Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back!

'Pinkwashing' is a term activists have coined for when countries engaged in terrible human rights violations promote themselves as 'gay friendly' to improve their public image. Israel is the country most famous for this strategy, having initiated it as part of a rebranding campaign has been engaged in for the last decade. In 2012, activists in the Pacific Northwestern region of the US responded to an Israeli Consulate-funded pinkwashing tour featuring Israeli gay and lesbian activists that was coming to the region. Local queer Palestine solidarity activists exposed the 'Rainbow Generations' tour as pro-Israel propaganda and got some of the events, including the tour's centerpiece event hosted by the City of Seattle's LGBT Commission, cancelled.

A significant backlash ensued involving the Seattle City Council and Seattle's leading LGBT and HIV organizations. Through the inspiring story of these activists' victory, Pinkwashing Exposed explores how pinkwashing works and what local activists are doing to fight back. Pinkwashing Exposed was made in Seattle, on Duwamish Land. The Duwamish are in a long fight for recognition by the US government. Right now they are trying to raise $100,000 to hire an expert witness to review 31,000 pages of documents provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as part of their fight for recognition.

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Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back! from Pinkwashing Exposed on Vimeo.