’s visit and all events have nothing to do with Israeli politics but everything to do with shared LGBT issues and the dialogue about matter such as youth suicide, equality issues, and parenting.

Ms. Simonds further ensures that “dialogue in all regards is the road to peace.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but to try to force the cancellation of programming rather than to come and engage in productive dialogue is simply stepping on freedom of speech, not supporting it, and will not solve any problems.  It only serves to create hatred towards Israel.”

Perhaps Dean Spade and cohorts should take their Israeli-Palestinian debate to the proper forums.  The quest for this international LGBTI dialogue is a right and a need we all share in our mutual quest for equality and acceptance. If Mr. Spade is not trying to silence the very voices that show up for dialogue, then he is clearly exploiting this visit to publicize his own anti-Israel agenda and either way we the LGBT community lose out and ought to be offended.

I am most surprised that someone with Spade’s background would seek to deny fellow LGBTI activists from around the world a dialogue about the commonalities facing the LGBT movements worldwide. We can only assume by virtue of the explosive and inflammatory rhetoric that Mr. Spade has his own agenda!

Spade attempts a slithery patronization of the Seattle LGBTQ City Commission, as he further notes in his letter :

“As someone who supports the Commission’s goals, it is important to me to share my concerns with you and share resources that may help you to build greater awareness about pinkwashing so that the Commission is not used to forward an agenda that seeks to mislead people concerned about homophobia and transphobia into supporting the horrifying violence of apartheid Israel.    

I wondered who Spade thought he could fool with his condescending tone and am pleased to share that the letter did not “wash” as noted from the response of one of the members of the Seattle LGBTQ City Commission, Commissioner, Mac S. McGregor, whom I contacted for comment:

“I believe in keeping open dialogue with all groups, “ notes  the Commissioner, “ and that sitting down with people  even when we do not agree on everything is the only way to create positive change.  I also know that there are at least three sides to every story. I am not sure if this is an attempt to change people’s perception of Israel. We will focus on how to further the rights of the LBGTQ communities here and there.  I do not agree that events should be boycotted because I believe that talking is the only way to move forward and make change.  I met personally with a couple of people from the Israeli group a couple of month ago when they were here  and learned more about them and found them warm and informative. The discussion was totally about LGBTQ issues and sharing to make it better for all.”

As author of this post and an LGBT activist, I have my own message for Dean Spade and the 28 Facebook likes he mustered up: As an LGBT activist first and foremost I want to hear from every LGBT activist in the world, regardless of country specific politics.  Your assertion that the LGBT community in Israel is being used for the sole purpose of so called ‘pinkwashing’ is highly offensive to their struggle for equality. It is offensive to my struggle too and to that of fellow activists worldwide! It denigrates the struggles that the LGBT community in that country has faced. That is universally offensive!

Calls for boycotts set a very dangerous precedent that could result in the oppression of deserving LGBT expression from around the world.  By example, imagine if we as a community turned down a Ugandan delegation because we had some preconceived notion of Museveni’s use for them? It is as if Spade is stabbing a member of his own family in the back!

The Israel LGBTI community has had to fight many forms of religious, government and socially related struggles in the context of their accomplishments and within the borders of their own country. In that vein we all have the same struggle.  For you to paint them with the stroke of your political brush is to taint the freedom and voice of each and every LGBTI person in the world!

As an LGBT community we seek universal unity around the notion that sexuality in its diverse forms, is a human right, and that overrides all else for us activists.  All who fight for this belief, no matter from which country, ought to be welcome for a conversation in the USA.  It is unity around the issue of equality and decriminalization of homosexuality that supersedes political perspectives.

Tel Aviv is often referred to as the ‘Gay Captial of the World’ and Israel is widely lauded for its liberal equality legislation, given the tendency of the Knesset (Parliament) and Israeli courts to assert independence over orthodox religious views.  However like any other country Israel’s LGBT community has encountered mammoth challenges in attaining its level of equality and we here in the USA can gain a lot from their experience.

I hope that all groups who have been threatened will not cave to the voice of a few with an ulterior motive and an agenda that does little more than disrupt our collective and unifying  quest for equality and acceptance.

A Wider Bridge has created a website on the pinkwashing claim which has been sent to the hosts and hosting organizations. Here’s that page: http://www.awiderbridge.org/on-pinkwashing.html

UPDATED ARTICLE 3/15/2012  AT http://oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/seattle-lgbt-commission-shuts-down-israels-lgbt-voice/

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by Dean Spade on Monday, March 12, 2012 at 2:13pm ·

Friends,

A bunch of pinkwashing events are being rolled out in Seattle this week.  I am hoping others will join me in responding.  I’m including below the text of a letter I’ve written to the Seattle LGBT Commission about the event it is hosting. I sent a very similar message to QLaw about its event.  I hope others will send messages to organizations you are connected with who are hosting or supporting some of the others listed below, and also please consider attending and speaking your opposition to apartheid and occupation even when its wrapped in a rainbow flag. If you personally know anyone on the boards of any of these sponsoring organizations, please contact them directly.  Also, consider connecting with the Seattle Jewish Voices for Peace chapter to ally with their response as well. Here are some of the events coming up:

http://thegsba.blogspot.com/2012/03/seattle-lgbt-commission-invites-you-to.html

http://q-law.org/Events?eventId=354450&EventViewMode=EventDetails

https://www.facebook.com/events/359450610754055/

https://www.facebook.com/events/248831681872380/

https://www.facebook.com/events/343039739072529/

https://www.facebook.com/events/157063971081341/

https://www.facebook.com/events/363487657018214/

Here is the email I sent to the Seattle LGBT Commissioners:

Dear Seattle LGBT Commissioners:

I am writing to express concern about the upcoming public meeting with Israeli LGBTQ leaders you have scheduled for March 16.  I am concerned that you may not be aware that this event is part of a broad campaign launched in recent years by the state of Israel to respond to worldwide opposition to its outrageous harm and violence to Palestinian people.   This campaign, called “Brand Israel,” aimed to respond to the growing movement against apartheid in Israel by portraying Israel as “relevant and modern.”  A important part of this effort, more recently, has been to promote Israel is a LGBT-friendly country.  Queer and trans activists around the world who oppose occupation and apartheid have called this strategy “pinkwashing” because it is a direct effort to conceal the extreme violence and harm that Israel inflicts on Palestinians, including queer and trans Palestinians, by promoting Israel as “gay friendly.”

In January 2012 I visited the West Bank of Palestine and Israel as part of an LGBT Delegation.  We were invited by several LGBT Palestinian organizations to come witness the violences of the occupation and meet with Palestinians and Israelis who are working to stop this violence and oppose the use of pinkwashing to obscure it.  What I saw was utterly devastating.  I visited a Palestinian village where the Israeli military uses tear gas and skunk water to harass families engaged in peaceful protest against the theft of their land and water every week and met a family whose son had been killed in December from a tear gas canister fired at his head.  I sat in their living room and watched video footage of Israeli soldiers waking their children from bed at gunpoint in the middle of the night, arresting children, and shooting gas canisters into their homes.  I visited homes and villages where the separation wall is being constructed to separate Palestinians from their farmland, from their families, from their jobs, from health care and schools. I passed through checkpoints where Palestinians are humiliated every day trying to get to work or school or a hospital. I witnessed the apartheid road system, where Israeli settlers are allowed to drive on certain roads and Palestinians are barred.  I saw the use of elaborate permit systems to enforce apartheid and imprison Palestinians.  I walked the streets of Hebron where a barricade separates the part of the sidewalk Palestinians are allowed to use and the rest of the road which Israeli settlers may use.

What I saw helped me understand why Palestinians have called for a boycott of Israel, utilizing the strategy taken up against apartheid South Africa.  I understand why Israel is so threatened by this strategy of worldwide solidarity against apartheid that it passed legislation in 2011 outlawing the boycott to intimidate people within Israel out of participating in the global movement.  I understand why an enormous range of writers, speakers, and artists, including important queer icons like Judith Butler, Alice Walker, Adrienne Rich, Sarah Schulman have publicly supported the boycott and refused to participate in events in Israel.

As someone who supports the Commission’s goals, it is important to me to share my concerns with you and share resources that may help you to build greater awareness about pinkwashing so that the Commission is not used to forward an agenda that seeks to mislead people concerned about homophobia and transphobia into supporting the horrifying violence of apartheid Israel.  Below I have included some links that provide useful background information.  I would strongly urge you to reconsider hosting this event, recognizing its broader significance.  It is part of a large, government-funded public-relations campaign to conceal apartheid and violence, which I trust the Commission does not mean to support.  I would be happy to discuss this further in person or by phone if that is useful.

Sincerely,

Dean Spade

This is the letter members of the delegation I was a part of released after our trip:

http://www.queersolidaritywithpalestine.com/

This is an op-ed about pinkwashing that Sarah Schulman published in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/opinion/pinkwashing-and-israels-use-of-gays-as-a-messaging-tool.html

This is a recent article by Jasbir Puar about pinkwashing:

http://thefeministwire.com/2012/01/the-golden-handcuffs-of-gay-rights-how-pinkwashing-distorts-both-lgbtiq-and-anti-occupation-activism/

This is a recent article by Katherine Franke responding to a pinkwashing event that PFLAG hosted:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-franke/pflag-israel-pinkwashing_b_1290935.html

This is where you can find information about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and the many people and organizations who have joined its work:

http://www.bdsmovement.net/

Here are links to Palestinian queer/trans organizations working against homophobia, transphobia, occupation and apartheid:

http://www.pqbds.com/

http://www.alqaws.org/q/content/mission-goals

http://www.aswatgroup.org/

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UPDATED – 03-15-2012
HERE is the Seattle LGBT Commission’s Facebook Page Response to Dean Spade’s letter to them:

The Seattle LGBT Commission values the comments of Dean Spade, who recently brought to our attention the concerns of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict and agenda of pink washing to cover up said crimes and corruption of the Israeli government. While we believe his concerns are valid, the purpose of the meeting with Israeli LGBT groups is to engage in a dialogue about their successes and progress of LGBTQ people’s rights in Israel and Seattle. While this dialogue is centered on efforts for LGBT equality we acknowledge that there is national and local concern about pink washing campaigns, occupation, and apartheid. Dean Spade’s concerns encompass a much larger issue that the commission is interested in exploring at a later date.

We invite Dean Spade to attend our monthly LGBT commission meeting to share his perspective during the public comments section of our meeting agenda, this Thursday, March 15th from 6:30-8:30pm at Seattle City Hall (600 Fourth Avenue, Boards and Commission Conference Room L-280). Our monthly meetings, and the event on Friday, March 16th from 4:30-6:30pm at City Hall (Room 370) with Israeli LGBT groups are open to the public.

The mission of the Seattle LGBT Commission, under the Seattle Office of Civil Rights, is to effectively address and present the concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens of Seattle, and to recommend legislation, policy, programs, and budget items to the Mayor, City Council, and all City Departments.

More information about the upcoming monthly Seattle LGBT commission meeting and the meeting with the Israeli LGBT representatives can be found at this link: http://www.seattle.gov/LGBT/about.htm.