Q-NOTES • FEBRUARY 12 . 2005
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Jerusalem's religious leaders threaten gay
Pride participants
Muslims tell gays 'their lives will be
in danger'
JERUSALEM, Israel — Jerusalem’s
Jewish, Christian and Islamic clergy — in a
rare show of solidarity — are demanding
that authorities block this summer’s
planned International Gay Pride Parade in
the holy city.
Former Chief Rabbi Mordehai Eliyahu,
in a public statement, called the event “a
disgrace.”
Muslim officials announced that if gay
Pride organizers do disregard the warnings
and attempt to march in Jerusalem, “their
lives will be in danger.”
The clerics have
called on Jerusalem
Mayor Uri Lupolianski
(pictured) to step in and
order the parade and
celebration cancelled.
Lupolianski is a member
of the Hareidi, a fervently Orthodox com
munity.
The group demanded he issue an exec
utive order banning the.parade.
In mid-January it was revealed that
Lupolianski had been working behind the
scenes to get police to deny a parade per
mit. But, publicly, the mayor says that he is
legally not able to directly intervene.
Last summer Lupolianski called
Jerusalem’s Pride celebration “ugly, insulting.
offensive and provocative,” but he did not
move to have the parade banned. Jewish
extremists condemned the mayor for not act
ing and he was given a special security detail
for several days leading up to the event.
Even so. Pride celebrations were
marred by ultra-conservative
religious groups hurling rotten
eggs as the parade marched
down Ben Yehuda Mall.
World Pride, to be held
Aug. 18-28, is expected to draw
more than i00,000 gays and
lesbians from around the world
to the Holy City. The last World
Pride was held in 2000 in Rome.
Jerusalem’s Gay and Lesbian
Center, which is organizing this
year’s World Pride, said that
despite the controversy the
event will “definitely take place.”
The Center said it is not taking the
threats too seriously, explaining that World
Pride was held in Rome despite threats
from the Vatican.
“This is a unique opportunity for
Jerusalem in terms of its public image, and
represents a huge opportunity for the city,”
said the executive director of Jerusalem’s
Gay and Lesbian Center, Hagai El-Ad.
Jerusalem held its first local gay parade
only three years ago.
The event, which draws several thou
sand participants, has been the source of
repeated debate each year, with many reli
gious city councilors and a significant
number of city residents considering such
an event inappropriate for a “holy” city.
When the first parade was held in the
capital in 2002, former Jerusalem Mayor
Jerusalem's first gay pride, held in 2002.
Ehud Olmert withheld city funding for the
event, after failing to convince organizers
and participants to join Tel Aviv’s parade,
where a gay pride procession has been
held for years with a much larger turnout.
The Jerusalem municipality was later
ordered by the Supreme Court to pay the
organizers $40,000 for the annual event, in
keeping with the amount the municipality
contributed toward previous city marches.
Portions of this article previously appeared in
365gay.com and The Jerusalem Post.
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OSA goes after Charlotte Pride
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from page 1
many of the members of the organization
quoted the Bible and invoked the name of
Jesus Christ, while telling the council that
it was sponsoring immorality and sin.
“That is a low community standard,”
said David Benham, son of OSA organizer
Flip Benham. “And we have turned a blind
eye and a deaf ear to this.”
This latest effort by OSA mirrors earlier
actions last fall when many of the same
speakers appeared before the council voic
ing similar concerns. Since that time, city
officials have said that the festival’s organ
izers were protected by the First
Amendment.
in an interview with QrNotes last
November, Charlotte Pride President Kris
Conyers addressed OSA’s concerns.
“i saw the photos when they were up at
Pride,” Conyers said. “They were just nude
people standing around. Then i saw the
photos she took of the pictures — the ones
she had with her at the city council meet
ing. They were all so blurry it was impos
sible to tell what anyone was doing in the
original [images). They’ve taken this thing
and completely blown it out of proportion
and stretched it so far from the truth.
“That’s what they’ve done. The truth
isn’t even present in their claims any
more.”
Charlotte Pride Vice President Nathan
Smith feels OSA is using the issues sur
rounding Pride to launch an attack against
Charlotte’s LGBT community.
“They’re just using us as a platform,”
says Smith. “That’s what they’re doing.
OSA is attacking the entire LGBT commu
nity, not just Pride.”
Despite the ongoing controversy. Smith
doesn’t think OSA’s efforts will have much
of an impact on Pride 2005.
“From the beginning both the chief of
police and the city attorney said we didn’t
break any laws and that we’re fine. We’re
meeting with Landscape Management to
talk about logistics and the issues that OSA
brought up. We’re having to jump through
a few more hoops than usual, but I person
ally don’t feel anything is going to change,
as far as denying access to the park.”
Even though Smith is optimistic, he’s
cautious and doesn’t want Charlotte Pride
to get caught unprepared in the event any
legal action is required. “We’ve reached out
to MeckPAC and GLAAD to get everything in
place in case we have to get the ball rolling,”
Smith explains. “But if they confirm the
license as we hope they wrill, then there’s no
JX)int in pursuing any further action.”
According to an article in The Charlotte
Observer, Mayor Pat McCrory said he has
asked the city staff to review the topic
before issuing a permit this year.
“I’ve asked our attorney to give us some
guidance on what parameters we can give,
to not just this festival but other festivals,"
he said.