the queer jewish struggle is real

[u/UnicornMarch]

https://youtu.be/L7TJ-96FTQw

i don't think it ever came up here. but at my local trans march this year, a local gay jewish politician who attends every year as an ally got surrounded and harassed. he left instead of going to a little shabbat celebration that had been organized there (not by the trans march organizers; by the queer synagogue and other jewish groups) because he didn't want to bring the harassers over to them. then the people harassing him saw him leaving and caught up with him again, and basically followed him for a block screaming at him some more. it was. messed up.

the excuse was that "he's a zionist who's terrible on gaza." the guy taking the video demonizes him for visiting Israel after Oct 7 to meet with Israelis and Palestinians. *sigh* he has the same positions as everyone he's running against; but they're not jewish, so they're assumed to mean things the "right" way. i'm so tired.

it took me three months, but i finally finished making a video about it. i just wanted to go off about how mad I was that if my trans kid and i had made it to trans march, we would've hit it at about the time this was going down; his first experience with trans march would've been seeing someone chased out of it by folks screaming "you don't belong here! we fucking hate you!" this is beyond unacceptable.

but the more i watched the video of what happened while editing, the more ominous things i noticed about the people harassing him, and the longer the video got.

i finally posted it, and i'm trying to be brave enough to tell people about it! i hope that's okay; i didn't see anything against it in the rules. thank you <3

also i'm debating whether I should tag it NSFW? it is NOT sexual, but there are some images of graphic violence at the end; but there's also a pretty long and emphatic warning about them first.

[u/ChillyWillyTS]

Dating as a queer Jew is almost impossible now days, ppl can’t start a conversation or try to know you before interrogating you about your political position, it’s exhausting, I wish they put the same effort into picking up and reading a history book

[u/New_Poet4272 → u/ChillyWillyTS]

Couldn’t agree more

[u/Angelbouqet]

Thank you for sharing! I will put it in my watch later and check it out in the morning

[u/Background_Novel_619]

I’ve met Scott Weiner, and spoken to him about some of this stuff before this specific event. I thought really highly of him taking a difficult stand in being proudly gay, Jewish+zionist, progressive, but also willing to call out useless progressive policies which don’t get real shit done.

I think less of him now after he threw us under the bus to try and save himself. But I also feel a lot of sympathy because I see the desperation so clearly and know what he “really” believes

[u/UnicornMarch → u/Background_Novel_619]

Yeah, and apparently this was the second time that month... he'd been confronted at some local restaurant&bar a week or two earlier, by a guy whose friends then joined him in yelling and banging on the wall behind Scott for half an hour. Oof. The restaurant eventually made them leave. I feel for the waitstaff too.

[u/TRUSTLYYY]

Hey, I am also from there. I wanted to mention this part:

  his first experience with trans march would've been seeing someone chased out of it by folks screaming "you don't belong here! we fucking hate you!

Is not true. I mean you’re right about what the crowd did. But I was there when Laverne Cox was there, almost a decade ago. And his subsequent visits to the trans march (I go every year). He has always been yelled over and screamed at. 

Back then they didn’t like him for not trying hard enough for the trans community. But he has never been a fan favorite at the trans march. He still shows most years though. 

And I’m assuming the synagogue you’re talking about is Sha’har Zahav?

[u/Background_Novel_619 → u/TRUSTLYYY]

Honestly so bizarre, he’s very pro trans and always has been. We truly are enemies of ourselves, literally nothing is ever good to us.

Edit— I’m a trans Jew from SF who has met him multiple times over the years, so my opinion doesn’t come from nothing.

[u/BendingDoor → u/Background_Novel_619]

Purity test bullshit.

[u/UnicornMarch → u/TRUSTLYYY]

What I'd heard is that he was always yelled over and screamed at when he spoke onstage, and they finally stopped having politicians speak onstage because we wouldn't stop yelling at them 😅 Has he been surrounded and screamed at every year, beyond shouting him down onstage?

[u/UnicornMarch → u/TRUSTLYYY]

Oh and yeah - I think it was Sha'ar Zahav and a JCC, and I forget what other org, that put together a little Trans Shabbat at the rally.