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Israel LGBTQ leaders discuss history, state of movement
by Gretchen Rachel Blickensderfer
2014-08-20

This article shared 5976 times since Wed Aug 20, 2014
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On Aug. 12, Israeli Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar granted same-sex spouses of Jews the right to citizenship under the country's Law of Return—originally passed in 1950 providing Jews all over the world with the legal ability to settle in Israel. The Times of Israel reported that Sa'ar issued a statement saying "The gates of Israel will from now on be open to any Jew and his family, without discrimination based on his way of life."

It was a victory for the Israel's LGBTQ community and for The Aguda: The Israeli National LGBT Taskforce, which was founded in 1975 and which describes its mission as a "national grassroots, volunteer-based, nonprofit human-rights organization representing the LGBT community. We promote and advance new initiatives and cultivate leadership and partnership with all sectors and groups within the community."

"Although it is still not getting us closer to civil marriage or same-sex marriage in Israel," the Aguda wrote on its Facebook page, "we are proud of the decision. We will continue to fight until we get full equality."

On Aug. 13, the Israeli consulate to the Midwest held an open discussion with the Aguda's executive director, Natalie Sade, and board member Michal Sher at the Lakeview home of Linda and Paul Saiger.

An accomplished business consultant, marketing specialist, activist and writer, Sade has been a member of the Aguda for 10 years, becoming Executive Director of the organization in 2012. A fervent advocate for transgender rights and the advancement of LGBT youth, she devised and executed LGBTQ sensitivity training for the Israel Airport Authority and has authored a column in Israel's LGBTQ community magazine Zman Varod ( Pink Times ) since 2006.

In addition to her duties as an Aguda board member, Sher—a 32-year-old DJ from Tel Aviv who has played worldwide—volunteers five evenings per week at a crisis hotline for LGBTQ people as well as at a hostel for LGBTQ youth in Israel who have been thrown out by their families because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Sade and Sher addressed an enthusiastic audience—that included Israel's Consul General to the Midwest the Honorable Roey Gilad—who crowded into the Saigers' living room. The informal setting helped spur an uninhibited discussion on the history, advancements and challenges of the LGBTQ community in Israel, its relationship with the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF ) and both the orthodox and ultra orthodox religious communities.

In providing historical context, Sade began with the formation of the modern state of Israel in 1948, ironically noting its initial adoption of English law. "The gift England gave us was that having gay relationships was a criminal act," she said. "No one intended for that to happen. In 1952, the legal advisor to government of Israel Haim Cohn gave instructions not to apply the law. In Israel you don't get penalized for 'being'. Right now in Iraq and Syria, a new entity is attempting to punish people for 'being'."

According to Sade, although the Israeli LGBTQ community saw and were inspired by the birth of Gay Pride in the United States after the 1969 Stonewall riots, continuing threats to the country's security—such as the 1973 Yom Kippur attacks by Syria and Egypt—put many civic issues on hold. It wasn't until 1975 that a lesbian and gay movement was created in Israel under the Aguda—a general term defined as something that is "bound together or an association."

"People wanted to change the law," Sade said. "If you a part of a minority, you still have peers but the LGBTQ minority is different in that the solitary is personal; you think that you're alone. So there was a real need to create a place to meet, talk and express identity."

Within 13 years, the Knesset ( Israeli legislature ) had repealed the criminalization of homosexual acts.

In 1993, a member of the IDF called Uzi Evan was outed as a gay man. "In those days, the Israelis thought that might be a security hazard" Sade recalled. "The prime minister—the late Yitzhak Rabin— was leaving a government meeting and his chief of staff said 'we have a problem. This guy we want to promote is gay.' So Rabin looks at him and said 'so what?' That was the day the IDF became totally inclusive."

Although inclusion was at first limited to gay and lesbian service members, Sade noted that today transgender people serve openly and are even allowed time off when necessary for transition-related care.

"The IDF is the most progressive army in the world," Sade said. "If you are HIV-positive you can volunteer and be recognized for your service. You will see pictures of soldiers on tanks holding the gay flag."

Sher added an anecdote about an anti-LGBT organization: "[The group] opened a Facebook page with the picture of two soldiers kissing in uniform. They called the page 'Faggot's Army.' But the page which was opened on a negative note did the exact opposite. The whole world saw it and thought it was amazing."

In 1998, an Israeli trans woman named Dana International was entered into and won the Eurovision Song Contest with a song called "Diva." The resulting celebration was raucous and united. The same year, a drag event called "Wigstock" was stopped by police because it was continuing past Shabbat ( The Sabbath ). "The police came wearing [protective] gloves," Sade explained. "The community was insulted and very quickly it became our Stonewall. That led to the formation of Gay Pride."

Sade added that the Gay Pride parade in Tel Aviv this year attracted around 125,000 people and is thought of as the biggest party in town.

From 2000 on, the Israeli LGBTQ community became active in legislative reform including the issue of marriage. "In the next few years, you will start seeing lobbying and promotion of pro-LGBT legislation," Sade said. "We are starting to create language that is more inclusive and we are moving from asking the courts to protect us to changing legislation. That is a new frontier."

A similar frontier has been reached with the opening of a dialogue between the LGBTQ community and religious institutions in Israel. "Ten years ago in Israel, you had to be gay or you had to be religious," Sade said. "You couldn't be both. Rabbis were not willing to discuss the issue. During the last few years we've had some grassroots organizations of religious gays and lesbians. We have a lot of work being done to create a bridge. There is a congregation in Jerusalem that is working on equality even though it is Orthodox."

She went on to cite a story in May of this year when a Yaakov Ariel, chief rabbi of the city of Ramat Gan, suggested that renting an apartment to a lesbian couple was forbidden by religious law. The issue has been the catalyst to possible Knesset legislation against housing discrimination. "One of the women called the Rabbi a hypocrite," Sade recalled. "She said, 'You are willing to accept people who are not keeping the Shabbat but—when it comes to this—you don't budge.' There are voices being heard and questions being asked. What's worse? Not keeping Shabbat or being gay? Those questions will need to be answered."

They are part of many challenges still facing Sade, Sher and the Aguda, not the least of which is continued funding for the resources they need to further their mission and programming. "We have a program for LGBT youth who drop out of the school system," Sade told Windy City Times. "So instead of being found on the streets or in prostitution, they can experience being loved and accepted and success on their own terms. But we can only take 15 students per year."

She also asserted that, much as it is in the United States, for Israeli transgender people the issue is not marriage equality but surviving and keeping roofs over their heads.

During the Q&A with the audience, Sade discussed the 2012 accusation by Columbia law professor Katherine Franke that "Israel traffics in gay rights to 'pinkwash' its international reputation."

"Last year we invited this professor to a panel where and whenever she wanted," Sade said. "We never got a reply. They are not willing to have a dialogue, but to engage in a monologue that says we are criminals and crooks. Like any other governments, the government of Israel is doing good things and things that need to be corrected. But—in my country—I am free to ask that government to work and create solutions. I am free to meet with government officials. We are not perfect, but we are free and open and we are a society where you have the right to pursue whatever you want and to be represented. The Knesset doors are open to everyone."

To that end, Sade is actively looking to recruit new leaders in the Israeli LGBTQ community. "We need to find people who are vested in this work and empower them," she said. "The LGBT movement does not wish to force itself upon society. It simply wants to be a part of society and there is still a lot of work to be done."

For more information on the Aguda, visit www.facebook.com/TheAGUDA.ISRAEL .


This article shared 5976 times since Wed Aug 20, 2014
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