Wow, this isn’t cool. This afternoon, an email informs me, “the NYC LGBT Center summarily cancelled all future meetings of NYC Queers Against Israeli Apartheid — and all queer groups organizing around the Israel-Palestine conflict.”
The Center claimed in a press release that it has been diverted from its “primary purpose of providing programming and services” by the protest and rhetoric around the question of meeting space. Here’s the announcement, passed along by Queers for an Open LGBT Center:
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center today announced a moratorium, effective immediately, on renting space to groups that organize around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The decision comes after months of divisiveness, protest, and heated rhetoric regarding whether the Center should rent space to two groups organizing around these issues. The Center has been forced to divert significant resources from its primary purpose of providing programming and services to instead navigating between opposing positions involving the Middle East conflict.
Knuckleheads. I remember the great slogan that’s in my headline, a slogan that I had to take to heart. Don’t these folks understand: navigating these positions takes time because people need to talk about them.
