Exposing the pink washing lie
On Wednesday, thousands of tourists from around the world arrived in Israel for the Nonstop Gay Festival, a joint venture of the Tourism Ministry and the Tel Aviv Municipality. From Dec. 24 to Jan. 7, members of the lesbian-bisexual-gay-transgender communities of North America, South America and Europe are being offered an array of activities and entertainment across Tel Aviv.
The ostensible draw of and impetus for this two-week celebration of LGBT life in the Holy Land is the relatively warm weather, which is why its logo is a snowman made out of sand, wearing a rainbow scarf and holding a flag with the temperature of 20°C (68°F) written on it.
And though it is true that tourists escaping freezing weather elsewhere are happy to bask in the sun along the shores of the Mediterranean, the real reason that this particular tourism campaign was a shoe-in for success has to do with Israel’s reputation as one of the most gay-friendly places in the world.
This is but one aspect of the Jewish state that illustrates its openness and pluralism, something that would be less striking if the tiny democracy were not surrounded by barbaric regimes. Naturally, it is the very freedom of Israeli society that most irks those regimes, which aim to destroy Western civilization as a whole and to wipe out Zionism in particular.
That they oppose all forms of human rights makes perfect sense. It is impossible to wield the kind of power required to subjugate the masses when individuals have a say in how they lead their lives.
What makes no sense at all, however, is the phenomenon of leftist apology for those regimes, and simultaneous bashing of Israel, in the name of human rights. Because it is now indisputable that Israel is LGBT-friendly, a convoluted tactic has been employed by the Left to attack the Jewish state on this score. This involves accusing Israel of “pinkwashing.” According to the accusers, Israel boasts about its LGBT-rights record in order to obfuscate its abuse of Palestinians, even gay and lesbian ones.
Canadian Member of Parliament and international human rights warrior Irwin Cotler, the architect of the 2005 law which legalized gay marriage in Canada, considers the spread of the “pinkwashing” lie to be both worrisome and worsening. Cotler was Canada’s justice minister and attorney-general at the time of the passing of the Civil Marriage Act, which was organized around two principles under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Quality Rights and Freedom of Religion. The first gave gays and lesbians the equal right to civil marriage. The second gave rabbis, priests and imams the right not to conduct or sanction a gay marriage, if doing so would violate their beliefs.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/12/26/exposing-the-pinkwashing-lie/
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You ?
Never been to Gaza or West Bank PA area hence as a Gay boy I'm still alive....
