Israel is the gayt untry on earth | Yoni Leviatan | The Blogs

Contents:

• THE SHOCKG LIFE OF ISRAEL'S MOST FAMO GAY PORN STAR
• MALAYSIA CUTS SHORT MIC FT AFTER BRISH BAND SLAMS ANTI-GAY LAWS, SGER KISS MALE BANDMATE
• ISRAEL IS THE GAYT UNTRY ON EARTH
• ISRAELI POLICIAN SUGGTS DOCTORS ULD REFE TO TREAT GAY PATIENTS

THE SHOCKG LIFE OF ISRAEL'S MOST FAMO GAY PORN STAR

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. 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. 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.

Anyone who’s read a scriptn of the movie, which follows a the life of Israeli gay-porn star Jonathan Agassi, but who expects some refement or ncealment, will be disappoted. Up Close and Personal Wh an Israeli Gay Porn Star How to Film Sex Scen the Era of MeToo “The movie isn’t difficult for me, I don’t watch and experience anew the difficult perd I went through. While filmg was still unrway, even before Men of Israel beme one of the most profable gay-porn featur, he was signed on for two more porn producer and fervent Znist Michael Lus, who employed Agassi pornographic REUTERSThat’s when the name "Jonathan Agassi" was born, an alter ego that he scrib the current movie as a superhero, a character who helps him, who's always on his si.

Israel is known as a gay haven the Middle East, and Tel Aviv is equently ced as one of the most gay-iendly ci the world, wh a Pri para that draws hundreds of thoands of revelers om Israel and abroad. A rarely enforced ban on homosexual relatns was taken off the books 1988, and the army began allowg openly gay service members 1993 — the same year the U.

MALAYSIA CUTS SHORT MIC FT AFTER BRISH BAND SLAMS ANTI-GAY LAWS, SGER KISS MALE BANDMATE

Dpe the legal protectns, LGBTQ Israelis have long faced opposn om wh the haredi Orthodox sector, where rabbis veigh agast homosexualy and policians have vowed to n the untry acrdg to Orthodox terpretatns of Jewish law. The Relig Znist Party, one of three the Relig Znist Bloc, is led by Bezalel Smotrich, who has lled himself a “proud homophobe” and has envisned Israel as a theocracy. He lled the ia of lettg medil provirs ny re to LGBTQ patients “unacceptable” and has appoted a close ally who is gay, Amir Ohana, as Knset speaker.

LGBTQ Israelis are playg a ccial role the mountg anti-ernment protts, activatg a work that put some 100, 000 people the streets 2018 after Netanyahu voted agast a bill to allow gay upl to e surrogacy. As JW3, the Jewish muny centre north London, lnch GayW3, celebratg the liv of the LGBTQ muny throughout history to the prent day through film, theatre, mic and discsn, and upliftg Brish-Israeli documentary Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?, backed by the BFI, prepar for s cema release, now is a great time to look back at the bt of Jewish and Israeli LGBT cema. Gay Jewish characters have been the subject of great films om around the world, and the list below featur films om the UK, France, Germany, the US, and, of urse, Israel.

ISRAEL IS THE GAYT UNTRY ON EARTH

A number of Brish films jt missed the list, cludg Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), which Jewish doctor Peter Fch enjoyed Brish cema’s first male-on-male kiss; award-wng short film Sidney Turtlebm (2008), starrg Derek Jabi as an elrly gay Jewish pickpocket and nman; and Lisa Gornick’s latt film, The Book of Gabrielle (2016), a funny and sharp study of a Jewish lbian whose sexualy is thrown to turmoil. His adaptatn of Mart Crowley’s play, about a group of gay men who gather for Harold’s party, rultg a cel eveng of sadistic gam and sabotage, me at the wrong time – as the gay liberatn movement tablished s voice the early 1970s, negative or prsg pictns of gay men the media were seen as archaic and obstctive to progrs.

While Michael, the pathetic protagonist, is ed an unlikeable and self-pyg monster, the other characters are far more sympathetic, while the glor Harold, utterly unashamed of his homosexualy and wh nothg to hi, emerg om the rnage unsthed.

Torch Song Trilogy (1988)Harvey Fierste is bt known for his stage work, particularly for wrg the books for the stage mils La Cage x Foll and Kky Boots, jog Stephen Sondheim and Jerry Herman as Broadway legends who happened to be both gay and Jewish. The star of the show, though, is Fierste, who mak Arnold a lovable, vulgar and believably human figure who challenged the perceptn of drag queens as sexls clowns shamg the gay muny.

ISRAELI POLICIAN SUGGTS DOCTORS ULD REFE TO TREAT GAY PATIENTS

He kicked off his short reer wh Driftg (1982), a grim, semi-tobgraphil tale of a gay filmmaker tryg and failg to fd love and fundg for his next film. Amazg Grace, ma nearly a later, is a much stronger piece of work, about two gay men – one an nocent teenager om a troubled fay, the other an HIV patient – who fall for each other after meetg Tel Aviv. In Man Is a Woman, he brgs all his nsirable charm and charisma to the role of Simon, a gay Klezmer mician who is offered 10 ln ancs om his tradnalist uncle if he agre to marry a woman.

An attempted kiss at a New Year’s Eve party velops to a passnate romance, but the vlently homophobic and antisemic world of wartime Berl threatens their happs. Few gay and lbian survivors were alive to tell their stori when Rob Epste and Jefey Friedman ma their important documentary Paragraph 175, whose tle riv om the German act of law prohibg gay sex, which ntued to exist to the 1990s. Rather than producg a para of cshed victims, the film foregrounds the sharp mentary of Gad Beck, a Jewish gay man who helped refuge pe; the wistful memori of love lost om Hez F., still too guard to reveal his full name; and the undiluted anger of Pierre Seel, who was tortured by Nazi officers.

Luckily, Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Wtfeldt, who wrote and star as said let’s-give--a-whirl ‘lbians’, have w and chemistry on their si and create the neart cema has e to a gay Woody Allen movie.

The nflict between homosexualy and Orthodox Judaism has been explored a number of excellent documentari, cludg Tremblg Before G-d (2001), Keep Not Silent (2005) and Jesalem Is Proud to Prent (2008). Yossi (2012)Eytan Fox is one of Israel’s foremost directors, and all of his films foc on gay characters, often g homosexualy to ment on a wir theme, such as self-realisatn Mossad thriller Walk on Water (2004) or the Israeli–Paltian nflict The Bubble (2006).

Where Amos Guttman wallowed the sadns of gay liv, workg as he was an era of fear and prejudice durg the AIDS crisis, Fox’s films are more optimistic and celebratory, if ocsnally btersweet. (2016)After a year on the ftival circu, where won the documentary award at the Berl Film Ftival and the dience award at the UK Internatnal Jewish Film Ftival, Barak and Tomer Heymann’s feature about the life of Saar Maoz, an HIV posive gay man livg London after beg rejected by his Israeli fay and driven away om his Kibbutz, is fally gettg a short cema release April 2017. Saar fds acceptance the welg arms of the London Gay Men’s Chos, but the need to heal the rift between him and his fay leads him to ntemplate returng to Israel for good.