These are just a few examples of organized anti-Israel protests, often with calls for violence against or the death of Jews, on the streets and campuses across the country. Much of this activity is met with silence or borderline anti-Jewish remarks from many elected officials and leaders.<\/p>\n
Trans and queer rights are also under attack in Canada with the premier of Alberta\u2019s recent announcement of sweeping new anti-trans policies and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe\u2019s use last year of the notwithstanding clause in the Charter to push through a law requiring parental consent for children under 16 who want to change their names or pronouns at school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The confluence of these events and the ongoing need to carefully navigate the intersectionality of their identities has left many queer Jews feeling isolated, tired and disappointed.<\/p>\n Queer communities in Canada have long trended toward a pro-Palestinian point of view, often reflected in clashes over whether certain Jewish groups should be allowed to march in pride parades, Aviva Rathbone, board chair of JQT, a Vancouver-based Jewish queer and trans organization, told the Independent<\/i>.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, what it means is that many of the Jews in the queer community, especially Israelis, but also Jews who would maybe call themselves Zionists or who feel complex about the situation in Israel and Gaza, are not welcome in queer communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not know there was such thing as an anti-Zionist Jew until I moved to Canada,\u201d said Ari Fremder, a 33-year-old who works in Vancouver\u2019s animation industry. Fremder is originally from Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n As a trans person who is also autistic and introverted, Fremder said, they don\u2019t leave their house very often anymore because of the anti-Jewish protests, posters and stickers \u2013 that frequently incite violence against Jews \u2013 in their neighbourhood.<\/p>\n They used to go to local queer events but said they don\u2019t feel safe anymore, as many groups are pro-Palestinian and openly state Zionists are not welcome.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel a lot safer being queer in the Jewish community than I feel safe being Jewish in the queer community,\u201d said Jessie, a 21-year-old student and environmental activist in Ontario, who asked not to use their real name.<\/p>\n As one of few Jewish queer people in Halifax, Schuyler H. Smith said they are facing \u201cmore hate\u201d than they\u2019ve ever faced in that city.<\/p>\n The 33-year-old diversity consultant agreed that it\u2019s more comfortable to be part of a Jewish than a queer community right now. They will, often with trepidation, reach out privately when they see antisemitic comments and remarks from queer community members, to try to dispel myths about Jews as white colonialists or as non-indigenous to Israel, for example.<\/p>\n Smith hopes one-on-ones can make people think twice before posting negative comments or memes about Jews.<\/p>\n Anti-trans policies in Alberta and Saskatchewan, attacks and protests at drag queen story times and other \u201cparental rights\u201d\u00a0<\/span>actions across the country are also taking a toll on members of the LGBTQ2S+ community.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m scared, honestly, for young trans people who need this care and are being interfered with by politicians,\u201d said Cas Allen, a 21-year-old university student in Victoria who says access to hormone blockers changed his life when he was 15.<\/p>\n Ezra, a 39-year-old trans teacher in Calgary, who prefers not to use his real name, said the government is pushing a lot of misinformation, but he\u2019s heartened by the pushback from the queer community.<\/p>\n He\u2019s committed to being a visible queer influence in his school, which has a high number of new Canadian immigrants.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there were any queer kids in the class, they could see themselves reflected,\u201d he said, \u201cand [I can give] them a safe adult to confide in [while] they decided who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n Allen, who grew up in a religious Jewish family in Alberta, said since he transitioned, he has \u201crecreated\u201d his queer Jewish identity \u201cfrom the ground up\u201d but he\u2019s once again finding it \u201ccomplicated and messy\u201d to reconcile both those parts of himself.<\/p>\n He said he feels isolated and unable to talk about his feelings regarding Israel and his Jewishness to the LGBTQ2S+ people he knows. He said the only person he can really confide in is his twin sister.<\/p>\n Queer spaces on university campuses tend to be very pro-Palestinian and are forcing students to choose between their Jewishness and being queer, said Rabbi Seth Goren, executive director of Jewish student group Hillel Ontario, which has a presence at nine universities in the province.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s a choice that queer Jewish students shouldn\u2019t have to make,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Many Jewish students feel like there is no place where the conflict isn\u2019t swirling around them, added Rabbi Kylynn Cohen of Hillel BC. She said she\u2019s had to help students who, after Oct. 7, couldn\u2019t go to classes because of the anti-Jewish rhetoric, both from student groups and in classrooms.<\/p>\n
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