Anti-Israel student activists join letter condemning Boston LGBT group for being too pro-Israel

A number of student coalitions in the Boston area signed a letter that condemned Pride for the People (P4TP), an LGBT organization that sponsors a “pride parade” in the city. 

The June 6 letter was signed by more than 70 groups, including Harvard Out Of Occupied Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace Boston, Pleasure Pie, Plymouth for Palestine, Tufts SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine), Wellesley SJP, and Workers World Party.

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The letter starts by identifying the signers as members of the “‘Greater Boston’ queer community,” and offering a “land acknowledgement” that “we are on occupied Massachusett, Wampanoag, Nipmuc, and Wabanaki lands.”

The letter attacks P4TP, an organization that promotes LGBT events, including a “pride parade” through Boston, for allegedly being pro-Israel. 

“We are disappointed but unsurprised to learn that not only has P4TP not addressed its pinkwashing efforts from last year, but that it has not spoken out in support of a Free Palestine,” the signers wrote. 

“Pinkwashing” is a term used by anti-Israel activists to disregard Israel’s tolerance for LGBT-identifying people, claiming that such tolerance is merely a propaganda trick to distract from Israel’s supposed human rights abuses. 

“In addition, [P4TP] has continued to accept corporate sponsor money from unethical companies, including Delta Airlines, State Street, and Fidelity. It invites corporate ERGs instead of unions to march in the parade. And finally, it coordinates with cops, a longstanding enemy of queer people and their liberation,” the letter continues. 

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The signers stated: “We, as greater [sic] Boston queer community, demand better of the people that seemingly represent us, that wish to uplift their chosen community. But that chosen community must be all of the community, not corporations or cops. Despite several outreach efforts from the community, P4TP chose NOT to uplift queer and Palestinian liberation and prioritize Zionists, corporations, and cops.”

The signers concluded by making several demands of P4TP, saying that the group “must pledge publicly not to work with the Israeli consulate or Zionist groups, which includes not permitting Zionist groups to march in Pride,” refuse to “accept money or sponsorships from Zionist or pro-Israel organizations and corporations,” and “[i]ssue an apology and a statement in full support of Palestinian liberation,” among other demands. 

Campus Reform has reached out to the letter signers for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.