Socialist Queens Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán infuriated some LGBTQ+ people and Jews when she made the bizarre claim at a Pride Month celebration that “queer liberation means ‘Liberate Palestine!'”
At Queens College’s PrideFest, the co-chair of the city council’s LGBTQ+ caucus spoke to cheers, according to sources, but some questioned what the 36-year-old Caban was thinking.
“I wonder how Kaban can combine his call for a state that imposes the death penalty on LGBTQ people with the queer liberation movement,” said one outraged Jewish New Yorker.
Queens College, which has a Jewish undergraduate student body of 30 percent, has a history of anti-Semitic incidents, including hateful graffiti reading “Death to Israel” and “Jews are the worst” scrawled on campus in the months following the horrific Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
The PrideFest event was meant to celebrate all 25 City University of New York campuses reaching a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education earlier this month over ongoing discrimination complaints, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Throughout Pride month, Kaban has been posting photos on social media of posters that read, “Queer means Free Palestine” and “No Pride in Genocide.”
The irony was not lost on social media users.
“It’s amazing that you would support people who are ready to kill you right away,” one person commented.
Other messages at events Caban attended this month borrowed from Pride: Posters bearing her name called for the closure of Rikers Island and funding of libraries, both “for queer liberation.”
Kaban did not respond to a request for comment.
