LGBTQ Boots Israeli Group from Conference (Jewish History Blog Assignment)

   Just a few weeks ago it had been reported that Israeli and American Jews who are a part of an LGBTQ group were uninvited to a conference that was scheduled to be in Chicago, January 20-22. Apparently, the group had been booted due to pressure created by anti-Israeli activists. The A Wider Bridge nonprofit, which creates connections between Israeli and American LGBTQ Jews, was supposed to hold a reception after Shabbat services that Friday evening during the event. However, Arthur Slepian, A Wider Bridge's founder and executive director, was told that their reception was "being cancelled for reasons of safety and security but there was no evidence presented or elaboration on any security issues." Although this reasoning seems plausible due to the tragic shootings and stabbings that have been occurring quite frequently in popular areas of Israel, it is still unreasonable to assume that a reception would be unsafe for the LGBTQ community to attend.
   In my opinion, it is ironic that an organization built upon support for minorities is excluding a group of another minority. Fortunately, a petition began on Change.org in order to reverse the LGBTQ Task Force's decision and apologize to the A Wider Bridge Foundation. And guess what....it got nearly 500 signatures within a few hours of being posted! This exclusion of the Israeli gay group was clearly an important issue to a great number of people, bringing a lot of attention to the situation. Even more disrespectful of the National LGBTQ executives was their lack of response to any emails, Facebook posts, and telephone requests. However, being the bigger person in the situation, A Wider Bridge moved their reception to a different hotel a block away from their former location. It is reasonable to say that this altered event will have more attendants than they would have expected before the boot due to people's desire to support equality among the two minorities.