Racism Wrapped in Rainbow Flags

Sunday's annual LGBT pride march in NYC featured many of the typical opportunists leeching off the festivities, corporations and politicians seizing the chance to hawk their wares or pander for votes during what used to be the commemoration of a radical anti-police riot at the Stonewall Inn. Fitting in well with these shameless self-promoters was the state of Israel, represented via their New York Consulate and the Tel Aviv municipality. They marched waving an equal number of Israeli and rainbow flags, suggesting somehow an equivalence between a racially-based state and a symbol of diversity.

Participating in the delegation was gay porn actor-cum-mogul (no pun intended) Michael Lucas, producer of films such as "Men of Israel", "Shameless Holes", "Piss Sluts", and "FARTS!". Recently, the Zoolander lookalike has found a second calling in politics, acting as an apologist for Israel and basher of Muslims in mainstream gay publications such as The Advocate, formulating ingenious strings of buzz words such as: "The world should understand that the conflict between Israel and Palestine is not a conflict between two political entities. It’s a conflict between two worlds — one that is stuck in the Middle Ages and one that belongs to the 21st century. It’s a conflict between civilization and barbarism; between freedom and oppression; between democracy and dictatorship; between human rights and violations of human rights." This past year, he started a sort of Birthright Israel for horny gay dudes, getting tourists exclusive access to "sexy soldiers" on IDF bases.

Elsewhere, Israel's state-sponsored attempts at pride march co-option were met with resistance. Toronto's Queers Against Israeli Apartheid dissident bloc was at first banned (and then unbanned) from this year's march following a campaign by B'nai Brith, supposedly under the justification that the term 'apartheid' was offensive (nevermind that the comparision has been made by former Israeli Prime Ministers Barak,Olmert and allegedly even Ben-Gurion). In Madrid, Israel's official delegation was banned from participating as organizers expressed dismay over the flotilla massacre, much to the chagrin of Russian-born Michael Lucus, who quipped, "Europeans are not very smart."