Creating Change, that bills itself as “the largest annual gathering of activists” in the United States and is run by the National LGBTQ Task Force, has withdrawn its invitation to the American nonprofit A Wider Bridge, which connects US and Israeli LGBTQ Jews, and was scheduled to hold reception with leaders of Jerusalem’s Open House at the conference in Chicago next week.
Arthur Slepian, A Wider Bridge’s founder and executive director, told media the reception, a gathering following Shabbat services on Friday night, was approved months ago.
Last Friday, however, Slepian found unexpectedly himself on the receiving end of a phone call from Sue Hyde, the conference’s director. “Sue told us our reception was being cancelled for reasons of safety and security but there was no evidence presented or elaboration on any security issues,” Slepian recounted to the Israeli daily Haaretz. “Nor were we given any opportunity to try to resolve them if there were any. Sue told us the conference would not publicize or communicate our event in any way.”
During the course of the week, A Wider Bridge had been slammed on Twitter by long-time opponents and accused of using gay freedoms in Israel to “pink-wash” the plight of the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. “We couldn’t imagine that it would result in this outcome,” Slepian told Haaretz. “It sounds to us like capitulation in the face of intimidation by a small number of very loud anti-Israel activists in the community who did not want to see us have any part of the conference.”