I first wrote this article about gay pride parades in Israel back in June 2007. My argument was that such parades should be held in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem. I also argued that, contrary to what some Western people think, Israel is not a homophobic country and I explained my first-hand evidence for this assertion.
I was surprised by the reaction to the article. Everyone from gay rights fanatics to observant religious folk seemed to disagree with it and I received countless emails of complaint. One Israeli guy I know even stopped talking to me for some months because he was so angry about my empathy with the Haredim. And there was me thinking I’d written a balanced argument – my planned career as a diplomat was immediately put on hold.
I was actually in Jerusalem on the day of the controversial parade (which coincided with my birthday). I didn’t attend – partly for the reasons outlined in the article, partly because I think such events are an embarrassing bore, and partly because the pool at the lovely Mount Zion hotel is very difficult to leave once you’re sprawled out by it. I noticed, though, that the parade caused little fuss in Jerusalem itself beyond a few moans about traffic disruption from taxi drivers. The lack of fuss surprised me after the way my article had so divided people.
However, people slowly seemed to see my argument differently. First, an Israeli teacher I know started quoting it in one of his classes. Then a website used it as evidence that I am ‘nuanced’. Well, I’ve been called some things in my time…
With the forthcoming gay pride parade planned for Friday in Tel Aviv, I dusted off my article earlier today and posted it on my Facebook page. I half feared another barrage of disagreement but it was quickly approved of by several people, with one friend saying: “I agree 100 per cent with this article”.
There you go, I was just ahead of my time.
PS – You can now also read my article ‘The Six Day Phwoar’ about gay life in Israel (written for Attitude magazine in 2006) here.
It is indeed nuanced. If Israel were generally homophobic, or there were institutional laws against gay people, then making a point about marching through Jerusalem would be valid. But, paradoxically, it shows a great sense of *self confidence* and *pride* to be able to say “actually, we’re comfortable enough that we don’t feel we need to march through Jerusalem”. Only a mature, well represented, rights-holding community could feel sufficiently at ease to agree to this without feeling it was “betraying” any great principle, and was just being kind.
while i applaud your efforts to approach this issue with a cool head, i fundamentally disagree with your conclusion. at heart, this is about the rights to freedom of speech and assembly that should be core values of israeli society and which, thankfully, the israeli courts have consistently defended.
jerusalem does not belong to the haredim, and we mustn’t surrender to the idea posited by them that it does. in the capital city, all israelis should be free to act as he or she chooses, within the law. if you are proud to be gay in tel aviv, then you should be proud to be gay in jerusalem too.
haredim have a lot of chutzpah to claim that jerusalem gay pride is disrespectful to them when they themselves have no respect for gay israelis, or secular israelis in general for that matter.
moreover, maybe the haredi communities should consider contributing productively to israeli society, as opposed to sponging off it like they do at present, before they start lecturing hard working, idf-serving israelis about their right to march through jerusalem.
It’s hard to disagree with you Naomi!