An organizer for the upcoming Chicago “SlutWalk” has separated themselves from others in the march by claiming Jewish Pride flags will not be banned.
News outlets reported last week that the Chicago SlutWalk was to follow in the footsteps of June’s Chicago “Dyke March,” which saw numerous attendees kicked out for carrying Jewish LGBT Pride flags.
The flags, which featured the Star of David over the LGBT rainbow, allegedly “made people feel unsafe” and upset attendees who claimed that the march was “anti-Zionist” and “pro-Palestinian,” prompting organizers to banish Jewish participants from the march.
“We still stand behind Dyke March Chicago’s decision to remove the Zionist contingent from their event, & we won’t allow Zionist displays at ours,” declared the leaders of SlutWalk in solidarity with the Dyke March’s actions. “[The Jewish women] were kicked out after a discussion where they made their Zionist beliefs known and refused to back down.”
Despite these claims from the march’s chairs, however, an organizer known only as Red S. claimed all would be welcome at the rally.
“If you’re not hurting, attacking or harassing us, we don’t have a mechanism in place to say ‘We don’t like the way you look — stand over there,’” claimed the “collective member” and organizer in an interview on Tuesday with Gretchen Rachel Hammond, a reporter who was allegedly fired from her position at the Windy City Times after she broke the Dyke March ban story. “I must emphasize that flags are not banned from SlutWalk… What is banned is bigoted behavior or things that threaten other people or make them feel unsafe.”
“As an organizer, I’m not going to wag my finger at someone who shows up wearing a t-shirt that says something like ‘British Feminist’ or ‘Jewish Feminist’ or anything which says, ‘This is how I identify and this is how I want to be proud in my defiance of a society that shames us for our bodies, sexuality or gender,'” Red S. continued, despite adding that support for Palestine was “very much a part of my anti-imperialist and anti-war politics.”
During the interview, Red S., who claimed to be “100 percent an anti-imperialist” that supports “abolishing borders and smashing nationalism,” attempted to emphasize that the SlutWalk was more about tackling “slut-shaming” and “whorephobia” than explicit anti-Zionism, adding that the goal of the march was to be “as radically inclusive as possible.”
“I want the most people to feel safe in community,” Red S. claimed. “I want them to be coming from a place of love, solidarity and appreciation but not spitefulness, hate or bigotry. So, I’m going to operate on an ‘assume the best intention’ perspective when engaging in folks who ask if we are banning religious symbols. We’re not.”
“We are concerned about the people who said they were going to show up with thousands of Israeli flags and attack us. Is it likely going to happen? No. Was it alarming? Yes. But we’re not banning these symbols,” the organizer concluded. “I really don’t want people to be worried about self-censoring or needing to come up with new imagery. Just be you. Just come and be a part of the event and lift up and stand with survivors. We’re going to have your back too.”
Following the incident in June, the Chicago Dyke March faced condemnation from various Jewish organizations, including The Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and pro-Israel LGBT organization A Wider Bridge, who all condemned Dyke March organizers and described the incident as “heinous.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.