Chanel Miller, rape survivor, said: “Erasure is a form of oppression, the refusal to see,” and a July 15 CBC News article committed exactly this journalistic transgression against the Jewish community: the crime of erasure.

Andrew Lam’s article entitled: “Discourse around Pride and Palestinian rights part of history of activism in the 2SLGBTQ+ community,” all but eliminated the Jewish LGBTQ+ experience in the current anti-Israel climate.

The article stated that Halifax Pride has been under “community pressure” – for some reason, the article did not detail from whom – to divest from organizations on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) list, which details organizations that are thought to invest in Israel.

Lam mentioned that Halifax Pride has already called for a ceasefire in Gaza and has issued a statement of solidarity with Palestinians. On July 5, Halifax Pride added to that and said it would review funding from TD Bank – named on the BDS list – for next year’s festival.

The article continued to detail some of the intersections between Pride and other movements, The article quoted OmiSoore Dryden, “the James R. Johnston Endowed Chair in Black Canadian Studies at Dalhousie University,” who said, “Racism is a queer issue. Genocide is a queer issue.”

Lam continued to detail this irresponsible genocide libel and also referenced Israel’s rebuttal of them, which has pointed out that Jerusalem has “continuously scaled up its coordination and assistance in the delivery of humanitarian aid.”

Lam also included a token Jewish reference by mentioning outlier Rabbi Naj Siritsky in support of both the Queer community and the Palestinians. Lam neglected to mention that Siritsky founded the Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) branch in Cape Breton. IJV is an organization that advocates for the “complete isolation and demonization of Israel” and has defended Hamas terrorism against Israelis – hardly a mainstream Jewish view, to put it lightly.

Lam erased the experience of the mainstream Jewish LGBTQ+ community from his discussion around Pride and their history of connection to social action protests. As the Times of Israel reports, many Queer Jewish voices are feeling unsafe and isolated from the gay community they used to call home. David Kilmnick, founder and president of the LGBT network, wrote a column detailing the injustice being done to Jewish LGBTQ+ members by the drive for organizations to support pro-Palestinian causes, including BDS drives.

Kilmnick stated that Israel’s support of the LGBTQ+ community “is not a recent phenomenon but is a reflection of its democratic values and respect for human dignity”. Pro-Palestinians activist often assert Israel’s legitimization of the Queer community is “pinkwashing.”

They use this term to allege that Israel’s LGBTQ policies are to cover up their supposed “atrocities” in Gaza. This ridiculous assertion is reflective of complete disinterest in the actual rights of sexual minorities, as Kilmnick detailed, “Israel is the only country in the region that recognizes same-sex marriages performed abroad, allows same-sex couples to adopt children, protects LGBT people from discrimination and violence, and allows us to serve openly in the military. Israel also has a vibrant and diverse LGBT culture, with Tel Aviv being one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world, hosting an annual Pride parade that attracts hundreds of thousands of participants and visitors.”

Of course, the fact that Hamas routinely murders anyone suspected of being gay, has not stopped the LGBTQ+ community’s support of Hamas.

Lam’s evident refusal to see the experience of much of the Jewish LGBTQ+ community in light of their community’s pro-Palestinian support, further contributes to their isolation. The article on CBC News, by including a token fringe Jewish voice and ignoring the overall Jewish experiences, contributes to this erasure.