FOLSOM STREET is answering the call to join the larger movement for liberation by petitioning our representatives in government and President Biden to demand and facilitate an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and throughout Palestine. The U.S. must also refrain from sending any more weapons to the Israeli government. Our commitment to sexual liberation for all people includes bodily safety and freedom for ALL. 

In line with our stated values, we condemn the increase in anti-Palestinian, anti-Islamic, and anti-Arab violence everywhere. We condemn the increase in anti-Jewish violence everywhere. We condemn punishing workers, students, artists, politicians, and academics for supporting Palestinian liberation. We recognize that Zionism is a form of racism and a colonial ideology that does not represent the views of Jewish people throughout the world. We are mourning the human rights violations against innocent civilians resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of Palestinian lives, the destruction of homes, and the blockade of electricity, food, fuel, and clean water to Gaza. 

We believe that Palestinians and Jews, like all people, have the right to live safely and with dignity. However, as an organization founded in response to gentrification and displacement, we unequivocally reject false visions of “safety” that demand the dispossession and destruction of people and their homeland. This includes the justification of occupation through pinkwashing and the erasure of queer Palestinians. Our fight remains with those subjected to the tendrils of colonialism worldwide, and we reject solutions that continue to pit Jews and Palestinians, or Arabs, against one another. We believe the only way to build safe communities is through solidarity.

We support a sustainable resolution that recognizes all people's inherent dignity and rights, regardless of their background or nationality. We stand with the majority of the world in advocating for a just and equitable solution that ensures the right to self-determination for the Palestinian people and promotes lasting peace.

Folsom Street reaffirms our commitment to amplify and support the voices of marginalized people in work that centers learning, dialogue, understanding, and the realization of fundamental human rights. We’re offering the Folsom Street Community Center to gather and organize against this genocide, as a safe place to support each other in the movement for peace, etc. If you want to utilize this option, please fill out this form. 

We are always seeking feedback on how we can best serve our mission. Please keep in mind that we are a small board and even smaller staff. We don’t have designated teams for social media, so we can’t respond to everything that comes through, but we will do our best to do right by our community. 

We encourage you to:

Stop the genocide. End the siege. End the occupation. Dismantle apartheid. Decolonize Palestine.