WorldPride 2006 Controversy: The Shande & the Fury

Don't look now, but the meshugass over the future of WorldPride 2006 is reaching a fever pitch, threatening the week-long August event in Jerusalem on many levels.

Although they can agree about little else, a cabal of Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious leaders is working together in a virulently anti-gay effort to get the event canceled. They are making serious headway in gathering 100,000 online signatures to protest WorldPride.

Conservatives are also working simultaneously to get the event moved from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. There have been some reports that the move may happen because of the united religious opposition, and to protect the Jerusalem public from possible violence that the pride parade and associated events might incite. (I guess no one cares if there's violence in Tel Aviv?)

In a touching display of Judaic love, New York Rabbi Yehuda Levin said that if gays do descend on Jerusalem for WorldPride, "I promise there's going to be bloodshed -- not just on that day, but for months afterward."

Nice, huh? I'm no balmalocha*, but I don't think that kind of thing is what's encouraged in the Torah, is it?

Meanwhile, 1,000 religious leaders from a variety of faiths have signed a statement in support of WorldPride saying, "Those who would come to Jerusalem to celebrate the diversity of the world we live in are imbued with the same spirit of God that those clergy preaching intolerance would claim belongs only to them."

Canceling or moving WorldPride would be wrong. My dear friend professor Chai Feldblum talks about why she's attending WorldPride, which is, among other things, to send a message in the holiest of all cities that gay, lesbian, bi and trans people are morally whole. I love theidea of taking back morality from religious zealots who think it's an exclusive club that only they get to belong to.

Check out what Chai has to say, then also see statements from other GLBT thinkers, movers and shakers linked below.  And if you can, think about getting yourself to WorldPride, too.

"Jerusalem.  What a meaningful place to hold WorldPride 2006. From a location so filled with moral history, the participants of WorldPride can send a message about the moral goodness inherent in our sexuality, in our sexual orientation, and in our gender.  Jerusalem is a unique and fitting place from which to send such a message.   For millennia, many people have used religious and moral beliefs to devalue and dehumanize those of us who do not conform to so-called sexual and gender norms.  In August 2006, we come to a city that is held sacred by three major world religions and say -- we are good, we are blessed, we are morally whole.  I feel excited to be part of such a celebration. 

Jerusalem.  What a site of pain, struggle and unrealized dreams. As a Jew, I feel deep pain coming to a country that has not yet achieved security for Israeli people or justice for Palestinian people.  As part of a balm, I hold on to the fact that Jerusalem Open House, the sponsoring organization for WorldPride 2006, is a model for the type of cooperation, respect and caring I yearn to see between Palestinians and Israelis in the future.  We are not there yet.

I care about changing the moral values discourse in my country, the United States, and across the world.  WorldPride 2006 gives us the opportunity to begin to change the rhetoric and the substance of the moral values discourse around sexuality and gender.  I look forward to being a part of this important event in Jerusalem in August 2006."

-- Chai Feldblum, www.moralvaluesproject.org

Why I'm Coming to WorldPride in Jerusalem
Thoughts from Evan Wolfson, Julie Dorf, Bishop Dr. Yvette Flunder and others

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* I'm not Jewish, but after 15+ years of celebrating Passover, Rosh Hashana and even Purim with Chai and our extended family, a guy is bound to pick up a little Yiddish, right? For those of  you who need a hint, see: Shande, meshugass, balmalocha.