For gay soldiers, IDF seen as 'more progrsive' than the state | The Tim of Israel

Contents:

• IDF GAY SOLDIERS
• ISRAELI ARMY'S GAY SOLDIERS MT STOP PERSECUTG GAY PALTIANS
• ARMY’S ‘GAY SOLDIERS’ PHOTO WAS STAGED, IS MISLEADG
• A GAY EX-IDF SOLDIER IS RUNNG FOR GERMAN PARLIAMENT — FOR THE FAR-RIGHT
• IDF’S GAYS FD IENDS AT THE TOP, LGERG HOMOPHOBIA ON THE GROUND
• IDF SOLDIER: GAY PEOPLE SERVE A BULLET THE HEAD
• IDF PROMOT S FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR GENERAL, SHARON AFEK
• GAY INTY, SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS, AND MILARY SERVICE
• 50+ POPULAR IM GAY ROBLOX IDS
• FOR GAY SOLDIERS, IDF SEEN AS ‘MORE PROGRSIVE’ THAN THE STATE

IDF GAY SOLDIERS

Revolt the Stasi The Dissenters Are Cizen Hero Listen to the Objectors Refeniks Blow Lid Off Israel's Intel Gatherg But one of the un’s dissenters said that not all the gay people Un 8200 liked what they heard the terview given by the members who refed to ntue servg and participatg acts agast the Paltian people.

The members of the Sh Bet put a cel choice before gay Paltians: betray their people by spyg for the regime and risk beg celly put to ath – all exchange for keepg their secret – or have their secret exposed and be ostracized om their fai, exposed to vlent attacks and perhaps even murred. Let remember, too, that as all of this happens, the unfortunate person beg forced to choose between a homophobic society and a society that mak e of homophobia has never done a thg to endanger Israel’s secury. In the past, at the dawn of the gay and lbian stggle for equaly and regnn, some people claimed that sexual mori all over the world had a “quasi-natnal” inty and, based on that, solidary that should take precence over natnal inty.

ISRAELI ARMY'S GAY SOLDIERS MT STOP PERSECUTG GAY PALTIANS

It is precisely bee of this that we might expect the members of Un 8200, particularly the gay and lbian people who serve there, to refe to have any part the techniqu of g homophobic vlence to blackmail gays and lbians, and to tell their mandg officers: Beyond this le we will not go. The Foreign Mistry, which Israel’s liberal treatment of gays and lbians to portray to the world as an enlightened untry, nnot hi the bter tth: Israel is hell for Paltian gays and lbians, whose persecutors clu, among others, Jewish gays and lbians. A picture of two male Israeli soldiers holdg hands, posted by Israel’s ary spokman and circulated wily on the web this week as part of gay pri month, was staged and is misleadg, The Tim of Israel tablished Tuday.

The newly hip, multimedia-savvy IDF Spokperson’s Office posted Monday on s Facebook page a photo of two ostensibly gay soldiers, one seemg to belong to the Givati Briga and the other to the Artillery Corps, holdg hands and walkg on a cy street. Male homosexual sex was outlawed Israel until 1988, and the 1950s the IDF was the only official state stutn to try and jail soldiers for engagg such behavr, acrdg to the Israeli Natnal LGBT Task Force.

ARMY’S ‘GAY SOLDIERS’ PHOTO WAS STAGED, IS MISLEADG

While the army evaluators who nduct pre-ductn terviews are traed to intify gay soldiers and to ask them about their sexual orientatn, the qutns are always “ the realm of affirmative actn, ” he said.

But while homosexualy the ranks is officially accepted, the army appears to rema sensive to the sexual orientatn of higher-rankg officers, Langer said, and there are few homosexuals the upper echelons of the armed servic. But the IDF, which once sentenced two male soldiers to prison for havg nsensual sex, is hailed today by gay rights groups as beg not only the most gay-iendly army the world, but also, many stanc, more progrsive than the society serv.

This look at the plexi of homosexual, bisexual and transgenr service the IDF amid dramatic velopments an Augt 2009 double-murr se at a gay youth center Tel Aviv and advance of the perennially ntroversial gay pri march Jesalem on Augt 1. ” Inbar orred prosecutors to file charg agast soldiers who broke the civilian law — which crimalized homosexual acts only 1988 — solely stanc where: one of those volved was a mor; the sex was not nsensual; one of the parti was unnsc; the sex was nducted public; one of the soldiers was unr the mand of the other. In 1993, “out of regnn that homosexuals are worthy of ary service like all others, ” the IDF, some 18 years before the US Armed Forc, formally opened the draft to all, regardls of sexual orientatn.

A GAY EX-IDF SOLDIER IS RUNNG FOR GERMAN PARLIAMENT — FOR THE FAR-RIGHT

Five years later, the army cut the lkage between sexual orientatn and secury clearanc and rcd a standg orr that required all mandg officers to report gay soldiers to ary telligence’s field secury un for further quiry. Today there are gay, bisexual and transgenr soldiers every part of the army and their rights are protected by an IDF orr that prohibs gradatn or harassment of any kd based on a soldier’s sexualy, “cludg sexual orientatn.

The life partners of gay and lbian reer soldiers are entled to 14 weeks’ paid materny leave and an addnal 12 weeks of unpaid leave, regardls of who the blogil father is (so long as the other man has not also taken leave); their children are eligible for scholarships and nursery school subsidi, even if the reer soldier is not the blogil parent; and the life partner of a same-sex uple is regnized by the army as a wife or hband, entlg them to extensive subsidi on an array of purchas and, the event that the officer di, to a widow’s pensn om the Defense Mistry.

The Israel Gay Youth anizatn polled hundreds of gay soldiers 2011 and found, an onle survey, that 40 percent of all gay soldiers said they have been verbally harassed for their sexual orientatn, 20 percent had been sexually harassed and 4 percent said they had been physilly asslted. In one stance, two gay soldiers manng a roadblock near the refugee mp of Shu’afat were abandoned by a group of soldiers, who were supposed to provi perimeter secury, once beme known that they were gay.

IDF’S GAYS FD IENDS AT THE TOP, LGERG HOMOPHOBIA ON THE GROUND

The two me unr attack by an angry mob at the roadblock — a young girl had been killed and the lols blamed the army for the ath — and the two gay privat were cursed and physilly asslted when they aga approached the soldiers and asked for help. Her peer, Zam, the former bat soldier wh the Kfir Briga who today heads Hoshen’s IDF liaison un, said that there is nstant tensn between the herently macho and homophobic ary and the progrsive laws wrten om up high the cha of mand. Noa Halevi, a dmmer and gay rerv officer who last served durg Operatn Pillar of Defense November, suggted that, spe those ments, female gay soldiers often have an easier time of the army.

In November, the stagg ground outsi Gaza, she said that when beme clear that the IDF would not lnch a ground operatn she heard a group of soldiers rryg on, sayg, “‘The IDF is so gay.

IDF SOLDIER: GAY PEOPLE SERVE A BULLET THE HEAD

When speakg of Un 8200, the IDF branch that als wh signal telligence — a un that drafts om the tellectual and socenomic ele — Chen Peled referred to the base as Gay-lilot, a play off the real name, Glilot. One gay Special Forc officer, who has participated dozens of bat missns and who serv rerv every year as a platoon manr, tailed for The Tim of Israel his experienc and out of the closet a closely kn bat un. As he advanced om sergeant to the posn of manr of a platoon of his own — a somewhat rare promotn given to a soldier who had not been to officer’s school — he began to feel lonely, azzled and sred, both of beg found out to be gay and of embracg homosexualy and “the awful life” he believed dictated.

Safely ensnced the civilian world, he typed the word “gay” to one of the early search eng, chatted anonymoly onle, etted endlsly, and fally went out on his first male date, after which they went to bed, he said, and all of the uncertaty melted away. "I even heard once the ms hall a soldier claimg that he is 'a proud homophobe, ' and another who said that trans people are the worst the muny, " Yair manrs turn vtigated Yair's claims and began nductg lsons on lovg the other.

IDF PROMOT S FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR GENERAL, SHARON AFEK

The Israel Defense Forc promoted s top lawyer, Sharon Afek, to major general on Thursday, makg him the untry’s first openly gay person to hold that rank and rercg the signifince of his posn the ary. It is based primarily on the oral ttimoni of thirty-two Israeli gay men born between 1924–1948, juxtaposed wh historil sourc such as newspaper articl, urt documents, and wrten idf guil.

GAY INTY, SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS, AND MILARY SERVICE

We will explore the qutn of homosexuals’ enrolment the idf and related idf polici throughout the years, as well as var strategi adopted by homosexuals Israel to negotiate their sexualy durg their service.

This article exam the experienc of gay men who served the Israeli army (Israeli Defense Forc, idf, ) om 1948, when was created wh the tablishment of the State of Israel, until the mid-1970s. Prev studi foced on archival documents1 and on the life experienc of gays who served the idf durg the 1980s and 1990s, 2 and on the change idf polici towards lbians and gays that that took place durg the 1990s. We beg wh a brief history of Israeli society and s armed forc and then turn to a scriptn of the shiftg legal and social approach towards homosexualy durg the first s after Israeli pennce.

Followg the troductory sectns, we summarize what is known to date on the official stand of the idf towards homosexualy, emphasizg the lack of rroborated rmatn on official polici and unofficial practic. We suggt that this profound prsure placed army service at a ccial junctn wh gay narrativ of the time, om which the l of the plex relatnships between masculy, natnalism, and homosexualy radiate. Male same-sex sex has been practiced for time immemorial across societi, but not until recently was perceived as beg an herent tra distguishg a specific group of “homosexuals, ” om other, “normal” men.

50+ POPULAR IM GAY ROBLOX IDS

Durg this perd, the major daili wh lol sks London, Paris, and New York rmed the Israeli public about gay and lbian wrers, actors, and artists, and rried reviews of books, movi, and theatre shows that clud gay and lbian them. Israeli newspapers of the time vered a range of stori about homosexualy om the equency of sexual activy between men as documented the Ksey Report13 to the sackg of homosexual workers om ernment posns the Uned Stat, and the exposure of homosexual spi for the sr Bra; to the ntroversy England followg the Wolfenn Commissn 1954 and the publitn of s report 1957 regardg the crimalizatn of sodomy. Israeli rears gradually adopted the view that homosexualy was not a kd of rare disease but rather a type of sexualy that characterized a substantial mory of people who were “like that” not by choice but by nature.

The aboln of this statute hered a new perd of wir regnn of same-sex upl and jot parenthood, though to this day same-sex marriage is still not regnized by the state, same-sex upl are barred om adoptn, and surrogacy for gay upl beme legal Israel only as recently as 2022. Though this notn remas fluential to this day, stands ntrast to the more morn amework that regards all those who are attracted to men as “homosexuals” regardls of the sexual role that they perform.

Both Amerin and Canadian thori grappled wh the and siar qutns, and although both eventually issued orrs to discharge homosexuals om ary service, practice the orrs were met by numero obstacl and most gay servicemen pleted their service. As explaed above, when the idf was created 1948, the ia of sexual orientatn was not yet faiar to most people Israel, and there is no ditn that the idf was ncerned wh the issue of homosexual soldiers durg s early years.

FOR GAY SOLDIERS, IDF SEEN AS ‘MORE PROGRSIVE’ THAN THE STATE

22 Yet durg the Send World War, “the mand for manpower ensured that gays and lbians were not screened out of the service durg mobilisatn and, moreover, that nearly all were retaed”.