A ROW has broken out between the Scottish Greens and Pride march organisers over support for Palestine.
Greens in Glasgow are calling on supporters to join them in a pro-Palestine section in the annual Pride parade.
The Glasgow Green Party and the Rainbow Greens said they have decided not to march in a "Green Bloc" during processions organised by Glasgow’s Pride Limited at the event on Saturday.
Instead, they will take part in a "No Pride in Genocide: Radical Bloc" to show solidarity with people of Palestine.
The group said it has concerns over reports some of the event organisers’ corporate sponsors may have interests and investments that the Greens state “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”.
The Pride organisers said the Greens were pulling attention away from the event's original aims towards a separate agenda.
In an email chain published by the Greens, Glasgow Pride said they had passed an email asking for details of their corporate sponsors on to Police Scotland.
Ellie Gomersall, Glasgow Green’s committee member and LGBT+ activist, 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.”
In a reply to the Greens, which the party published, Glasgow’s Pride Ltd stated it stands with those in 65 countries and territories where “our community can be jailed or even sentenced to death and killed for being who they are". It said Palestine was one of these places.
Glasgow’s Pride said it: “Stands with European Convention of Human Rights as this is what has provided our community with the freedoms which we can enjoy here in Scotland.
“We also do not condone any form of war or contravention of the ECHR be this the Palestine-Israel conflict, which began in 1948, the current ongoing wars involving Russia, Ukraine and Chechnya, or any form of harassment or violence to our community which can be seen in Scotland by the increase in hate crime reporting.”
It added: “Any attempt to hijack or disrupt the events will be seen as being against the LGBTQIA+ community and attempted pinkwashing by distracting attention away from the challenges faced by our community.”
