Protestors outside of the HRC’s annual gala listen as Indya Moore speaks. Photo: Instagram screenshot
As the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) held its annual gala dinner at a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan, several hundred protestors — including queer actors Sara Ramirez and Indya Moore — gathered outside to demand that the HRC call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Protestors also criticized the HRC for accepting a “platinum” financial sponsorship from Northrop Grumman, a weapons manufacturer that has supplied the Israeli military.
Inside the gala, several protesters stood among the crowded tables in the ballroom and shouted, “There’s no pride in genocide! Shame on you! Queer Palestinians are dying!” Another shouted, “End the genocide now! HRC, we can do better!” An estimated 23,074 Palestinians have died due to Israeli military attacks since the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas and other militants that killed 1,200 Israeli civilians.
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“HRC, you are partners in crime with military arms manufacturers and big oil companies that are complicit in profiting off of genocide,” one protestor yelled as attendees booed and a security officer led them away. “You cannot advocate for human rights without exception when you make backroom deals with companies that are complicit to the killing of queer Palestinians. Divert from murder. Divest from war profiteering. Whose side are you on now? Whose side are you on?”
Outside, protestors held a banner reading “Silence = Death,” an iconic slogan popularized during the height of the HIV epidemic by the activist group ACT UP New York. But instead of the usual pink triangle, the banner had a triangular slice of watermelon, a fruit that has become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity because it shares the red, white, and green colors of the Palestinian flag.
“HRC is mobilizing our community and our allies to support their initiatives because they believe their initiatives are in our best interest,” Indya Moore said in a speech she delivered to fellow demonstrators. “However, these initiatives that are meant to benefit us are being funded by a weapons manufacturer. Not cute, not queer. Their bullets, their bombs, and their missiles are massacring Palestinians who are also queer and trans and deserving of a human rights campaign.”
Queer journalist Afeef Nessouli noted that the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, a measure of companies’ LGBTQ+-inclusive workplace policies, has given Northrop Grumman and fellow weapons manufacturer Raytheon (now RTX) a perfect score of 100. Nessouli said this rating “pinkwashes” the companies’ complicity in the murder of Palestinians.
Pinkwashing, when applied to Israel, refers to the country’s representation of itself as a gay haven amid a dogmatically anti-LGBTQ+ Middle East. This representation often serves as a pretext for Western policies against Israel’s neighboring countries and domestic citizens.
Pro-Palestinian and anti-war protestors have increasingly demonstrated outside of Raytheon and Northrop Grumman locations to draw attention to their supplying of weapons to the Israeli military.
In an October 26, 2023 call with shareholders, Northrop Grumman CEO noted there may be “new weapons systems investments” as a result of the ongoing Gaza conflict, Vice reported.
RTX, the nation’s second-largest federal government contractor, has seen its stocks increase more than 10% since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. RTX CEO Greg Hayesv said in an October 2023 earnings call that shareholders would see a “benefit,” meaning more money, from the Israeli military’s increased demand for weaponry in the coming months, especially as the U.S. Department of Defense orders more military aid for Israeli forces, Jacobin reported.
The HRC responded to a request for comment by highlighting press statements released by HRC President Kelley Robinson last October and November.
“I can’t begin to fully grasp what this moment of crisis must feel like for those who are Jewish. I can’t fully understand what it must feel like to be an Israeli or Palestinian civilian right now,” Robinson wrote in an October 13, 2023 statement. “It’s a pain that weighs heavily on my heart and I have deep sympathy for those experiencing such suffering right now. The toll on both Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives rises daily. And many in the United States who are Jewish and Muslim recognize that hate-motivated bias and violence will rise here. Antisemitism is wrong. Islamophobia is wrong. Full stop.”
“We join in solidarity with those grieving, with those speaking out against hate, and with those demanding change. We are with you!” she added.
In a November 10, 2023 statement, she wrote, “No statement will ever be enough in times of war. But what’s not hard, nor complex, is knowing right from wrong. The Hamas terrorist attack was wrong. The killing of 11,000 Palestinians and counting is wrong. The bombing of hospitals and the killing of children is wrong. The denial of safe food, water, telecommunications, and safe passage is wrong. The antisemitism and Islamophobia escalating in the United States is wrong.”
“The work ahead of us is not easy, nor is it up to one person or one organization to solve,” she continued. “But HRC will use our platform to recognize the collective grief and humanitarian crisis that’s unfolding.”
hile 24 Democratic Congress members have also called for a ceasefire, pro-Israel PACs like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars to try to defeat them in Democratic primaries and the general election this year, the Associated Press reported. The predominantly Black and brown congresspeople have seen “record fundraising,” in some cases around $700,000 in the last quarter, as Muslim and Arab groups contribute to their campaigns.
