US LGBTQ group re-invites Israelis after protest

The National LGBTQ Task Force is reinstating a event for Israeli gay activist group Jerusalem’s Open House, after its cancellation elicited criticism from Israeli and Jewish organizations.

“Having taken in a range of information and seeing what has happened over the last couple of days, I have decided to reverse our decision to cancel the ‘Beyond the Bridge’ reception hosted by A Wider Bridge with guest speakers from the Jerusalem Open House. It is our belief that when faced with choices, we should move towards our core value of inclusion and opportunities for constructive dialogue and canceling the reception was a mistake,” Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force says in a statement.

“In reversing the decision today, we want to make it quite clear that the Creating Change Conference will always be a safe space for inclusion and dialogue for people with often widely different views. It was not at all our intention to censor representatives of the Jerusalem Open House or A Wider Bridge at Creating Change and I apologize that our actions left people feeling silenced,” the statement reads.

National LGBTQ Task Force has reversed decision to cancel the ‘Beyond the Bridge’ reception at Creating Change #CC16 https://t.co/tLpiKEyM3d

— TheTaskForce (@TheTaskForce) January 19, 2016

A Wider Bridge, an Israeli LGBT activist group, alleged that the National LGBTQ Task Force had canceled a reception with leaders of Jerusalem’s Open House, scheduled to be held at the Creating Change conference in Chicago, due to pressure from anti-Israel activists.

The New Israel Fund had condemned the cancellation calling it “morally and pragmatically wrong.”