Glasgow Greens & Rainbow Greens criticise Glasgow’s Pride organisers and urge attendees to stand in solidarity with Palestine
Scottish Greens will always fight for LGBTQ+ people but that will not stop us from standing with Palestine or fighting the climate crisis
Scottish Greens will always fight for LGBTQ+ people but that will not stop us from standing with Palestine or fighting the climate crisis
At this Saturday’s Pride march, the Glasgow Green Party and Rainbow Greens have decided not to march in a ‘Green Bloc’ during processions organised by Glasgow’s Pride Limited, but are instead calling for our members and supporters in attendance to show solidarity with the people of Palestine and march as part of the ‘No Pride in Genocide: Radical Bloc’.
We have come to this decision in light of reports of Glasgow’s Pride Limited’s corporate sponsors and concerns that they may have interests and investments which make them complicit in the State of Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, as well as sponsors who are accelerating the climate crisis.
Last week the Glasgow Greens committee contacted Glasgow’s Pride Limited to enquire about their sponsors (which at this time had not yet been published) to ask if any had potential complicity in Israel’s ongoing violation of international law or in accelerating the climate crisis. We are sorry to say that Glasgow’s Pride Limited's response was shockingly hostile and deeply offensive.
In their reply to our enquiry Glasgow’s Pride Limited accused the Glasgow Greens of supporting “a nation where the LGBTQIA+ community is criminalised” and stated that they would be contacting Police Scotland. This engages in an offensive trope which holds the Palestinian people, including their LGBTQ+ community, to answer for discriminatory laws imposed by a government they last had an opportunity to vote for 18 years ago, and implies that genocide is an acceptable punishment for this. We believe this to be a racist double standard which is applied to no other people in the world.
Our full correspondence with Glasgow’s Pride Limited will be published below.
We condemn sponsorship of Pride by any corporation complicit in genocide or causing the climate crisis and join No Pride in Genocide Glasgow in calling for Glasgow’s Pride to allow community input into the decision-making around their sponsor and partnership policies.
Glasgow Greens committee member and LGBTQ+ activist Ellie Gomersall said:
“Pride is first and foremost a protest and that must always be remembered even as we rightly celebrate how far our community has come in our fight for liberation.
As we continue that fight for our human rights we must stand in solidarity with all those across the world who are fighting for theirs. There is no conflict between standing for a free Palestine and celebrating our queer identities – for Glasgow’s Pride Ltd. to imply this is disappointing and offensive.
The Scottish Greens will always fight for LGBTQ+ people but that will not stop us from standing with Palestine or fighting the climate crisis. Pride should be about liberation for all, not a celebration of corporations putting a rainbow in their logo.”
Co-Convenors of the Rainbow Greens, Simon Jay & Bex Glen said:
"The current corporate sponsoring of Glasgow Pride robs many participants of the right to march, protest and celebrate how they want.
Pride is a protest. We will protest for trans children to not be forcibly detransitioned by the state; we will show pride for the LGBT people of Palestine.
The fight for trans rights is a fight for civil rights. Let's educate ourselves and others to love and protect our trans brothers, sisters and siblings through these dark times. Let's take this opportunity to network and organise with our community.
When we commemorate pride we are celebrating that we're still here and we can still get our act together, organise and fight for a better future."
There is no pride in genocide and no pride on a dead planet.
Yours in solidarity,
Glasgow Greens and Rainbow Greens