Pinkwashing; The Queer Critique of Israel's Pro-Lesbian and Gay Politics in Historical Perspective

In the past few years the Israeli government and its supporters have been actively promoting the country as the only nation in the Middle East to support lesbian and gay rights, and advertising their beaches to the gay community as an ideal vacation spot. Across the west lesbians and gays have adamantly rejected this campaign on the grounds that the Israeli government is using gay and lesbian issues, and gays and lesbians themselves, to cover up or 'pinkwash' their actions, deemed 'criminal' by the United Nations, against Palestinians. In this talk, historian Elise Chenier offers an overview of the history of queer politics in the west to put the current movement of queers against Israeli apartheid in context. About the Lecturer: Elise Chenier, Assoc Professor of History & Director, Archive of Lesbian Oral Testimony, Simon Fraser University, BC