Porn Producer's Party Pooper at Pro-Palestine Protest Party!

Michael Lucas

Next Saturday night there was supposed to be a raging "Party to End Apartheid!" for Israeli Apartheid Week at the NYC LGBT Center, where the group Siege Busters Working Group meets regularly. (Emily Henochowicz, the Cooper Union student who lost an eye while protesting in Israel last summer, is a member.) There was going to be "DJ sets, guest performances, and great company" from 8 p.m. to midnight. But then along came gay porn producer Michael Lucas, an Israeli-American whom you may recall from such hits as Shameless Hole and Piss Gods, to pour hot oil all over the plan.

The whole thing rubbed Lucas the wrong way, so he fired off a press release and threatened to organize a boycott with some of the center's biggest donors, declaring, “It was an inexcusable decision on the center’s part to associate itself with a hate group like Israeli Apartheid Week." When told that some of the sponsors of the event were Jews, including a Holocaust survivor, Lucas told the Jerusalem Post, "So what! There are a lot of self-hating Jews. They were put into death camps regardless of their IQ."

A day after Lucas aired his beef, the center canceled the party, putting out a terse statement explaining, "We have determined that this event is not appropriate to be held at our LGBT Community Center, which is a safe haven for LGBT groups and individuals. Therefore, the meeting at The Center has been canceled and the host group will no longer meet at The Center." Lucas, who's been called Gay Porn’s Neocon Kingpin, declared victory, saying, "We have prevailed! Congratulations to everyone who stood with me in support of Israel. With your help it took only eight hours to accomplish our mission."

Not feeling so triumphant is Sherry Wolf, a longtime activist for both gay rights and socialism and a member of the Siege Busters Working Group, which will no longer be permitted to meet at the center. She says the LGBT Center didn't even bother to contact her after canceling the party, and tells Runnin' Scared, "We've had... a whole spectrum of political and non-political meetings there. There's a group that meets there of straight people who are into spanking! It's always been a place where people with nowhere else to go could be. It's atrocious that after 28 years, it's becoming yet another occupied, homogenized space that only powerful and, frankly, white people dominate."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on February 25, 2011 10:28 AM

Comments [rss]

farleft

Here are some quotes regarding this racist Israeli Porn star.

"I hate Muslims, absolutely. It’s a horrible, horrible religion. It’s a plague."

"[Muslims] have not contributed to civilization in any way, in any field — political thought, science, music, architecture, nothing for century after century. What do they produce? Carpets. That’s how they should travel because that’s the only way they travel without killing people."

"[The people sympathetic to Palestinians] should go to Palestine and have a protest there! They will then be mutilated, or hanged, or burned — you know, the favorite methods of Palestinians to treat people who are different."

Lastly, Michael Lucas threatened to initiate a boycott campaign against the LGBT center...Talk about hypocrisy. In order to save Israel, he's willing to fight against and initiate a de-funding campaign against the LGBT center, whose progressive efforts for equality and tolerance he has benefitted from. This guy's psycho.

cmdrogogov

what a piece of shit.

chicken04

i think it'd be nice for everyone to aim their vitriol somewhere where it's deserved, rather than a non-profit that busts their ass to do the best they can in a world full of hatred. who is the real enemy here? seriously.

iam draize

People sometimes ask, where the Palestenian Ghandis are...well here it is...but no, even a non-violent movement for equality gets branded as a hate group by the Israel no matter what crowd.

Whatever.

Max Blumenthal had a post about this guy Lucas...from his site.

"His most widely promoted film, “Men of Israel,” contains a sex scene inside a Palestinian village that was ethnically cleansed by Zionist militias in 1947-48

…we went to an abandoned village just north of Jerusalem. It was a beautiful ancient township that had been deserted centuries ago…however, that did not stop our guys from mounting each other and trying to repopulate it. Biology may not be the lesson of the day but these men shot their seeds all over the village"

Lucas does not name the village where the scene was shot, but my guess is it was Lifta, which was attacked by Zionist militias in December 1947 (five months before any Arab armies entered Palestine), bombed, and ethnically cleansed. Today, the ruins of the village are well preserved — so well that the Jerusalem municipality plans to transform it into a Jews-only luxury development.

It is not hard to imagine what would happen to an Arab porn director if he went to a site of Jewish genocide like a destroyed shtetl from the Pale of Settlement or a concentration camp, and filmed actors as they “shot their seeds” on it. Yet Lucas profits from desecration porn, and maintains enough cachet to bully a major gay institution in New York City."

Leslie78

Astounding. Doesn't anyone who is homosexual realize that they would be put to death for revealing their sexual preferences in Gaza or Palestine and that Tel Aviv, Israel, is one of the most gay-friendly places anywhere? Some people are utterly misinformed.

iam draize

So what, they allow even LGBT to kick Arabs out of their homes. Wonderful !

: - (

The story isnt about whether Israel is gay friendly or not anyway. It is about suppression of an event using financial pressure and the LGBT Center sacrificing its principles for the money.

1429523

Best Gothamist headline in a while.

Guest

nice moobs hot stuff!

farleft

This is disappointing. Their website lists the terms and conditions regarding utilizing that space for events...and they say, "If you're planning a party, a political event, a wedding, or a play reading, please consider the Center for inexpensive, community meeting space!" They also have a writeup about how they are a "community of inclusion."

"We believe that building a community of inclusion is based on an ethic of compassion, responsibility, justice, and nonviolence."

...but I guess they make exceptions when it comes to Palestine. The BDS movement is a non-violent response to Israeli aggression, occupation, and violations of international law against the Palestinians. There's no reason why the LGBT center would allow a jackass porn star to derail an event like this.

Steven Harris

I'd love to see how a Palestinian state would treat anyone in LGBT community.

farleft

Sorry, but that's no excuse. You think there are no gay Palestinians that would support this event? Or do you make your judgements solely on the actions of their corrupt (collaborator) governments? Take a closer look at what's happening in arab countries. Those corrupt, conservative, and homophobic arab governments (including the PA) were/are supported by the USA and Israel. And if you think the people in those countries aren't more liberal and accepting of Gays, then you obviously have never spent time in an arab country with openly gay friends and family.

And look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

If there was an event at the LGBT center regarding any of the worst offenders on this list the LGBT center would NEVER cancel it for the reason you gave. You know why? Because it would violate their ethical platform. And that is the real problem here.

Steven Harris

Governments that they vote for.

farleft

If you actually think those governments are appointed by the people...and no corruption or intimidation exists to keep those [western loved] dictators in power, you have a lot to learn about middle east politics.

Ms. Pants

I have a friend who works at the Center. It's a tricky situation all around and no outcome would please everyone. (Said friend had no say in any of the decision making.)

However, go go gadget alliteration!

VelvetTiff

I've sent them money in the past. I'll certainly be rethinking that in the future.

random transplant

LGBT center has always been a place for people without state support to gather.

Fudge this guy. A porn producer judging a holocaust victim for wanting to take a stand. WTF. I didn't know producers could get an AVN for being the biggest dick.

hwn

"The BDS movement is a non-violent response to Israeli aggression, occupation, and violations of international law against the Palestinians." What world of illusion are you living in? First, the use of the term "apartheid" is a trivialization and affront to those oppressed by such governmental policies, as in South Africa. If you cannot distinguish your distorted grievance from the real article, you need to get out more. Israeli aggression? Are you for real? Tell me. It is in a vacuum? It is not an exercise of self defense? You are a moron. Tell me there was no Holocaust as well. Occupation? You mean of the land they remained on that belonged to the union of Arab countries that lost the war they started in concert on Yom Kippur against Israel? Every pro Palestian rally I have seen included the burning of Israeli and American Flags and signs reading Death to Jews. Funny, I have not seen that in Pro Israeli celebrations. You are a sorry group. I respect the porn star for his integrity to fact rather than you pathetic, poor excuses for informed people.