In the latest display of anti-Israel hostility within the queer community, one of the country’s largest annual women’s LGBTQ pride events has announced that it will bar “Zionists” from attending its upcoming march at New York City. 

The annual New York City Dyke March, which is set to take place on June 28, brings thousands to the streets of the big apple to celebrate “beautiful and diverse Dyke lives” and protest “the discrimination, harassment, and violence” that the community faces, the group writes. 

The event — which its organizers explicitly describe as a “protest march,” not “a parade” — claims to welcome “any person who identifies as a dyke” regardless “of gender expression or identity, sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, race, age, political affiliation, religious identity, ability, class, or immigration status.” 

This year, however, the event will close its doors to those who identify as Zionists, as the organizers pledged their “commitment” to “anti-Zionist, anti-racist, pro-LGBTQ+ community standards”  in a statement released last month. 

The organizers, in a conversation with Ynet News, insisted that “The march has always been political,” and added that “We are committed to Palestinian liberation just as we are to LGBTQ rights.”

The committee’s latest decision to exclude Zionists outright drew outrage from the Jewish community which chided the organizers for their selective inclusivity. The Anti-Defamation League described the move as “shameful” and critiqued the committee’s statement which “essentially equates Zionism with racism — a falsehood that is regularly used by anti-Israel activists to demonize Israel and exclude Zionists from social justice circles,” the organization shared on X. 

Further, given that the majority of Jews view Zionism as “an integral part of their Jewish identity,” the ADL denounced the march for effectively “forcing many who identify both as Jewish and LGBTQ+ to not only hide, but also flat out denounce a part of themselves.” The group added: “Newsflash: You cannot exclude the majority of Jews and call yourself inclusive.”

The development comes as the LGBTQ pride event has adopted increasingly anti-Israel messaging and policies. Such can be seen on the organization’s social media accounts, which are chalk-full of pro-Palestine slogans and images. One post on Instagram includes a collection of pictures of attendees carrying “Queers for Palestine” slogans, along with the caption: “The NYC Dyke March has always stood for liberation, and that includes the liberation of Palestine.” 

In 2017, the Chicago Dyke March organizers drew accusations of antisemitism after they instructed three women carrying rainbow flags emblazoned with the Star of David to leave the march, claiming that their banners were too similar to the Israeli flag. During the 2019 march in Washington, D.C., the organizers outright banned Israeli and American flags, along with any other “nationalist symbols,” but welcomed in Palestinian flags. 

The organization upped the ante last year — for the first march since Hamas’s October 7 attack in Israel — by adopting the theme “Dykes Against Genocide.” The theme reflected the organizer’s commitment to standing against “ethnic cleansing, violence, and dehumanization,” and sheddling light “on the multiple atrocities that are happening concurrently.” All of the funds generated from the march were directed to anti-Israel groups. 

The LGBTQ and pro-Palestine movements have long collaborated under the perceived pursuit of shared progressive and liberal values. Critics of “Queers for Palestine” however, argue that the movement is antithetical to the reality that LGBTQ rights don’t exist within the West Bank or Gaza, or much of the Middle East, for that matter. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has likened “Queers for Palestine” to “Chickens for KFC.” 

Pro-Israel members of the LGBTQ community who are excluded from the NYC Dyke March will have the opportunity to show off their pride at a separate event hosted by “Shalom Dykes.” The group launched its own impromptu pride party last year for those who felt alienated by the flagship organization’s “Dykes Against Genocide” theme.