Israel’s favore gay soldier returns to the big screen | The Tim of Israel

Contents:

• IDF GAY SOLDIERS
• IDF’S GAYS FD IENDS AT THE TOP, LGERG HOMOPHOBIA ON THE GROUND
• ISRAEL’S FAVORE GAY SOLDIER RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN
• ISRAEL A MOL ON GAYS THE ARY
• ARMY’S ‘GAY SOLDIERS’ PHOTO WAS STAGED, IS MISLEADG
• 40% OF IDF’S GAY SOLDIERS SUFFER ABE
• ISRAELI ARMY'S GAY SOLDIERS MT STOP PERSECUTG GAY PALTIANS
• JEWISH GAYS WRECK AMERIN CULTURE
• ISRAELI ARY ACCED OF STAGG GAY PRI PHOTO
• FOR GAY SOLDIERS, IDF SEEN AS ‘MORE PROGRSIVE’ THAN THE STATE
• GAY ISRAELI SOLDIERS CLAIM HARASSMENT
• GAYS THE ISRAELI MILARY

IDF GAY SOLDIERS

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. 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.

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

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. 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.

ISRAEL’S FAVORE GAY SOLDIER RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN

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. 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.

In “Yossi & Jagger, ” the closeted wboys of the Hollywood film are forhadowed by a siarly secret affair — a relatnship between gay Israeli soldiers servg near the borr wh Lebanon. It’s a subtle but powerful observatn by Fox, notg the speed wh which social l are changg, as well as the difficulti that many — cludg some gay men themselv — are experiencg as they try to keep up. In fact, beyond the gay them, viewers may notice that the film’s romantic elements aren’t so different om more tradnal cematic love stori, reflectg certa fantasi mon works by male directors — pecially those who, like Fox, have reached middle age.

ISRAEL A MOL ON GAYS THE ARY

Will bee the 26th natn to fully tegrate gay and straight members of the ary, acrdg to the Palm Center, a thk tank at the Universy of California Santa Belk, the center's director, said full tegratn has been succsful even untri engaged equent bat, cg Israel, Amerin's closet ally the Middle East, as an example. Draftg openly gay soldiers to the IDF and other ary forc "has been highly succsful and has no negative impact on morale, retentn, reads or overall bat effectivens, " acrdg to a Palm Center report, "Gays Foreign Milari 2010. As a natn wh mandatory ary service for both men and women, and a strong relig ethos that dictat almost every facet of everyday life, the Israeli ernment tread IDF began placg openly gay soldiers uns as early as 1983.

Internal monorg of gays ntued until then did homosexualy the IDF "beme totally a non-issue, " said Franc Raday, a profsor of ternatnal law at the College of Management Amic Studi the cy of Rishon wh the heavy fluence Israel's ultra-nservative relig polil parti wield parliament, the untry has "an extremely liberal stand on homosexualy, " said David Rosen, the Jesalem-based ternatnal director of terrelig affairs for the Amerin Jewish Commtee, noted that the same ultra-Orthodox lears who regularly cry gay pri paras never tried to stop openly gay soldiers om IDF reason, Rosen theorized, is that they did not want to open a natnal bate over who n serve the IDF, bee ultra-Orthodox semary stunts are exempt om ary service -- a policy that a majory of Israelis want to ncel.

Relig Znists -- Morn Orthodox Jews who serve the IDF -- have been more preoccupied wh preventg teractn between male and female soldiers than the stat of gays and lbians, Rosen said.

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

"We speak wh them regularly, pecially wh manrs and tors, " Gher said, addg that the IDF has been "sharg s rmatn" wh the Lev, who disclosed his homosexualy durg a stt the IDF, believ that wh the proper environment, beg gay the ary "n be a non-issue.

40% OF IDF’S GAY SOLDIERS SUFFER ABE

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.

ISRAELI ARMY'S GAY SOLDIERS MT STOP PERSECUTG GAY PALTIANS

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.

The IDF Spokperson’s Office lled the matter of homosexualy a “non-issue, ” sayg that “jt as there is no policy plac for blonds and bs, so too is there no special policy for gays. 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.

Half of the homosexual soldiers who serve the IDF claim that they suffer om vlence and homophobia, acrdg to a survey released on Monday by the Israeli Gay Youth survey was nducted among soldiers who are known members of the LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr) muny as well as youth who are unrgog the ductn survey found that LGBT soldiers were often victims of verbal and physil vlence and that the phenomenon was, for the most part, ignored by IDF do not qutn ndidat for ary service about their sexual orientatn and soldiers who intify themselv as gay are drafted. “The IDF is known as one of the more enlightened ari the world which allows male and female soldiers who are not heterosexual to serve s ranks, ” the Israeli Gay Youth movement said a statement. Another 37% participate and jo makg fun of the homosexual soldier; 13% reprimand the soldiers who are makg fun of the homosexual Israeli Gay Youth movement noted that this was an improvement sce the last survey nducted 2006, when 62% of the soldiers were found to participate makg fun of homosexual IDF Spokman’s Office said a statement: “The survey was not nducted by the ary and therefore we nnot ment on the claim that has to do wh abe that will be received the IDF will be alt wh acrdgly.

JEWISH GAYS WRECK AMERIN CULTURE

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 ARY ACCED OF STAGG GAY PRI PHOTO

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.

It was the victory of Roman General T, who utterly stroyed the cy of Jesalem, unmercifully massacred the homosexual Jewish warrrs, and left not one rock on top another of the Jewish Temple built by their Idumean Kg Herod. The Southern Poverty Law Center, an evil, propaganda-spewg Jewish group, is pro-gay all the way, and the son of Abraham Foxman, head of the ungodly group, the ADL, is the hband (or wife?

The Israeli ary has been acced of stagg a photograph published to celebrate s progrsive attu to image, of two male soldiers holdg hands while walkg down a street uniform, was posted on the Israel Defence Forc' Facebook page to ci wh gay pri events Tel ptn read: "It's pri month. "By noon on Wednday had been "liked" almost 10, 000 tim and had attracted more than 1, 400 the Tim of Israel news webse claimed the photograph was misleadg, sayg: "The two soldiers the photo are not a uple, only one of the two is gay, and both the soldiers serve the IDF spokperson's office.

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

There are an timated 65, 000 gay and lbian service personnel the US ban on gay and lbian people servg the Brish ary was lifted Israeli activists have acced their ernment of "pkwashg" – prentg Israel as enlightened bee of s gay-iendly attus while nyg human rights to Paltians. Ogen’s wife gave birth to their son, and though Israel’s laws make easier for lbian partners to get ctody pared to the procs for gay men to adopt a child, will still be some time before Ogen is nsired her son’s legal guardian. In fact, the only homophobia Ogen and her wife ever experienced took place while she was on leave, when a man yelled at them a shoppg mall parkg lot, tellg them to “get their perversn out of here.

While Ogen regnized that as a lbian her experienc the army were easier than those of gay male and transgenr soldiers, she strs that the IDF is nsired one of the world’s more progrsive ari as relat to LGBT issu and for good reason. Ogen bsh off the ncern that by speakg so glowgly of her experienc the army she is takg part “pkwashg, ” or verg up Israel’s problems by strsg s better treatment of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people. She was so ed to the IDF’s more acceptg polici regardg gay and lbian upl, Ogen was surprised when the Defense Mistry announced May that the “bereaved” same-sex partners of soldiers who fall battle would receive the same benefs as their heterosexual unterparts.

GAY ISRAELI SOLDIERS CLAIM HARASSMENT

” she anizatn aims to change the upg months the anizatn will create pre-ary preparatory urs signed to empower and provi guidance and tools for women and LGBT muny members terted bat will also be mentorg by female or gay former bat soldiers to soldiers throughout their service, and a nference honorg those om the LGBT muny who serve the secury forc. In the 1967 and 1973 wars he was assigned as an telligence officer wh bat uns Sai and on the Golan, after a secury check 10 years ago turned up that he was livg wh another man, he cid he would no longer hi his homosexualy. Conscripts are not asked about sexual orientatn, and people who are openly gay are not dmmed out of the service bee of as Profsor Even's experience suggts, the Israeli Army may be somethg ls than the mol of tolerance and openns supposed by some who ce Israel's example advotg an end to the ban on homosexuals the ary the Uned cince, at the same time that the Uned Stat has been enmhed the issue, Israel has recently been engagg a rare and ocsnally tense public bate on attus toward homosexualy s army.

GAYS THE ISRAELI MILARY

Prsure to Hi HomosexualyAlthough homosexuals serve wh everyone else the ary Israel, many Israeli homosexuals say that realy they feel prsur to hi their orientatn, both active service and the rerve duty that most men perform for a month or two each year until the age of 51. Dpe the fact that gay Israelis are nscripted, for example, those soldiers who are found to be homosexuals, or who clare that fact openly, are required to unrgo psychologil ttg and secury checks, an ditn that the Army still regards them wh distst and ncern that their orientatn might reflect emotnal requirement of secury checks appears also to reflect ncern about blackmail for those who have kept their homosexualy to themselv.

They were years ahead of Parliament, which elimated sodomy as a crime only 1988, and banned job discrimatn on the basis of sexual orientatn late is no ary specifilly erng homosexual nduct. Army Issu StatementAfter Profsor Even's ttimony, the army issued a formal statement rejectg charg of bias and sayg that homosexuals are not prohibed, as a group, om sensive assignments. "Soldiers clared or found to be homosexuals will be rtricted om servg highly sensive uns like telligence, " Rven Gal, a former Army chief psychologist, said an terview last week wh Israel Rad.