Zionhass on Parade

The problem with "diversity" and "inclusivity" is that, while those certainly sound like wonderfully warm 'n' cuddly concepts, the way they generally play out these days is that there's always a "diverse" faction that, to paraphrase a great Jewish malapropist, want to include the Jews out. Without perhaps intending to, Justine Apple, spokesperson for Jewish gay organization Kulanu, shows how it works in this Xtra report. The article details Jewish frustration/anger following Pride organizers reversing their decision to nix "Israeli apartheid" from this year's event. Justine isn't necessarily against QuAIA getting the axe. At the same time, though, she thinks their symbolism during last year's parade may not have been in keeping with the spirit of "inclusivity" and "tolerance" her group promotes:

Justine Apple of the queer Jewish group Kulanu told Xtra later that she isn’t opposed to policy discussions but that the QuAIA contingent in last year’s parade crossed a line. One marcher wore a T-shirt with a crossed-out Swastika on it.

“Their use of the swastika, whether crossed out or not, is absolutely unacceptable to me,” said Apple. “The minute any Jewish person – any informed person – sees that, you immediately want to leave that parade. It screams hate.”

Although Apple spoke against PT’s announcement, she still encourages members of Toronto’s Jewish community to march with her contingent in the Pride parade next Sunday.

“We want to galvanise as many people as possible to march with us and show our strength in numbers,” she says. “Kulanu promotes inclusivity, diversity, acceptance, tolerance. We feel those values have been removed from the Pride parade and we want to bring them back.”

Maybe they should ban swastikas.

Me? I don't plan to march in the Pride parade. However, I'm seriously considering organizing a march for another derided, marginalized community--the Square, Straight, Monogamous and Tattooless, or SSMT. We SSMTers have been seriously underrepresented and misrepresented, and I feel it's high time to redress this unfortunate situation. Unlike that other parade, however, we pride ourselves on our lack of "tolerance" and "inclusivity" in the sense that we refuse to tolerate the intolerance of Jew-haters.

We're kind of funny that way.