Statement of Solidarity with Palestine

In recent weeks, Out On Screen has borne witness to horrific levels of violence and destruction and the killing of thousands of innocent people. We grieve for the lives of Palestinian and Israeli civilians, children, and families and for the loss of their homes and communities.

Out On Screen joins other individuals and organizations in standing in solidarity with Palestine and condemning the state of Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories and genocide of the Palestinian people. 

As a primarily settler-run and founded organization on unceded territories, we have a responsibility to respect and support Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination in the face of settler colonialism locally and around the world, in the many forms it may take. As we have said before, queer liberation is inextricably connected to liberation from other forms of oppression.

The state of Israel uses pinkwashing (also known as rainbow-washing) in which 2SLGBTQIA+ rights are promoted in order to distract from and legitimize violent and oppressive settler-colonial occupation and genocide.

Out On Screen has been complicit in pinkwashing, including through the inclusion of Israeli content in our Festival as recently as the early 2010s. We recognize that our past actions in this and other matters have not consistently aligned with our stated commitment to anti-oppression. This statement does not serve to repair that harm, and we commit to continuing to align our work, internally and externally, with our values and intersectional queer liberation. 

We urge you to support the calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories, and the liberation of the Palestinian people. 

Go to for up-to-date resources on direct actions in Canada, including:

• Upcoming protests
• Contact information for elected officials
• Petitions and campaigns
• Queer Palestine Solidarity Resource
• A master list of resources and toolkits