Homosexualy and the Israel Defense Forc: Did Liftg the Gay Ban Unrme Milary Performance? on JSTOR

Contents:

• IDF GAY SOLDIERS
• ISRAEL’S FAVORE GAY SOLDIER RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN
• ISRAEL A MOL ON GAYS THE ARY
• ISRAELI ARMY'S GAY SOLDIERS MT STOP PERSECUTG GAY PALTIANS
• WATCH: EXCLIVE LOOK AT GAY ISRAELI LOVE STORY YOSSI
• GAY ISRAELI SOLDIERS CLAIM HARASSMENT
• ISRAELI ARY ACCED OF STAGG GAY PRI PHOTO
• JEWISH GAYS WRECK AMERIN CULTURE
• ARMY’S ‘GAY SOLDIERS’ PHOTO WAS STAGED, IS MISLEADG

IDF GAY SOLDIERS

We take a look at the celebrated gay scene Israel wh an eclectic variety of some of the most ntroversial and celebrated LGBT films wrten, directed and produced the untry.

ISRAEL’S FAVORE GAY SOLDIER RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN

Oriented (2012) Oriented is a fascatg documentary film about three gay Paltian iends their 20s livg life Tel Aviv.

The film is not only a morn tale of the trials and tribulatns of beg gay society, also documents the difficulti of beg gay for Paltian men and how the issue clash wh Islamic doctre.

Directed by Eytan Fox, this romantic film follows two gay soldiers the Israeli ary as they al wh daily life at the Israel-Lebanon borr. The film, a directorial but for Michael Mayer, portrays the polil plitns of an Israeli fallg love wh a Paltian the Wt Bank and the evable problems of homosexualy a nservative Mlim society. 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.

ISRAEL A MOL ON GAYS THE ARY

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.

ISRAELI ARMY'S GAY SOLDIERS MT STOP PERSECUTG GAY PALTIANS

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. Straight or gay, Amerin or Israeli, certa typ of wishful thkg turn out to be universal. And Israel, like the Uned Stat, is home to vol relig nservativ who own on Israel, unlike the Uned Stat, has allowed gays and lbians to serve openly the ary for 17 years.

In fact, they are required, if Israel has found a way to allow gays the ary, n provi lsons to the U.

WATCH: EXCLIVE LOOK AT GAY ISRAELI LOVE STORY YOSSI

And Israel is most acunts, Israel's tegratn of gays the ary has succeed, and the Israel Defense Forc (IDF) has reportedly begun to share s experienc wh the U.

GAY ISRAELI SOLDIERS CLAIM HARASSMENT

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.

Before Israel changed s law, many gays and lbians performed Natnal Service.

ISRAELI ARY ACCED OF STAGG GAY PRI PHOTO

Yonatan Gher, director of the Jesalem Open Hoe, a proment Israeli gay rights group, said the IDF "seeks out" trag om gay groups orr to better serve and tegrate the soldiers.

"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. "Those who volunteer, whether they're gay or straight, are already motivated and will be good soldiers.

JEWISH GAYS WRECK AMERIN CULTURE

upgra her secury ratg and dog so tells an vtigator she's gay. not what some would ll a "gay" film but variably is the wist sense.

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

-- has some of the bt homoeroticism (jt say "Iceman" to any gay man and. very least, so rife wh homoerotic subtext that you'd have to be Fred Phelps. Jean Ge's gay prison art film, Un Chant d'Amour (1950), and dissolv to a scene.