Dear Colleague,
As some of you might know, a major international glbt event
is scheduled for Jerusalem this August. WorldPride 2005 is
an international interfaith gathering of gay and lesbian
people hosted by Jerusalem Open House, Jerusalem's GLBT
Center. An international campaign, initiated by
evangelical Christians, to oppose WorldPride has been
launched. This right wing religious campaign has now
enlisted all the Shas members of Kenneset, the Sephardic
Chief Rabbi, the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, the deputy mufti
of Jerusalem, the Latin patriarch and the Armenian
patriarch to pressure the Israeli authorities to cancel
this event.
"They plan to fill the hotels and restaurants and party
like Sodomites, while the world press takes pictures. It is
a disgrace to the eternal holiness of Jerusalem and to its
people." Texas evangelist Mike Evans
"We fear that Israel is now making a disastrous mistake by
allowing this gathering to take place in this land where
G-d has blessed you in such a special way. We petition you
to deny the request for this event to take place in this
land where G-d has blessed you in such a special way." ...
"It is painful for us to comprehend why you would permit
such a meeting ... It has been the historic position of
each of these faiths [Judaism, Christianity, Islam] that
homosexuality is an abomination to the one true G-d." Leo
Giovinetti, pastor of the Mission Valley Christian
Fellowship in San Diego, California
"This parade constitutes a 10-day homosexual pornographic
festival... "They?re trying to rape the Holy Land." Rabbi
Yehuda Levin, the director of the Rabbinical Alliance of
America.
In these times of intolerance and suspicion, please join
with us in supporting WorldPride 2005. I am immensely
proud of the efforts of those who are trying to show the
world a Jerusalem which is open and loving rather than the
Jerusalem so often projected of violence and bigotry. We
are gathering a list of international clergy to present to
the media and to the Israeli government. As an expression
of support for WorldPride, sign a clergy letter in support
of WorldPride and pass it to your colleagues.
Please reply to
http://www.cbst.org/worldPridePetition.shtml if you are
comfortable being publicly listed as supporting WorldPride.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum
North American Chair of WorldPride
P.S. Click here if you haven't seen it and would like to read The New
York Times article.
The link isn't working.
Posted by: Nio | April 19, 2005 at 06:16 PM
Fixed the link! Thanks for pointing it out!
Posted by: Ko | April 20, 2005 at 06:09 AM