Chicago Dyke March promotes Pride event with burning American and Israeli flags, calls for abolition of police and ICE

The Chicago Dyke March on Saturday posted a flyer for their upcoming event on June 26 featuring a burning police car as well as an activist burning American and Israeli flags.

The announcement called to abolish the Chicago Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to "Abolish the Isra*li Occupation Forces."

Extremists will regularly alter the spelling of words for fear of the posts being labelled hate speech by social media platforms. Acknowledging the possibility of being banned from social media for their rhetoric, organizers added, "Please screen shot this and share to prevent any attempts by Z10N1ST and Instagram to censor our account. We will see you there regardless of if our account is still active."

The 1.7 mile march, was scheduled to end at the Comfort Station on N Milwaukee so that participants could also attend The Revolution Will Have Queer Joy Picnic. Though the activist in the flyer is barely clothed and bare faced, organizers still asked participants to wear masks.

The announcement of the event comes on the heels of a controversial statement posted by Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar last week which compared the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban. While almost all Republicans condemned the remarks, few Democrats did, fearing retaliation from what some have begun calling the Hamas Caucus, also known as The Squad.

In 2017, organizers of Chicago’s Dyke March asked three participants carrying Jewish pride flags, a Star of David over the traditional pride rainbow flag, to leave.

Laurel Grauer told the Windy City Times, "It was a flag from my congregation which celebrates my queer, Jewish identity." According to the outlet, Grauer "lost count of the number of people who harassed her" at the event.

According to Tablet Magazine, Dyke March organizers were unapologetic and unambiguous when asked to explain the discrimination. Organizers claimed the flags "made people feel unsafe" and the march was "anti-Zionist."

During the event, organizers allowed participants to wave the Palestinian flag, an area in which those who identify as LGBTQ are routinely harassed, beaten and executed. Conversely, those identifying as LGBTQ in Israel are allowed to serve openly in the military and are able to jointly adopt. The Calgary Herald called Tel Aviv as one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world. Israel was the first country in Asia to recognize same-sex unions in any capacity.

In 2019, the DC Dyke March, followed the lead of Chicago’s event and banned Jewish and Israeli symbols. The march also banned "nationalist symbols," including flags of "nations that have specific oppressive tendencies," which included American flags.

Though American flags were banned, Palestinian flags were welcome.

An Iranian Jewish lesbian told the Windy City Times "I was here as a proud Jew in all of my identities,” after  being forced to leave the 2017 festival. “The Dyke March is supposed to be intersectional. I don’t know why my identity is excluded from that. I felt that, as a Jew, I am not welcome here."