Global LGBTQ Group Faces Backlash for Boycotting Israeli Affiliate

The LGBTQ advocacy group has suspended The Aguda, its Israeli affiliate, and excluded Tel Aviv as a conference site.

By Andrew Lapin, TPS

An influential global advocacy group for LGBTQ rights has suspended an Israeli member organization as part of a larger move to boycott Israel, angering queer Jews and their allies around the world.

The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, known as ILGA World, announced Wednesday that it was no longer considering Tel Aviv as a potential site for an upcoming conference to be held in 2026 or 2027. The 46-year-old organization, which has a presence in more than 150 countries, added that it was suspending membership for The Aguda, the umbrella organization for Israel’s LGBTQ community, which had proposed the site.

In a statement, the group cited “compliance with our Constitution” and said The Aguda had violated the rules by putting forward Tel Aviv. ILGA World also apologized to its remaining members for the Tel Aviv proposal, saying, “We know that seeing the Tel Aviv bid taken into consideration caused anger and harm to our communities.”

The move highlighted how LGBTQ Israelis and Jewish LGBTQ people and allies are caught in the nexus of two fraught identities in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Figures in Israel’s right-wing government have targeted LGBTQ people with more vehemence and anti-LGBTQ violence in the country has spiked in recent years. At the same time, the global LGBTQ community has more broadly identified with the Palestinian cause and against Israel, particularly since Oct. 7.

Many LGBTQ Jews who do not oppose Israel have reported feeling alienated from or unwelcome in their queer communities. Some Jews reported being excluded from public Pride events this summer over Israel.

A driving force behind elevating LGBTQ human rights on the world stage, ILGA carries outsized importance for the queer community in international diplomacy. The group has fought anti-LGBTQ government policies and monitored shifting global attitudes about LGBTQ people. (It has also courted controversy in the past, as when included the pro-pedophilia organization North American Man-Boy Love Association as a member; ILGA expelled the group in 1994 after pushback from the United Nations.)

A Wider Bridge, a pro-Israel LGBTQ group that spotlights Israeli equality efforts and spearheaded a “Queers Against Antisemitism” effort earlier this year, denounced what it called “IGLA’s anti-Israel actions” regarding The Aguda and said they were “outrageous and unacceptable.”

“IGLA is free to take issue with the policies of the Israeli government or any other, but it should address those concerns to that government, not by shunning and excommunicating that country’s queer community,” the group wrote in a statement.

In its own Hebrew statement, The Aguda said it was “deeply disappointed that ILGA has chosen to boycott those who work for LGBTQ+ rights and strive toward a more just society.” Founded in 1975, The Aguda added a defense of its work in Israel and said the group also works with Arab citizens and Palestinian refugee populations. The group has vocally criticized the Israeli government and institutions in recent months, going after TV channels for airing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and decrying a general rise in attacks on the community in Israel.

“As a community, we should not bear responsibility for government policy, and we expect the international community to support liberal voices rather than boycott them,” the statement continued. “We are proud to be LGBTQ+ and Israeli, and we will continue to fight for a more equal and safer society.”

The Aguda’s advocacy has included celebrating gay soldiers who have defended the country and pressing for equal treatment for those who have fallen in the line of duty.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, director of the global human rights group T’ruah and a prominent American Jewish critic of the Israeli government, decried ILGA’s move on the social network X.

“This action does nothing to stop the war or protect the rights of LGBTQ people, including Palestinians,” she wrote. “It only punishes people fighting for safety & equality. ILGA has affiliates in other countries carrying out massive human rights violations. Israel should be no different.”

Some non-Jewish American politicians also criticized the move. “Suspending an LGBTQ organization in Israel from participating in a global organization to advance LGBTQ rights does not advance peace or justice or the Palestinian cause,” tweeted Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat. “If anything, it further marginalizes progressive voices within Israel.”

ILGA World made its announcement ahead of its upcoming conference in South Africa, where, the group said in its statement, “We recognize the historical experience with apartheid and colonialism in South Africa: Even the possibility of voting on such a bid in their home country would have been at odds with the unequivocal solidarity for the Palestinian people.”

South Africa has been one of the most vociferous critics of Israel on the world stage, filing a genocide charge against Israel in the International Court of Justice and threatened to prosecute South Africans who serve in the Israeli army, a relatively common pathway for the country’s Jewish young adults. The government also welcomed a Hamas leader for an official visit after Oct. 7.