Queers the Holy Land: Chokg on Blue and Whe Glter on Gay Birthright

Contents:

• A GAY CHABADNIK, LBIANS WEARG SKULLPS AND HIPSTERS WHO NEVER PRAY: WELE TO LGBTQ BIRTHRIGHT
• DOUBLE MZVA? BIRTHRIGHT’S GAY PARTICIPANTS EMBRACE JEWISH, QUEER INTI
• GAYS, LBIANS TAKE PRI THEIR OWN ISRAELI BIRTHRIGHT
• QUEERS THE HOLY LAND: CHOKG ON BLUE AND WHE GLTER ON GAY BIRTHRIGHT
• ISRAEL PRENTS ITSELF AS HAVEN FOR GAY COMMUNY

A GAY CHABADNIK, LBIANS WEARG SKULLPS AND HIPSTERS WHO NEVER PRAY: WELE TO LGBTQ BIRTHRIGHT

Israel never prosecuted anyone unr the law agast sodomy sce the 1963 urt cisn; neverthels, s maximum penalty of 10 years prison created fear the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer (LGBTQ) muny. In 1998, the IDF ceased to lk sexual orientatn to secury clearanc and rcd a standg orr that required mandg officers to report gay soldiers for evaluatn. Steer had argued that the benefs are given to live- heterosexual partners and that, acrdg to the Danilowz precent, homosexual partners are equally entled to them.

The Steer cisn was more far-reachg than the Danilowz lg, which alt wh a private ntract; gay rights activists expect the former to have ramifitns for the entire public sector. On the program, part of ETV’s Open Cards seri, homosexual teens and the mother of a homosexual boy told their stori to a teenage dience, followed by qutns and ments om the dience. In 1997, the Associatn for Civil Rights Israel (ACRI), joed by the Lbian Femist Communy and the Associatn for the Protectn of Individual Rights of Homosexuals, Lbians, and Bisexuals Israel, petned the High Court to overturn Hammer’s cisn.

They asserted that one-third of teen suicis are related to homosexualy; the program was extremely important bee shows homosexual teenagers that they are not alone and giv heterosexual teens a better unrstandg of their homosexual peers. Israel was ranked the seventh happit place the world for gay men to live on the first-ever annual Gay Happs Inx 2015, which surveyed over 115, 000 gay men 127 untri. The survey named Iceland as the untry which gay men feel most accepted and happit to live , followed by their Nordic neighbors Norway, Denmark, and Swen.

DOUBLE MZVA? BIRTHRIGHT’S GAY PARTICIPANTS EMBRACE JEWISH, QUEER INTI

The attacker, Yishai Schlissel, had been released om prison jt weeks before pletg a 12-year sentence for stabbg three dividuals at the Jesalem Gay Pri para 2005.

Amir Ohana, a gay Knset member om Netanyahu’s Likud Party, pared LGBT people to Jews who throughout history have been “hated for no reason, persecuted, discrimated agast and faced forced nversn. In his 2, 000-word post, Moszon spoke on morn homophobia sports and stated that some of his fellow athlet have chosen suici over “g out of the closet. In July 2016, the cy of Beersheba’s first-ever gay pri march was nceled after the Israeli Supreme Court altered the route due to ncerns about vlence the area.

Its importance do not lie what TV crics or famo LGBTQ activists thk about , but rather s impact on a closeted gay person om an ultra-Orthodox cy or the periphery, plac where ’s harr to be gay. The chair of Aguda, Hila Peer, said, “In tim when the public support for the gay muny is the hight ever, extremist groups are workg hard to flame the hatred and there is no choice but to stop them.

GAYS, LBIANS TAKE PRI THEIR OWN ISRAELI BIRTHRIGHT

The report clearly shows the stctive fluence of the polici, polil disurse filled wh hatred, and the exprsns of vlence on the daily realy of members of the gay muny.

It’s unlikely he would have kept his ol if he’d known that the Chabad man oppose him was part of an LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr) group of Birthright participants. Yochanan Hizkiyahu participat a Birthright trip for LGBTQ Daniel TchetchikSome 12 hours earlier, Hizkiyahu had been a star attractn at the Tel Aviv Gay Pri Para.

Others reacted differently, shoutg at him, and two cursed him, but he took stri after beg told that people still remembered that a Haredi man had stabbed and wound three participants the Jesalem Gay Pri Para 2005. Given the openns of the muni, synagogu and rabbis of many of the participants, one might almost thk there were two different religns: the flexible, pluralistic (even “ol, ” some would say) forms of non-Orthodox Judaism domant North Ameri, and the state-sanctned Israeli form of Orthodoxy, which monstrat s anachronism anew each latt stance was the refal of Bar-Ilan Universy to allow an event markg Gay Pri Week on the mp, wh the stutn’s spokman likeng the planned event to a gatherg of pedophil. )Durg the two days I spent wh the group, I uldn’t help wonrg about the fact that the same Israel that ref to regnize marriag among gays – sce marriag are the purview of the chief rabbate and there are no civil unns – and discrimat agast same-sex upl the allotn of social benefs, and where some MKs are openly homophobic, also v more than 40 gay men and lbians to partake of a ee 10-day Birthright Katzav, Birthright trip for LGBTQ Jews tour lear.

QUEERS THE HOLY LAND: CHOKG ON BLUE AND WHE GLTER ON GAY BIRTHRIGHT

'Cred: Daniel TchetchikDo the fact that the gays this group are practicg Jews acunt for the first-class treatment they were gettg as visors, as pared wh the mixed msag the state transms to s cizens who are gay? “I always make clear to the members of my groups on the first day that I don’t tend to say a word to them about immigratg to Israel, enlistg the army or donatg to the untry, ” says Shany Katzav the group’s energetic chief tour lear, who works wh gay and straight groups alike.

In that se, we n probably le out the mographic threat – Israel’s fear of losg s Jewish majory – as the reason for havg gay groups for the enomic aspect, somethg that another tour lear, David, said while talkg about the social-prott movement of 2011 as the group’s b drove along Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv, where all began, rais the spicn that LGBT buyg power is ed a motivatg factor brgg Jewish gays to are many small bs Israel, which are not part of big chas, he told the group, and if tour participants shop those small bs and general spend money here, they will be helpg the Israeli enomy. Acrdg to Birthright’s CEO, Gidi Mark, the tours of gays – to date there have been 18 such groups of 40 participants each, out of a total of 430, 000 people who have taken part the project sce s ceptn – are the rult of mand.

ISRAEL PRENTS ITSELF AS HAVEN FOR GAY COMMUNY

There are groups of bloggers, physicians, journalists, fashn signers, people wh Asperger syndrome, participants nfed to wheelchairs and adds that Birthright is receptive to groundswell iativ: At some pot, someone asked Birthright to anize a group of gays, and that turned out to be a genue need. After all, 30 percent of the project’s budget om the Prime Mister’s Office and the Diaspora Affairs Mistry, now head by Naftali Bent of Habay Hayehudi, a largely homophobic party.