There's been a bit of a kerfuffle recently regarding the decision by the New York City Gay and Lesbian Center to cancel an event to be held at the Center by an anti-Israel - or, if you prefer, pro-Palestinian - organization. The group, Siege Busters, is engaged in activism targeting the Jewish state, and specifically the military closure of the Gaza Strip.

Without going into the precise details - my own personal view is one of sympathy to both Israelis and Palestinians, and a desire for both nations to live in peace - this controversy raises some interesting issues.

First, given that gays and lesbians, to say nothing of transgender Americans, still labor under discriminatory laws, are we right to draw lines that cut us off from other oppressed peoples, which both Palestinians and Jews by any objective measure are?

Second, if we consider the passions stirred by this particular debate, which presumably obtain within the LGBT community as they do elsewhere, is it right for the Center to come down firmly on one side of it?

Third, what do we do with and about Palestinian queers, who come to New York City from one of the most extravagantly homophobic societies on earth expecting a safe harbor?

I'm not going to commend the Center on its decision or, for that matter, criticize it either. What's done is done. But it would behoove the Center, and all New Yorkers interested in its work, to give some more thought to the matters raised here.