Queers for Palestine is a British LGBT group which claims that corporate-backed Pride and LGBT groups are supporting Israel against the Palestinian people. It has called upon these groups to disclose their donors and has accused corporations that support LGBT rights but also don’t support an independent Palestinian state of “pinkwashing.” ¹

Background

The group may be linked to a group of the same name which created controversy among LGBT activists in Berlin, Germany. Supporters of Queers for Palestine accused white Jews of racism for comparing Jewish supporters of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement to Jewish supporters of Nazis. Supporters also claimed that “the White left” and white LGBT activists intentionally exclude ethnically and racially diverse LGBT activists. ²

Activities

The Queers for Palestine involvement was co-organized by University of Sussex professor Melanie Richter-Montpetit. ³ Queers for Palestine’s Instagram account accuses Germany of “loving genocide,” and compares the slaughter of six million Jews by Nazis to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. ⁴

In addition to protests, Queers for Palestine organizes social gatherings and book readings. ⁵

Queers for Palestine reportedly has chapters in Germany, Canada, the U.S., and Britain. ⁶

Criticism

In June 2024, Tory minister Mike Freer, whom is gay, criticized the group when members protested against British Jews, where he claimed to say, “Let’s see how long you last marching for gay rights down in Gaza.” ⁷

1. Queers for Palestine (@queers.for.palestine). “YOU CAN’T PINK WASH COLONIALISM.” Instagram. January 21, 2024.  Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.instagram.com/p/C2HsXXBIql6/?img_index=1
2. ^[1] “Our Lives, Our Streets! — Palestine solidarity and the 2019 Berlin Radical Queer March.” Mondoweiss. July 29, 2019.  Accessed June 10, 2024. https://mondoweiss.net/2019/07/streets-palestine-solidarity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=streets-palestine-solidarity
3. “Opinion: You can’t pink wash this.” Diva Magazine. September 24, 2019. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://diva-magazine.com/2019/09/24/opinion-you-cant-pink-wash-this/
4. Queers for Palestine (@queers.for.palestine). “Germany has a long history of enacting and supporting genocidal violence. From the Herero and Nama genocide, to the Holocaust, to the Gaza genocide: we must unite against Western imperial slaughter.” Instagram. May 21, 2024. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.instagram.com/p/C7PIgvto7ZQ/
5.  How to support LGBTQI+ Palestinians. Rainbow Migration. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://www.rainbowmigration.org.uk/news/how-to-support-lgbtqi-palestinians/
6. Prager, Sarah. “Queer people organizing in solidarity with Palestine continues to grow.” Prism. February 5, 2024. Accessed June 10, 2024.  https://prismreports.org/2024/02/05/queer-people-organizing-solidarity-palestine/
7.  “Gay Tory minister Mike Freer: ‘When I see ‘Queers for Palestine’, I say, on what planet?’ “ Sky News. March 10, 2024. Accessed June 10, 2024. https://news.sky.com/video/gay-tory-minister-mike-freer-when-i-see-queers-for-palestine-i-say-on-what-planet-13092266