You’re being disingenuous. The “quote” I created below was meant as politcal satire & clear to any reasonable person (esp. through my exagerrated phrase “SWU politburo members”). If you took the passage literally then you ought to do some reading in the art of political satire & use of hyperbole to make a rhetorical pt.

It is as difficult to be gay in Palestine as it would be if Israel were a theocratic state and the ultra-Orthodox (or settlers) ran society. In other words, Palestine is a largely traditional society in which such social issues will gradually evolve as society brushes up against more tolerant, western attitudes on the subject.

Does saying it’s bad for gays in the West Bank and Gaza mean it’s heaven for gays in Israel? No.

You may or may not realize that propaganda groups like SWU make a point of talking about how much more open & tolerant Israel is than Palestine. They tout Israel’s alleged feminism and tolerance of gay lifestyle, which is precisely why they attempted to hijack the Gay Pride event to proselytize to international gays about Israel. Either you aren’t aware of this hasbara tactic or you deliberately downplay it.

Wouldn’t an objective and respectful debate be equally critical of Palestinian treatment of LGBT people

Why don’t you create your own blog and do that yourself? I encourage everyone who has a voice & pt of view to make their perspective heard through blogs. I have my own perspective on what’s important for me to add to the blog world. I know a good deal about Palestinian society but I’m not Palestinian & not gay. So for me to attack the alleged bigotedness of Palestinian society would appear quite condescending I think. HOwever, I am critical of Palestinian values and politics. If you spent any time here you would know that. But that is not the theme of this blog. I’m far more knowledgeable and passionate about Israel. That’s my subject.

“That’s not what he said. He said you can’t be homosexual in Palestine. I usually give people the credit of interpreting what they say, and not what they might’ve meant to say if they’d only expressed themselves more clearly (since I have no idea what he might’ve meant to say).”

Oh, really? So it was in the same spirit of objective and respectful debate that you created the fictitious quote below, which you attributed to “SWU Politburo members”?:

“Hey, what better time to convert some of those ignorant, sexually-starved Galut gays to pro-Israelism than this??”

What a hypocrite. I agree that one can and should engage in a respectful debate about the various PR and advocacy campaigns created by the Israeli government and it’s supporters. But if you’re going to demand that the targets of your anger stick to the facts and speak clearly, then do the same.

And on the content of that statement attributed to Meir, to factual basis of it is beyond dispute. Being openly gay in the Palestinian territories is very challenging and often dangerous. Gays in the West Bank and Gaza (especially men) are regularly harassed, and are often the victims of anti-gay violence. There is no protection against this sort of bias from the Palestinian Authority or the police.

Of course, there are plenty of gay Palestinians, there are entire underground subcultures of gay society in the West Bank (particularly in Ramallah) there are some closeted senior officials in the PA, and there are even small pockets in the West Bank where gays can be discreetly “out” (certain restaurants and cafes). This is abundantly well documented. For some examples, go to asylumlaw dot org and look for the Palestine/Occupied Territories case support.

Does saying it’s bad for gays in the West Bank and Gaza mean it’s heaven for gays in Israel? No.

And the situation for gay Palestinians (including Israeli Arabs) within Israel is complicated, and often quite bad and poorly addressed by Israeli authorities. But belittling Meir’s statement is not dealing with that. Wouldn’t an objective and respectful debate be equally critical of Palestinian treatment of LGBT people as it is of inflated claims of social tolerance from Israeli-government backers?

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/06/18/18602495.php

“progressives” have launched a campaign to show that Zionism is racist to the core and anyone who supports it is, ipso facto, a racist and a bigot.

I’ve featured that video here & written an entire post about it & consider myself “progressive.” Would you care to prove that I’ve said anywhere that Zionism is “racist to the core” and Zionists are racists & bigots?

you then added that Arabs, on the other hand, are not racist.

Hardly, because I don’t believe this. There are Arab racists just as there are Jewish & ZIonist racists. But not everyone in any of these camps is racist.

politically militant homosexuals

Whoa, that’s scary. Are they the ones who impose their aberrant lifestyle on our children & commit serial heinous acts to offend the public order??

And as Nate wrote earlier, I guess Peter Tatchell might qualify for this category yet he’s quite pro-Israel. Such generalizations are entirely ridiculous. But that won’t stop you fr. making them.

for better or for worse, most of the world associates Israel with Judaism and the Jewish people

But you & I won’t make that mistake, now will we?? Israel is not Judaism and not even the Jewish people (as a whole). It is a prominent motif within Judaism and an aspiration of much, but not all of the Jewish people.

much of the traditional opposition to homosexuality in the Western world comes from the Bible and so, as these militants view the opposition to their lifestyle as coming from the Jews and Judaism

What total blather. Gays blame the Jewish people for antagonism to homosexuality?? Really.

I think Jean Genet would be an example of this.

Considering he died about 30 yrs ago & hardly anyone knows anything he might’ve said on this particular subject, I’d say it’s a tremendously useful reference.