CUNY Welcomes Anti-Israel Gay Activists

[American_Jihad]

Sarah Schulman

CUNY Welcomes Anti-Israel Gay Activists​

February 26, 2013
By Arnold Ahlert

The anti-Semitic impulses of some NYC college faculty departments apparently remain insatiable. Fresh off Brooklyn College’s political science department co-sponsoring a February 7 forum advocating boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) against Israel — during which four Jewish students were removed from the event — the City University of New York’s (CUNY) psychology and philosophy departments are co-sponsoring yet another bash-fest against the Jewish State. “Homonationalism and Pinkwashing,” is scheduled to be held on April 10-11. Departments and programs at Brooklyn College will also be underwriting the event.

According to conference coordinator, gay activist, and CUNY professor Sarah Shulman, “pinkwashing” is part of the “growing global gay movement against the Israeli occupation” that consists of a “deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians’ human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life.” In other words, despite the reality Israel is one of the most gay-friendly nations in the world, that ethos is little more than a smokescreen designed to deflect attention away from their alleged execrable treatment of Palestinians.

“Homonationalism,” a word coined by Jasbir K. Puar, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, is defined as the “tendency among some white gay people to privilege their racial and religious identity,” due to the “emotional legacy of homophobia.” Thus, according to Shulman, the true nature of Israeli society remains misunderstood. “Increasing gay rights have caused some people of good will to mistakenly judge how advanced a country is by how it responds to homosexuality,” she contends.

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This then, is the essence of the conference being sponsored by CUNY. It is yet another indication that far too many college campuses have abandoned intellectual rigor in favor of dim-witted theories, and the free and open exchange of ideas in favor of one-sided, polemic outbursts, especially when they are directed against Israel. Even worse, universities are sponsoring, such events. Intellectual bankruptcy combined with anti-Semitism is not only welcome at ostensible “institutions of higher learning,” but underwritten by them. Pathetic.

CUNY Welcomes Anti-Israel Gay Activists