At a recent dinner for Human Rights Watch, it was speculated by people at my table that the reason there were fewer people attending than the year before was, in part, because of the HRW report that concluded Israel was guilty of apartheid-like treatment of Arabs in their territory. 

There are some people who consider any criticism of Israel as “hatred of Jews.” There are also multitudes of Jews who feel strongly that Israel must stop the mass killing of Palestinians. These same Jews are being subjected globally to life-threatening anti-Semitism because of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Those who are familiar with the work of Human Rights Watch, including its supporters, know that the organization investigates and calls public attention to the abuse of people regardless of where they live. HRW receives no money from any government or organization with special interest.

Are there any parallels, I wondered, in the LGBTQ community? I wouldn’t go to a gala of gay Republicans for Donald Trump. I try very hard not to judge them, but I wouldn’t want to be with them. The same is true for the Evangelical Christians who make up Trump’s base. I try to understand them, but I don’t want to be around them.

But a HRW gala is very different from one for LGBTQ Republicans or for Evangelical Christians. HRW has people all over the world documenting in non-partisan manner the laws and behaviors that oppress any and all people, among them the LGBTQ people in Florida. The reports of abuse documented by HRW are broadly disseminated to all relevant parties including journalists, related governments, and committees of the United Nations and the World Court.

At the dinner, we heard many moving, astonishing stories about oppression, including the cruel treatment of children forced to become sex workers. I’m aware that HRW has also documented the oppression of transgender women in Florida and elsewhere.

As the accomplishments of HRW were enunciated, the formal charge of apartheid filed ironically by South Africa against Israel was included. There were Jewish people at my table, and there was no mumbling. In fact, one passionate supporter of HRW sitting near me, whose parent’s escaped the German holocaust, wrote a generous check at the end of the meal.

HRW does the most thorough investigating and documenting of information on the abuse of human rights in the world. The woman sitting next to me at dinner knew all about the Draconian treatment of gay people in Uganda. The U.S. State Department and the United Nations are aware of that country’s sanctioned bullying, beating, and killing of gay people and are doing what they can. But HRW is carefully documenting the abuse with hands-on reporters.

I wish I had the funds to donate generously to HRW, and I would hope such a donation wouldn’t impact the friendships I have with people in groups who are reported.