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WorldPride (fag pride) festival - Jerusalem 2005

Thread ID: 17358 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2005-03-17

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Brooke [OP]

2005-03-17 14:58 | User Profile

[url=http://www.worldpride.net/][B]Love without Borders: Jerusalem WorldPride 2005[/B][/url]

Jerusalem, the Holy City, the city the world looks towards from east and west. With more than 5,000 years of recorded history, the very name evokes vivid images even in those who have not yet visited. Temples, mosques, and churches; the great city walls of honey-colored stone. For centuries Jerusalem has been home to vibrant and diverse communities with ancient traditions. They have contributed to the city’s unique atmosphere as a cultural crossroads and inspiration for faith.

For the past two years, this ancient city has welcomed a new tradition: Gay Pride. Inspired by optimism, energized by Jerusalem’s unique diversity, the Jerusalem Open House (JOH) has succeeded in creating a Pride celebration unlike any other. Love without Borders - Jerusalem Pride has already succeeded not only in attracting thousands of participants, but also in getting the world’s attention. It is “a protest against hatred” [BBC] providing “a spark of love and hope” [CNN]. It is the JOH’s annual signature event, as special as the city itself.

In 2005, WorldPride will come to Jerusalem. The 22nd annual conference of InterPride, held in October 2003 in Montreal, Canada with over 150 delegates from 51 cities from around the world in attendance, voted to accept the bid of the Jerusalem Open House to host WorldPride 2005 in the Holy City .

With your support, Love without Borders: Jerusalem WorldPride 2005 will bring a new focus to an ancient city through a massive demonstration of LGBT dignity, pride, and boundary-crossing celebration. In these times of intolerance and suspicion, from the home of three of the world’s great religions, we will proclaim that love knows no borders.

The Power of WorldPride

WorldPride is a unique international opportunity to make a global statement building upon decades of Pride events and the struggle of millions of individuals across the globe for self fulfillment, for the possibility to be who they are and to follow their heart and their identity. It is through WorldPride that InterPride most effectively expresses the combined energy of its member organizations, responsible for Pride celebrations around the world that attract a combined attendance of between 15 and 20 million, from San Francisco to Montreal to Sydney to Berlin.

The WorldPride label befits a unique event at a special location with a statement that will echo far and wide. The first WorldPride, Rome 2000, was just that: it brought to the heart of Europe, and indeed to the Pope’s doorstep, the message that gays and lesbians are – and always have been – a vital part of humanity. Now it is time to build upon our message and to bring it to a new and even more challenging frontier. It is time to demonstrate to our community, to our neighbors and peers and indeed to the world, not only that we belong, but that our love and our pride can cross the harshest borders that divide people.

Why WorldPride 2005 in Jerusalem?

Jerusalem is one of the cradles of Western and Middle Eastern civilization, but its glittering history has been overshadowed by its contemporary strife. In a city – and indeed, a world – where ethnic and religious tensions have become commonplace, it is easy for people to forget their common humanity, to neglect the basic human rights to dignity and freedom. Prejudice against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people in the Middle East is symptomatic of broader cultural and political intolerance.

Jerusalem WorldPride 2005 will gather people from all over the world to bring a message that is needed throughout the Middle East and beyond: that human rights transcend cultural and ethnic boundaries, that our differences can be respected peacefully, and that love knows no borders. There is no better place in the world than Jerusalem to make that statement, and perhaps no city that needs to hear it more.

The struggle for acceptance and pride is particularly pointed in Jerusalem, a city that is home to three of the world’s great religions. The greatest traditions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism affirm the dignity of all human beings and our creation in the divine image. Yet these same faiths have often been sources of hostility and intolerance for LGBT people.

WorldPride 2005 will bring thousands of us to Jerusalem to confront preconception with reality, prejudice with an opportunity for understanding, in a way that will capture the attention of the world. Together we will proclaim that in this ancient religious city – and in this region – we too belong.

In June 2002, reporting on Jerusalem’s first Love without Borders – Jerusalem Pride, the Washington Post wrote: “In a city with many divisions – Jews and Arabs, religious and secular – the parade’s theme of love without borders had special resonance.” In a world of so many more divisions, Jerusalem WorldPride 2005 will carry that special resonance around the globe.

What Will Happen at Jerusalem WorldPride 2005?

Jerusalem WorldPride 2005 will be a ten-day festival covering two weekends. The calendar of events is designed to accommodate participants with a variety of backgrounds and interests. It will include opening and closing celebrations, a full schedule of parties, an LGBT film festival at the renowned Jerusalem Cinematheque, opportunities to attend religious services, and workshops on gay and lesbian social and political issues. The climax of WorldPride 2005 will be the WorldPride Parade, Street Fair and Rally in Jerusalem, where we will make our most public and visible statement of pride and unity as LGBT people.

The schedule is designed to offer our visitors an unparalleled opportunity to experience not just the historic and thriving modern city that is Jerusalem but also other parts of Israel. Israel is a compact country easy to travel in, and it offers astounding variety, from the peaceful oasis town of Beer Sheva to the world-class resort amenities of Eilat, from the spectacular vistas of Haifa to the sophisticated cosmopolitanism of Tel Aviv. All of these will be easily accessible to WorldPride 2005 participants, alongside all the special events that form part of WorldPride 2005 itself.

Who Will Organize Jerusalem WorldPride 2005?

[COLOR=Blue]“Jerusalem's Open House is putting the holy city on the map of Western capitals that pay tribute to gay pride.”[/COLOR] (The Jerusalem Post).

Jerusalem WorldPride 2005 will be organized in Israel by the Jerusalem Open House (JOH). The JOH provides direct services to the local LGBT community, and advocates for social change to promote tolerance and pluralism in Jerusalem. The JOH was founded in 1997 as a non-profit agency, and in the space of a few years it has become one of the Middle East’s leading LGBT service and advocacy organizations.

The JOH runs support and discussion groups for the spectrum of Jewish and Arab Jerusalemites, including youth and young adults. It collaborates with medical providers for AIDS outreach; provides speakers on LGBT issues to the non-gay Jerusalem community; and organizes effective media and public campaigns to combat discrimination against lesbians and gays.

Though we are a young organization, our successes have not gone unnoticed. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency called us “Israel’s primary gay and lesbian community center.” The Secretary General of Amnesty International, Pierre Sane, paid a formal visit to the JOH in March 2001, recognizing the importance of our achievements within the context of the international struggle for human rights. [u]We have been publicly praised by Member of Knesset Yael Dayan (“The Open House is doing holy work”) and by U.S. Congressman Barney Frank (who visited, noting our “amazing job in the face of impossible challenges,” and lauded us as an exemplar of Israeli democracy from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives)[/u]. In 2003, Israel’s Minister of the Interior, Mr. Avraham Poraz, was one of those greeting the thousands that celebrated Jerusalem Pride at Independence Park.

In 2002, the JOH organized Jerusalem’s first Pride event, Love Without Borders, which included a parade attended by 4,000 people and drew the attention of Israeli and world media. The Los Angeles Times commented on the numbers that of people who “undeterred by the outrage of ultra-Orthodox Jews or fear of terrorist attack,” came together for “a chance… to express their hope and say that they want to live together in Jerusalem.” The BBC took note of how this “broke an atmosphere of fear and tension hanging over the city.” CNN reported the presence “in the midst of fear and hate” of “a spark of love and hope.” Similar numbers turned out onto the streets for Jerusalem Pride 2003 and 2004, in a rare show of unity and peaceful celebration.

It is this groundbreaking and rapid success that makes us confident that Jerusalem is ready for an event like WorldPride in 2005, and that Jerusalem Open House can make it happen. We will build on the relationships we have already established with public authorities, NGOs and private organizations to provide the promotional support, infrastructure, security, and volunteer support that are required for an event of this size.

Jerusalem WorldPride 2005 will…

All this we can do – and we can do it only in Jerusalem.

:caiphas: [IMG]http://tinypic.com/295soj[/IMG]

Sertorius

2005-03-17 15:13 | User Profile

This is great news and the perfect place to hold this event in. Since Christ was crucified there hasn't been anything good that has come out of that Godforsaken city and region, just evil. Too bad Jerusalem has so much history behind it, otherwise, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest to see everyone moved out and the place leveled.

Maybe they can get Gary Bauer and Barney Frank to be the grand marshalls.

Brooke

2005-03-17 15:36 | User Profile

Since Christ was crucified there hasn't been anything good that has come out of that Godforsaken city and region, just evil. Agreed. God abandoned that place a [u]long[/u] time ago!