It's in spite of the government policies." "It's not because of the government policies. "If Israel is a haven for the LGBT community, it's because of the community, the organizations that are working very hard to make it a good place for LGBT people to live," he says. "They don't have the right to claim fame on that," says Mike Hamel, who is on the board of Israel's National LGBT Task Force, a private organization. Not everyone in the gay-rights community agrees that the government should be taking credit for any progress that has occurred. Jerusalem, for example, is just an hour's drive from Tel Aviv, but is far more conservative, and there is less tolerance for the gay community. However, even within Israel, acceptance of the gay community is not universal.
The parade began in central Tel Aviv and ended at the city's beachfront. Thousands of members of Israel's gay community and its supporters marched on June 11, 2010, in the annual gay pride parade in Tel Aviv. "It's an obligation to show to the world." "LGBT rights in Israel are truly an achievement," says Itai Pinkas, a former Tel Aviv council member. Israel has laws protecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community. But it's more than just beaches, parades and clubs. The government of Israel is styling the country as a haven for the gay community. The government and organizers say it's expected to be the biggest one ever. Tel Aviv will host its annual gay pride parade June 8. "It's a place you have to go, good parties, nice people, beautiful people and just different from all the other tourist destinations you can go to," says Jorg Grosskopf, a German tourist who, together with his partner, Peter, is on his seventh vacation in Israel. This is Tel Aviv - which the government of Israel is now pushing as one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world - and gay tourism is booming. The sun is setting, gay pride flags wave next to the water, same-sex couples kiss and cuddle on the beach. Participants in the annual gay pride parade in Jerusalem are shown here on July 29, 2010.
Jewish gay pride flag banned full#
The march’s Facebook page was full of comments criticizing the decision to ban the Jewish Pride Flag, accusing the organizers of placing “an unwarranted burden of proof Jewish dykes that they don’t approve of the actions of another country which they do not vote,” and “discriminat against gay Jews while marching against discrimination.Israel is now marketing itself internationally as welcoming to the gay community. The march aimed to focus on combating gentrification and displacement. The marchers were eventually allowed to enter the march. “You are creating a binary in which the only way to be a dyke is to explicitly denounce the existence of the Jewish state, which is an important thing for most Jews, the vast majority of Jews in the world” said Amanda Berman, the founder of Zioness. The group holding the flags included representatives of Zioness, a women’s group that demonstrates openly as pro-Israel activists in progressive spaces, A Wider Bridge, a pro-Israel LGBTQ group, and the local Jewish Community Relations Council. “With respect, we are all Jewish dykes here and we just want to march in solidarity with Palestinian dykes, and if y’all want to march also, great.” “In order to have the Jewish Pride flag not be about Zionism, all you have to do is move the star,” Raney told a group of Jewish marchers holding the flags. Jewish stars were welcome in any other context. In video taken of the event, Jill Raney, a marshal also affiliated with the left-wing Jewish group IfNotNow, said they could enter if they removed the Star of David from the flag. Some would-be marchers carrying the Jewish Pride flag were blocked by Jewish marshals at an entrance point to the march. There was no such ban on Palestinian flags. The march banned the flags of countries with “specific oppressive tendencies.” The flags of Israel and the United States were the only two mentioned specifically in the ban. the next day, said it was banning the flag because it looks too much like the flag of Israel. The march, a leftist alternative to the main LGBTQ parade in Washington, D.C. ( JTA) - A handful of protesters carrying Jewish Pride flags, a rainbow-striped flag with a Star of David in the middle, were allowed into the DC Dyke March despite a ban on the flags.