Rome Pride Bans Jewish LGBTQ Groups Over Gaza Stance
Roma Pride cited the groups' refusal to call Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide and distance themselves from its government.
The organizers of the Rome Pride Parade, scheduled for June 20, have barred at least two Jewish LGBTQ groups from participating with a float, saying the organizations failed to sufficiently distance themselves from what organizers call the “genocide in Gaza.”
“Anyone who shares the founding values of our movement and our community can join us in the streets,” Roma Pride, the organization behind the parade, wrote in a May 26 Facebook post. “The guiding principle of a political demonstration is its manifesto, and in ours, the position of Rome Pride on the ongoing genocide in Gaza carried out by the State of Israel is clear.
“We ask anyone seeking to participate in the Parade with a float to embrace all of our demands and positions. Participation of a float in the Roma Pride therefore presupposes — regardless of the sexual orientation, identity, religion, ethnicity, or nationality of those aboard — a clear and unequivocal stance condemning the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli government.”
Roma Pride said it met with representatives of Keshet Italia and Keshet Europe, two Jewish LGBTQ organizations, but was unable to reconcile its position on the conflict in Gaza with statements previously made by the groups.
As reported by the Times of Israel, Keshet Italia published a lengthy Instagram statement earlier this month outlining its position on several issues related to the conflict, including the use of the term “genocide” by those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
“While the conflict in the region is not our area of expertise, we feel close to the suffering of the Palestinian people,” the statement read. “However, we ask people to be careful with the language used to refer to this war. The word ‘genocide’ is not neutral; it evokes a specific historic [occurrence]. We are especially concerned with the sentence that we keep on hearing that ‘the Jewish people are carrying out what they were subjected to,’ a sentence that does not just refer to a conflict or a government but ends up connecting what is happening to the whole Jewish people.”
Many pro-Israel groups have objected to the use of the term “genocide” to describe the Israeli government’s military actions in Gaza, despite eliminationist rhetoric by some high-ranking Israeli officials when referring to Palestinians.
Those sympathetic to Israel argue that the Israeli military is seeking to neutralize Hamas, the Sunni Islamist militant and political group that controls the Gaza Strip and has been designated a terrorist organization by many foreign governments. They also note that the military campaign was launched in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, during which militants massacred Jews and others.
But Roma Pride argued that Keshet Italia did not sufficiently distance itself from the Israeli government’s military actions in Gaza and criticized the group for refusing to use the word “genocide” to describe operations that have killed or displaced thousands of Palestinians — despite Israel’s insistence that it seeks to minimize civilian casualties.
“We are fully capable of distinguishing between the Israeli government and the Jewish community, made up of both LGBTQIA+ and non-LGBTQIA+ people, and we could never attribute responsibility for criminal acts of war committed by a genocidal government to the latter,” Roma Pride said in its statement.
Keshet Italia blasted Roma Pride’s decision to bar the group from participating with a float in the parade.
“The Roma Pride has shown its true colors,” the group said in a statement. “Our crime? To be Jewish. This is just the last step in a hostile path. Last year, during the parade, we received explicit antisemitic attacks, and the Roma Pride chose to remain silent, refusing to condemn them. Today, that silence has become active complicity.”
The ban has sparked criticism from around the world. California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), a gay Jewish candidate for Congress who has been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, called Roma Pride’s demand antisemitic.
“This is straight up antisemitic & reflective of Jews being pushed out of progressive spaces unless we meet litmus test standards applied to no one else — only to Jews. If you’re a ‘good Jew,’ you’re in. If you’re a ‘bad Jew,’ you’re out,” Wiener wrote in an X post.
The Combat Antisemitism Movement, a right-wing group that purports to fight antisemitism but has previously been criticized for conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, also denounced the ban. The group called on Italian leaders to condemn the decision and demanded that Roma Pride reverse the exclusion of Jewish groups from the parade.
“This decision is blatant antisemitism,” the group said in a statement. “It transforms an event meant to celebrate inclusion and diversity into a platform for political exclusion and hostility toward Jews. No community should be forced to renounce its identity or its connection to its homeland in order to march in a Pride parade. Jewish LGBTQ+ individuals have every right to participate without censorship or ideological loyalty tests.”
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