New Tolerance Campaign’s proposal aims to highlight contradictions in pro-Palestine LGBTQ+ activism, sparking backlash
A watchdog group parked mobile billboards at two universities last week, offering one million dollars to fund a pride parade in Gaza or the West Bank for any pro-Palestinian organization willing to organize it. No one has taken up their offer yet.
New Tolerance Campaign has advertised the “$1,000,000 Gay Pride Parade Challenge” at the University of California, Los Angeles, Columbia University, and the Human Rights Campaign headquarters since Sept. 16.
In an email statement to The College Fix, Gregory Angelo, president of NTC, said that the challenge is directed at individuals involved in anti-Israel protests on college campuses who call themselves “Queers for Palestine.”
“‘Queers for Palestine’ banners and signs have been seen at pro-Hamas protests across the country, but we identified Columbia University and UCLA as two locations with the most visible presence of people who align with that worldview,” said Angelo.
“Campuses were chosen because they are a specific location for ‘Queers for Palestine’ activity,” he told The Fix.
“For nearly a year, ‘Queers for Palestine’ and allied groups have insisted that Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are ‘inclusive’— here’s their chance to prove it,” NTC’s site states.
“This isn’t a joke. It’s not a publicity stunt. Our offer is real,” a statement from the group reads.
NTC is a watchdog organization that exposes hypocrisy in establishment institutions, civil rights groups, and universities, according to their website.
UCLA, Columbia University, and the Human Rights Campaign declined The College Fix’s request for comment via email in the last week.
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“We started this campaign to contrast the lives of LGBTQ individuals in the Palestinian territories and Israel,” a statement from NTC reads.
“It has evolved into a realization that achieving Palestinian recognition for LGBTQ rights could lead to true liberalization of the Arab world — and thus, eventually, peace,” the group stated.
“Right now, there is a clash of values between Israel and most of the Arab world. In Israel, gay people can live their lives openly, while the Arab world views them with disdain. Homosexuality is illegal in many Arab countries,” the group stated.
The mobile billboards have sparked backlash. One X user called NTC agents of “zionist depravity,” adding that the mobile billboard campaign is “vile colonial contempt.”
Angelo responded to this criticism, telling The Fix, “I’m not even Jewish! They can call us every name in the book, but I think it’s funny how none of our critics respond by defending the way gay people are treated in the Palestinian territories. Because they can’t.”
When asked if anyone had taken them up on the challenge, Angelo said “a handful of people reach out so far asking for more information,” but “no one has accepted the challenge.”
Other X users have expressed their support of the campaign. When the group announced the challenge on X, some users responded by asking how they could chip in to support the campaign.
“I’ll throw down $20 and a plane ticket for any queer wanting to go to Gaza, dress in drag, and walk down the street,” one X user wrote.
“I don’t want people to just shrug off this campaign as some kind of publicity stunt or something that is supposed to be comical,” Angelo said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “It actually is a legitimate offer.”
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IMAGE: New Tolerance Campaign
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