(RepublicanPress.org) – June 1 marks the beginning of LGBT Pride Month in the United States thanks to a series of gay liberation riots launched in New York City’s Greenwich Village in late June 1969. The first of June also heralds the official beginning of hurricane season. This year, the opening days of June welcomed a gale-strength clash between a group of pride parades and pro-Palestine demonstrators.
On June 2, there was a skirmish between those groups in Philadelphia. The participants involved in a gay pride parade faced off with pro-Palestine protesters earlier that day.
A short video posted to X/Twitter showed officers from the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) attempting to separate the protesters from the pride parade participants and restore order as the two groups continued to clash. The demonstrators can be heard shouting, “PPD, KKK, IRS — you’re all the same.” Pride marchers appeared confused about where to go since the parade route remained blocked despite the PPD’s efforts.
Another clip displayed members of a rainbow-clad drum chorus struggling to continue their march while protesters waved the “No pride in genocide” banner and chanted, “Palestine will live forever.”
A member of the Philadelphians Motorcycle Club can be observed in the clip’s foreground arguing with a person who appeared to be the drummers’ conductor holding. He also held out his right arm to block them from passing. It remains unclear if the motorcycle group supported the pro-Palestine protest, but the group’s Instagram page confirmed some members’ attendance at the pride parade as participants and parade marshalls.
A grassroots activist group called Queers4Palestine reportedly organized the protest to oppose the pride parade. The organization’s Philadelphia chapter posted an “anti-pride statement” on its Instagram page on June 1.
The post expressed the group’s “solidarity with all those resisting colonial genocide” and called on “people of conscience” from the LGBT community to “ignite a global intifada,” an Arabic word for “uprising.” The statement also said Queers4Palestine’s Philly chapter rejects any pride celebrations “not grounded in the struggle to end genocide.”
Copyright 2024, RepublicanPress.org
