Pride in the (un)Divided Holy City
Jun. 25th, 2009 01:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaI'm heading to Jerusalem tomorrow.
The main reason being Pride and the second reason being that my Eldest sister lives there with her family and she needs me for the evening/Friday morning.
It all worked out in the end (even though Exam season impinged on me being able to spend any significant time with [Southern!Girl] this week - which is her Birthday week, *curses*).
[Southern!Girl] and I will be marching with the everyone else.
Jerusalem Pride is different from Tel-Aviv Pride, or the tiny Pride in Haifa or even the one in Tourist Town Eilat.
Jerusalem, is not a united City.
It never was.
Nor, I fear, will it ever be.
But queers of every colour and creed live there.
The Jerusalem Open House is one of the few places in which Orthodox Jews, Muslims and Christians who are Queer can be out, attain information and actually feel the solidarity they so sorely lack in their "home" environments.
And this is contentious.
Because Jerusalem is a Holy City.
My sceptical brain thinks this is malarkey. My Jewish heritage says this is a part of my history. My Israeli mouth says "על הזין שלי" crudely "on my dick" which is an phrase loosely translated as "Fuck it".
I like it.
Yes, the march, is considered a provocation. Jerusalem Pride isn't a Parade. There are no floats, no advertisements, no scantily clad men and women revelling in their sexuality while people watch from the sidelines and will either join in or simply enjoy the scene.
Every time human rights are on the agenda it is provocative.
We are creating a scene.
Because the religions that make that City what it is are also a part of the power structure that demands that queers be quiet, be silent.
A silence that is so violent, it scars our bodies and our souls and has made this march so dangerous in the past (last year was the first time there wasn't any real violence committed upon the people walking), we can never forget that in 2005 three people were stabbed for "being queer and here".
It looks like it's going to be a quiet time this year as well.
It's the heat. June is not an easy month for day time events in Israel and Palestine. It's also being exposed to "immodest" people. Can't be contaminated by the "sex" we queers exude from just being in the same vicinity as straight people.
However, that is beyond the point. Religion and violence that is.
As Israel's Capital.
As a place in which LGBTQ people live.
We have a right to express the fact that there is still work to be done.
That we will not twiddle our thumbs while we are still considered "different" under the law.
That we protest the idea of normal.
There is no such thing as "normal".
There is only variety.
And in Jerusalem, ostensibly the most diverse city in Israel, we march for our human rights and with any luck, even have some fun doing so.
Good night. A Happy 40th Stonewall to us all! Yes, I know it's on the 28th... close enough!
The main reason being Pride and the second reason being that my Eldest sister lives there with her family and she needs me for the evening/Friday morning.
It all worked out in the end (even though Exam season impinged on me being able to spend any significant time with [Southern!Girl] this week - which is her Birthday week, *curses*).
[Southern!Girl] and I will be marching with the everyone else.
Jerusalem Pride is different from Tel-Aviv Pride, or the tiny Pride in Haifa or even the one in Tourist Town Eilat.
Jerusalem, is not a united City.
It never was.
Nor, I fear, will it ever be.
But queers of every colour and creed live there.
The Jerusalem Open House is one of the few places in which Orthodox Jews, Muslims and Christians who are Queer can be out, attain information and actually feel the solidarity they so sorely lack in their "home" environments.
And this is contentious.
Because Jerusalem is a Holy City.
My sceptical brain thinks this is malarkey. My Jewish heritage says this is a part of my history. My Israeli mouth says "על הזין שלי" crudely "on my dick" which is an phrase loosely translated as "Fuck it".
I like it.
Yes, the march, is considered a provocation. Jerusalem Pride isn't a Parade. There are no floats, no advertisements, no scantily clad men and women revelling in their sexuality while people watch from the sidelines and will either join in or simply enjoy the scene.
Every time human rights are on the agenda it is provocative.
We are creating a scene.
Because the religions that make that City what it is are also a part of the power structure that demands that queers be quiet, be silent.
A silence that is so violent, it scars our bodies and our souls and has made this march so dangerous in the past (last year was the first time there wasn't any real violence committed upon the people walking), we can never forget that in 2005 three people were stabbed for "being queer and here".
It looks like it's going to be a quiet time this year as well.
It's the heat. June is not an easy month for day time events in Israel and Palestine. It's also being exposed to "immodest" people. Can't be contaminated by the "sex" we queers exude from just being in the same vicinity as straight people.
However, that is beyond the point. Religion and violence that is.
As Israel's Capital.
As a place in which LGBTQ people live.
We have a right to express the fact that there is still work to be done.
That we will not twiddle our thumbs while we are still considered "different" under the law.
That we protest the idea of normal.
There is no such thing as "normal".
There is only variety.
And in Jerusalem, ostensibly the most diverse city in Israel, we march for our human rights and with any luck, even have some fun doing so.
Good night. A Happy 40th Stonewall to us all! Yes, I know it's on the 28th... close enough!
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-26 02:17 am (UTC)Dammit... I really want to participate, you know? And DC only does one weekend?
I did some checking around and yup, weekend of the 12th was all they did. That and the march to repeal Prop 8.