National LGBTQ Task Force Renounces Support for DC Dyke March

The National LGBTQ Task Force announced on June 6 that they are withdrawing their support from the D.C. Dyke March in light of their decision to ban Israeli paraphernalia.

As the Journal previously reported, the D.C. Dyke March has made clear that any “nationalist symbols” are barred at their Friday event, including the multicolored Jewish Pride Flag featuring a Star of David in the center, which the march says resembles the Israeli flag.

National LGBTQ Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey said in a statement that the task force “signed onto the stated focus area that is the crisis of housing displacement and gentrification in the District of Columbia” to support the march. However, the task force cannot support the march’s decision to ban Israeli symbols, Carey said.

“After recently learning of the decision by DC Dyke March organizers to discourage attendees from carrying the Jewish pride flag, the National LGBTQ Task Force withdrew our support for the DC Dyke March,” Carey said. “The Jewish Pride Flag is a symbol that represents the greater LGBTQ Jewish community – around the world and of many perspectives.”

Carey added, “We are disappointed that this action distracts from the appropriate and needed focus on DC residents and housing policies that favor gentrification.”

Myriad Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and Simon Wiesenthal Center, have condemned the march’s decision as anti-Semitic. The D.C. Dyke March defended their decision in a statement to the Journal on June 6, saying, “Our mission says that we are enacting a vision of queer liberation for all. That vision does not include nationalist symbols, including symbols of the state of Israel, which are different from symbols of Judaism. Flags that resemble Israeli flags are not welcome.”

The march is taking place at McPherson Square in Washington, D.C.