The Progressive Caucus for Peace stands against the entry of Queers Against
Israeli Apartheid into the Toronto Pride Parade
TORONTO, April 27 /CNW/ - The Progressive Caucus for Peace supports the City of Toronto's commitment to a Toronto Pride Parade that promotes diversity and acceptance and believes that the City is correct to stand its ground and condemn the inclusion of the anti-Israel group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QAIA) in the Pride Parade.
"Toronto's annual Pride Parade, one of the largest and oldest in the world, is a place for celebrating the city's progressive values, embracing Toronto's LGBTQ community, and raising awareness of the continuing discrimination and persecution that the LGBTQ community faces in Canada and elsewhere," said Matt Godwin, coordinator of the Progressive Caucus for Peace.
Rather than focusing on the strides that the LGBTQ community has made in Israel, they are contorting the message of the Pride Parade with inaccurate accusations and extremist rhetoric. Israel is the only state in the Middle East and Asia that recognizes Same-Sex marriages performed elsewhere. Compared to Israel's neighbours, where many countries actually have death penalties still on the books for homosexuals, Israel is a bastion of progressive acceptance for people of all genders and sexualities.
"The Pride Parade is not the place for unrelated, contentious, political messages such as those put forward by Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QAIA)," says Godwin, "The Progressive Caucus for Peace believes that groups like this detract from the parade's overall message and dilutes the united, credible message purported by the thousands of marchers and celebrants."
The City of Toronto should stand fast against the entry of QAIA into the Pride Parade, and support its positive message of diversity and inclusion.
The Progressive Caucus for Peace is a group of young progressives which supports the two-State solution (Israel and Palestine) living side by side in peace and which is against the demonization and isolation of Israel, a social democratic country that supports LGBTQ rights, within Canada's progressive communities and the NDP.
For further information: Matt Godwin, Coordinator, Progressive Caucus for Peace, (416) 994-2128, [email protected]
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