Say No to World LGBT Youth Leadership Summit

Thanks to the IGLYO Out of Israel campaign and the massive support it got, the International Gay and Lesbian Youth Organization (IGLYO) and Israeli Gay Youth (IGY) announced that they would no longer hold IGLYO’s General Assembly in Tel Aviv, Israel. This marks the very first victory for queer-powered BDS!

However, in their joint statement, the two partners also announced that IGY’s International LGBTQ Youth Leader’s Summit, originally planned as a side event at the GA, is still set to be held in Tel Aviv in December 2011.

As we are nearing the deadline of application to the summit, LGBTQ youth leaders are being told that the event will include conversations with queer Palestinians and address “hot issues” and “political tensions” in Israel – their apparent “compromise” to the anger of queer BDS activists. Despite the announcement that IGY will hold conversations with queer Palestinians, no Palestinian queer group has actually received an invitation.

Tell IGY that Israeli occupation cannot be reduced to a “hot issue” or “political tension”. 

Read more about the Summit Campaign and Spread the Word.

Read Palestinian Queers for BDS (PQBDS) Press Release.

Blog about the Summit Campaign: Share with the world why you choose not to attend the LGBTQ Youth Leaders Summit and why you think others shouldn’t either. Post your text here.

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The NEW PinkwatchingIsrael.Com: A Global Web Movement to Promote Queer – Powered Calls Against Pinkwash and for BDS

Pinkwatching Israel – launched by queer Arab activists in 2010, operated as a hub for information sharing on Israeli efforts transform public perception of Israel from an Apartheid occupying power to a harmless, liberal, gay-friendly playground by juxtaposing this false image to a portrayal of Palestinian and Arab societies as backwards, repressive and intolerant.

Today, anti-pinkwashing activism is exploding everywhere. To build on this momentum propelled by the dynamism of groups such as Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in Toronto, QUIT in San Francisco, Helem in Lebanon, alQaws in Jerusalem, Lambda in Istanbul, and others, Pinkwatching Israel and Palestinian Queers for BDS went back to the drawing board and revamped Pinkwatching Israel’s mission for a major comeback that fills one evident gap: to create a global web-movement promoting queer-powered calls against pinkwashing and pushing the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment Campaign against Israel to the forefront of the global queer movement. Pinkwatching Israel brings together vibrant queer activists from around the world to imagine, visualize, create and launch campaigns, initiatives, events, and actions for BDS and against pinkwashing.

Read more about PinkwatchingIsrael.com and “How We Work.” Learn about Pinkwash, download our “Pinkwatch KIT“. Take a tour with the new “Queer BDS Chronology.”

Share and Promote. PINKWATCH WITH US!