And the parting on the left / Is now the parting on the right / And the beards have all grown longer overnight – Pete Townshend, 1971

I made my position on the LGBTQ community clear in this space last week, so for a change I won’t repeat myself. However, whenever I write about the Israel troubles I feel obligated to repeat the following, last seen here on March 14: When it comes to the never-ending middle east conflict, I have no horse in the race. This is because I believe in freedom of religion. I’m not in favor of a Jewish state, and I’m not in favor of a Muslim state. I’m also not in favor of a Christian state… You get the idea.

If you’re an American and your response to this, with respect to the aforementioned “troubles,” is “but it’s not their land,” I would ask you for the name, city and tribal designation of the Native American to whom you pay rent.

Once again, some in leadership positions in sundry gay communities have conflated the star of David with Zionism. This past week’s Washington D.C. Dyke March banned Jewish women – and, presumably, all others – from marching under the banner of Jewish gay pride. This flag contains the star of David over the rainbow color background.

To the organizers, this is a sign of evil. If they think it’s a sign of discrimination, then they simply don’t get it and are consciously keeping themselves uninformed. Perhaps some are merely a bunch of Jew haters who know exactly what they’re doing. To quote the partisan Jewish Forward, “though the march bills itself as radically inclusive for lesbians of all stripes, it has already made clear that it means all lesbians but the Jewish ones.”

Or, as Marissa J. Lang reported in the non-partisan Washington Post last week, the march organizers are saying they are not being anti-Semitic, they simply are banning “nationalist symbols.” Really? Like, say, any depiction of the stars-and-stripes? The star of David was banned two years ago at the 2017 Dyke March in Chicago. As Ms. Lang states, “Chicago organizers have said the flag too closely resembled the Israeli flag — and sporting an Israeli flag flew in the face of the Chicago march’s anti-Zionist beliefs.”

Conflating Zionism for Judaism is no different than saying all Muslims are terrorists. It’s wrong, and it’s stupid.

As it is a symbol of the Jewish faith, the star of David is anti-nothing except, arguably, Goliath. It simply is pro-Jewish, the best-known symbol of Hebrew traditions. So, here the Washington lesbian community organizers are saying that all who wear a star of David are in favor of persecuting Palestinians, in favor of Israeli tyrant Benji Netanyahu, and opposed to common decency. That’s lunacy.

By the way, what’s the current Palestinian position on LGBTQ rights? Is same-sex marriage big in Hebron? Can you get a wedding cake adorned with two women?

You can’t get married to someone of your own gender in Israel, either, and I don’t recommend kosher wedding cakes; they suck. For the record, Israel was the first nation in all of Asia to recognize unregistered cohabitation and they recognize same-sex marriages conducted elsewhere. That’s not good enough, but it’s a start. The Israeli armed forces have been sexually integrated since the year Gimmel.

According to Wikipedia, Out Magazine deems Tel Aviv as “the gay capital of the Middle East.” I suspect there isn’t a lot of competition for that title, although U.S. President Babyhands probably won’t be looking to move that capital to Jerusalem. A monument to gay victims of the Holocaust opened in Tel Aviv five years ago.

All people who have been subject to such hostility, hatred and violence should know better. As a long-time political strategist, I caution everyone to maintain focus: if you are celebrating gay pride, let every person who shares those feelings into the tent. I greatly admire their claiming the word dyke; in my book, that’s one of the most effective political tactics available. Just look at how the religious right coopted the word “family.”

So the star of David is verboten at the Dyke Marches. I guess the next thing we’ll be reading about is how Irish New Yorkers banned gays from marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade.