QAIA Occupies NYC LGBT Center

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid occupied NYC's LBGT Center yesterday in protest of having been denied meeting space. Duncan Osborne reports at Gay City News:

The protest, which was organized by Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QAIA) and about 20 other groups, began with protesters packed into the lobby. QAIA did not contact police prior to the event, but officers from the Sixth Precinct in the West Village had set up a pen on the street outside the West 13th Street building. Protest participants ignored the pen. The protest inside lasted for roughly an hour as speakers pilloried the Center for the ban and called for solidarity with the Palestinian people. “We usually fight the oppressors who squelch free speech,” said Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, a group of progressive lawyers. “By succumbing to the outspoken in power, this Center betrays its historic mission.”

The Center issued a statement declaring that the moratorium will continue.