Jerusalem – Shirtless Israeli men, colorfully dressed drag queens and others partied Friday through central Tel Aviv as tens of thousands of people took part in the city’s annual gay pride parade, the largest event of its kind in the Middle East.
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Tel Aviv is one of the few places in the Middle East where gays feel free to walk hand-in-hand and kiss in public. The city has emerged as one of the world’s most gay-friendly travel destinations in recent years, in sharp contrast to the rest of the region.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said more than 80,000 people took part. Loud music blasted along the parade’s route, thick with people dancing to the beats and waving rainbow flags. Drag queens wearing heavy makeup, dresses with sequins and high heels bounced along to the music alongside scantily clad men and women.
Tel Aviv’s openness to gays stands in contrast to conservative Jerusalem, just a short drive away, home to some of the holiest sites to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Still, Jerusalem has a small gay scene and an annual pride parade, albeit on a much smaller scale.
Gays serve openly in Israel’s military and parliament and many popular artists and entertainers are gay. However, leaders of the gay community say Israel still has far to go in promoting equality.
Officially, there is no gay marriage in Israel, primarily because there is no civil marriage of any kind. All weddings must be conducted through the Jewish rabbinate, which considers homosexuality a sin and a violation of Jewish law. But the state recognizes same-sex couples who marry abroad.
Across the rest of the Middle East, gay and lesbian relationships are mostly taboo. The pervasiveness of religion in everyday life, along with strict cultural norms, plays a major factor in that. Same-sex relations are punishable by death in Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.
Among most Palestinians, gays tend to be secretive about their social lives. In the West Bank, a 1951 Jordanian law banning homosexual acts remains in effect, as does a ban in Gaza passed by British authorities in 1936.
Don’t get excited. The schulp of schulp and filth can find its own focus group. Ultimately, Israel should be “gay” friendly. The ultimate aim of a confluent hope is a place for humanity. If the gays want to have a stage show in the Jewish State, they have their own plans and their own words. The stage of their becoming day is just a day. But to think that all people can go to Israel and feel comfortable is a plus. The advantage to increased tourism is a better community when the bills are paid.
Si-ag lo-chochmo shtikoh. If the press would publicize these events less, and we would ignore them, the shock value that the gay community leaders hope to generate becomes greatly diminished. Who stages a parade if you can’t get publicity?
רח”ל ארץ אשר ה אלהיך דורש אותה
NU ANONYMOUS, SHEEPSHEAD BAY, AYOYO, AND CO. ARE YOU PROUD???
I GUESS YOU CAN TOLERATE ANYTHING BUT “HAREDIM”
What a shame… & israel has still the guts & chutzpha to ask the world to be reconized a jewish state,
(im giving $1000 who ever telling me what israel have with judisium)
I have no idea what #1 and #4 are trying to say.
It is terrible that this is happening and even more so that this is happening in Israel.
Look what secularism has done to our holy nation.
So chareidm should go en masse in the army, huh? They should mix with these gays, transgenders and who knows what else. Right, cause it doesn’t effect or harm anybody like some posters here claim.
These people are multiplying like cokaroaches.
Do those of you who post in support of “understanding” that gay behavior is geneticaly programmed also believe that bisexuals can’t help themselves either? That drag queens can’t help themselves with their shtick? What about child molesters, those who are attracted to animals, what about them? Aren’t these traits inborn?
Shame on you, “so called frum” posters who support or feel sympathy for these gays.
What #1 and 4 is saying is that with this celebration ultimately the monkey is out of the box the question remains where is the box but that’s not relevant for now as Socrates said the box is the box. What remains to be seen needs binoculars so we can comprehend the dictators of yesteryear whom did not associate with virility to succumb to this trash.
their party is like what water is to geochemical gram per gram so they party but I tell it will come a time when the deadpan of our breakdowns will find a certain realization of relocation to the center heartbeat of the African continents where we all know the farshlung of their ancestors. That’s really all I have to say about this. You may agree or you may not have the intellectual capacity to see the truth started so clearly but that is the ultimate veracity of the feedback thirsts of the people.
want to act like a goy, leave the holy land and go and sin in the land of sinners.