Homosexuality in Israel

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Scene from Tel Aviv Pride , 2004
Signs / dedication for the Israeli LGBT community in Ja'ar ha-Ga'ava ("Forest of Pride")

Homosexuality in Israel describes the complex situation of lesbians and gays in the Jewish state and the occupied territories .

In the early days of Israel, the sodomy laws of the mandate were still in force . These penal laws were no longer enforced early on and were abolished in the 1980s. After 1993, the groups grouped under the heading LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender) achieved far-reaching improvements in politics, law and society both during the rule of the Likud bloc and under the Labor Party . Since the regulations were liberalized under Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin in 1993, the Israeli army has also accepted applicants without distinction of sexual orientation , who hold all ranks up to general.

There are still reservations, among other things, in the strongly religious and orthodox-oriented areas of society and the associated settlements. There were also isolated violent attacks afterwards, for example at the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem in 2015 and legal disputes.

In Israel , LGBT people enjoy the most advanced rights and the greatest possible emancipation compared to all countries in the Middle East. Israel was also the first country in Asia to protect homosexuals through anti-discrimination law in 2001. Against considerable resistance, adoption by same-sex couples was also made possible. A registered partnership is possible, a marriage as such is not.

According to Out magazine , Tel Aviv in particular is known as the “gay capital of the Middle East” and in 2011 was named one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world. In comparison, the situation in the Palestinian Territories is much worse. There, non-heterosexual people face intolerance and persecution.

Civil partnerships and marriages

Since 2002 you have been able to register your homosexual partnership in Tel Aviv and receive additional local privileges. A court ruling by the Supreme Court of November 21, 2006 stipulates that " gay marriages " entered into abroad are valid. Homosexual couples have tax privileges like heterosexual couples and the right to adopt. The homosexual partnership in Israel only has to be made credible, while an official legal partnership is not necessary and would not be possible in Israel itself due to the limitations of the professional and civil law . Since 2013, a bill has been debated in parliament to expand the state recognition of homosexual partnerships for registered partnerships (regardless of sexual orientation). The bill failed in July 2015.

In November 2005, a lesbian wife was allowed to adopt her partner's child who was conceived by an anonymous sperm donor. This decision was heavily criticized by the Jewish Orthodox parties, which, however, are in the minority in parliament.

In June 2012 the committee of the conservative Jewish community decided unanimously to allow same-sex partnerships in a church service. While liberal Judaism has made this possible for a long time, it is only strictly rejected by the Orthodox communities.

Foreign homosexual partners of Israelis have been given temporary right of residence in Israel since 2000 - even without legal partnership - which can be converted into unlimited status after years and finally into Israeli citizenship. Since August 2014, every homosexual officially married to a Jewish person has to apply for Israeli citizenship immediately.

Since May 2015, the Israeli army has treated homosexual couples (even without state partnership) with children like corresponding heterosexual couples: both never have to go to reserve service at the same time (which for many includes one month every year) so that one of the two partners can look after the child .

Development of the social situation of homosexual people

The Turkish Ottoman Empire , which ruled here until 1918, decriminalized homosexuality as early as 1852. Since 1918, the so-called sodomy laws of the British mandate , which were officially legal until 1988, made homosexuality a criminal offense again. In the 1920s, however, there was a strong sexual emancipatory trend: The Tel Aviv doctor Chaim Berlin should be mentioned here, who promoted the social acceptance of homosexuality in the spirit of the gay, Jewish sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld . After a lecture tour in February / March 1932, Hirschfeld confirmed this basic liberal trend in his travel diary. The Israeli trade union newspaper Dawar paid tribute to Hirschfeld in an obituary in 1935 for wanting to “free people from physical and psychological suffering and social torment” and ranked him among the people who “work a lot for the good of humanity” . In 1932 Avraham Matmon , who worked as part of his medical training at Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Sciences, founded an institute of the same name in Tel Aviv, which was dedicated to sexual counseling and reform.

The penal laws have not been repealed for a long time due to pressure from strong religious parties. But in reality: “ The Jewish state indeed never tried anyone for having homosexual sex, even when this was nominally illegal. Israeli attorneys general gave express instructions in 1953 ( Chaim Cohn ) and 1972 not to apply these paragraphs to adults. Since the 1990s, the situation and social recognition of LGBT people has improved significantly.

David and Jonathan in
“La Somme le Roy”, 1290

In 1975 the SPPR (Society for the Protection of Personal Rights) was founded to fight for the rights of gays and lesbians. The still active group was later renamed Agudah . ( אגודה 'Association' )

Since 1993 the homosexual community in Jael Dajan , a member of parliament for the social democratic Avoda and daughter of General Moshe Dajan , had an active advocate. She not only met the PLO as the first Knesset MP , but also officially invited gays and lesbians to the Israeli parliament for the first time. Dajan's reasoning, which held the funeral speech of the biblical King David for his friend Jonathan to the religious parties as a warning to tolerance towards gays and lesbians, created a tangible scandal and is considered a turning point in dealing with LGBT in the Israeli public.

The Israeli LGBT community received international attention in 1998 when the transsexual Dana International won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998. Her nomination was preceded by disputes about the posting of a transsexual, which was rejected mainly by devout Jews.

In 2002, Professor Uzi Even was elected to the Knesset parliament as the first openly gay member of the Meretz socialist party . As a major in the reserve, he had previously campaigned for equal treatment in the Israeli army.

The worst attack on homosexuals in Israel to date occurred on August 1, 2009 in Tel Aviv: A person who has not yet been caught shot a gun at visitors to a gay and lesbian center, killing two people. There were solidarity rallies inside and outside Israel. The act met with widespread opposition in large parts of Israeli politics and society.

Lee Walzer states in his book Between Sodom and Eden that both during the reign of the Likud bloc and under the Labor Party, far-reaching improvements for lesbians and gays in politics and law were achieved. "Israel's lesbian and gay community has achieved far-reaching political and legal victories under both Likud- and Labor-led governments."

Current social and political situation

Israel has an active gay community that has organized an annual Gay Pride in Tel Aviv since 1998 and in Jerusalem since 2002 . The Jerusalem parade attracted international attention in 2005 when ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremist Yishai Schlissel stabbed three participants in the parade. He was sentenced to twelve years in prison. The attempt by the Mayor of Jerusalem to prevent the parade was challenged in June 2005. The mayor lost the process and had to support the event financially. Attack threats were made against the nationwide World Pride , also planned in 2005 . Representatives of the major religious communities represented in Jerusalem, Judaism , Christianity and Islam, as well as members of the Knesset braced themselves against the event, which was then canceled because of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in order not to overwhelm the security forces. Despite constant opposition, World Pride was finally celebrated in Jerusalem in 2006.

The queer Tel Aviv GLBT Film Festival TLVFest has been celebrated annually in Tel Aviv since 2006 .

There is the drag queen group “Pe'ot Qedoshot” (Holy Wigs). The “Wigstock” drag festival takes place every year. The “Gila Project for Transgender Empowerment”, named after the transsexual Gila Goldstein , who died in February 2017, has existed since 2011 .

GLBT centers for the queer community are in Tel Aviv - the City Council financed GLBT Community Center (also called "Bayit Lavan" (White House)) in Gan (Park) Me'ir and in Jerusalem the Jerusalem Open House (Bayit Patuach ), which is on the 1st floor of a house on HaSoreq Str. 2 is located.

According to Out , Tel Aviv is the gay capital of the Middle East. In the same way, in 2010 the Israeli embassy in Berlin had brochures distributed in which it advertised that "Tel Aviv [...] is also the gay capital of the Middle East due to its openness to homosexuals".

In November 2010, Israel belonged to the minority of states that voted in the UN General Assembly to outlaw the death penalty, including for reasons of sexual orientation. In March 2011, Israel signed a UN declaration with 85 other states rejecting violence against people of deviating sexual orientation . In addition to Israel, Turkey , Jordan and the Republic of Cyprus have not criminalized or persecuted homosexual acts between adults in private.

Nevertheless, there are political forces in Israel who primarily reject openly visible homosexuality. In 1997, President Ezer Weizman compared homosexuality to alcoholism. This led to clashes, demonstrations and calls for resignation against Weizmann, who finally apologized for his statements.

On February 20, 2008, Knesset MP Shlomo Benizri , a member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party in coalition with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert , blamed homosexuals for earthquakes in the region and called for liberal laws for homosexual couples to be withdrawn to prevent the earthquakes. The demand remained unfulfilled.

However, religious queer groups have also been founded in Israel in recent years: 2004 Bat-Kol, for lesbians, 2007 Havruta for all religious queers. Hod, founded in 2008 to support orthodox queers, has a more conservative orientation. Yiscah Sara Smith, Orthodox trans woman, has been publicly working for acceptance since 2011. (Your autobiography: see "Literature")

In June 2012 Rainball Tel Aviv was founded, the first gay football club in the entire region, which also brings together queer Jews and Arabs.

On December 10, 2013, Tel Aviv was the first city in Israel and in the entire Middle East to receive a memorial for queer Holocaust victims at the “White House” (see above) - inaugurated by Mayor Ron Huldai . The memorial is shaped like a pink triangle and is intended to commemorate the identification of homosexual prisoners in concentration camps during the National Socialist era . On one side of the pink triangle it says in German: "The victims of National Socialism who were persecuted because of their sexual orientation and gender identity". The persecuted gay Jews Magnus Hirschfeld (see above), Gad Beck and Walther Gutman are also remembered.

According to the Gay Happiness Index published in May 2015, Israel ranks 7th in the world.

Since December 2015, the successor Amir Ohana has been the first openly gay member of the right-wing Likud party in the Israeli parliament and since June 2019 the first openly gay minister in Israel's history (initially Minister of Justice , since May 17, 2020 Minister for public safety ). Ohana is also the chairman of the Likud LGBT Association and his family consists of his husband and two children of their own.

In May 2016, "in Habima, the national theater of Tel Aviv, [...] eleven transsexual women competed for the first time in Israel [...] to kick off the 'Gay Pride' week". The organizer Israela Stephanie Lev said: "Transgender are judges, doctors, journalists in Israel today, they are everywhere."

The number of participants in the annual Tel Aviv Pride Parade in June has recently grown strongly. Munich's local politician Marcel Rohrlack sums up the impressions of his 2016 visit: “On every lamppost, in every shop window, in the whole city: rainbow flags! [...] celebrated the great parade of gays and lesbians - with 200,000 other demonstrators. "

The situation of the Arab population in Israel and in the occupied territories

The Arabs, who are Israeli citizens and make up around 20% of the population, experience strong rejection - especially in the village environment. They are not openly supported by their elected Arab MPs. Tawfiq Khatib specifically advocated the exclusion of homosexuals: “I am glad that the [Arab] community is casting out these peculiarities. You should feel like strangers with us. "

In May 2016, "Miss Trans Israel [...] was a Catholic of Arab descent [...] Ta'alin Abu Hanna from Nazareth".

In June 2020, the Arab food entrepreneur Julia Zaher from Nazareth donated a large amount for an emergency hotline for homosexual, queer Arabs. Several Arab shopkeepers stopped selling their tahini in protest , while some Israeli diplomats ordered extra large quantities in support.

In the Palestinian Territories , where Arab officials are responsible for internal affairs and Israel only reserves military control, homosexuality is punishable under British law. It is not known to what extent this will lead to concrete state persecution; the authorities and political groups tend to ignore the issue. However, there are reports of assaults, torture and killings by police stations and death squads. Many therefore flee illegally to Israel and often end up homeless - according to estimates there are around 500 - on the streets.

In 1995, Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin granted a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip permanent residence in Israel so that he could live with his Israeli partner. Similarly, in 2008 the Israeli military administration granted a gay Palestinian from the autonomous Jenin a permit to reside in Israel and live with his Israeli-Jewish partner in Tel Aviv, which the authority expressly described as an exception.

In 2001 the Palestinian homosexual group Al-Qaws (German translation: "The Rainbow") was founded, which operates among the Arabs in Israel and in the autonomous regions. She has her office in the Jerusalem Open House .

Magazines

"HaSeman HaVarod" (הזמן הוורוד 'The Pink Age' ) was a monthly magazine from Tel Aviv from 1996 to February 2008; then redesigned and transformed into "HaIr beVarod" (העיר בורוד 'Die Stadt in Rosa' ) renamed under the umbrella of the Haaretz magazine publishing group , it was discontinued in October 2010. As of October 2010, there has been no Israel-wide queer magazine.

literature

  • Danny Kaplan: Brothers and Others in Arms. The Making of Love and War in Israeli Combat Units. New York / London / Oxford 2003, ISBN 1-56023-365-6
  • Lee Waltz: Between Sodom and Eden. A gay journey through today's changing Israel , New York 2000, ISBN 0-231-11395-1 (Development of the social perception of homosexuality in Israel until 1999)
  • Yiscah Sara Smith: Forty Years in the Wilderness: My Journey to Authentic Living , Seattle 2014, ISBN 978-0-9916623-1-9
  • Nora Pester (Ed.): Queer in Israel (anthology), Berlin / Leipzig 2018, ISBN 978-3-95565-282-1

See also

Web links

Commons : Homosexuality in Israel  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Reports

  • Yossi Klein Halevi, translated by Leo Bauer: Refugee status - report on gay life in Palestine, originally published on August 19, 2002 in The New Republic and on September 19, 2002 in East Bay Voice (German)
  • Chas Newkey Burden: Tel Aviv, the final gay frontier - Short report on gay life in Israel, January 8, 2007

Information pages

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Lee Walzer: Between Sodom and Eden. A gay journey through today's changing Israel, New York 2000, p. 118.
  2. ↑ In August 2013 the first trans woman was drafted into the Israeli military: Israel drafts first transgender female soldier .
  3. ^ Föderl-Schmid, Alexandra: Sharon Afeq. The first openly gay general in the Israeli army wants to set an example , in Süddeutsche Zeitung , July 15, 2018
  4. ↑ Israel: Ultra-Orthodox Injured Six People in Gay Parade Zeit , July 30, 2015
  5. ↑ 16-year-old dies after attack on Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem. Tages-Anzeiger , August 2, 2015.
  6. ↑ Hundreds of police officers protect the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade. Der Standard , July 22, 2016.
  7. ↑ The Case for Israel, Stanford Israel Alliance ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / stanfordisraelalliance.stanford.edu
  8. ↑ a b [1] What Arafat Gay? James Kirchick: What Arafat Gay? , Out .  , in: Out.com, accessed May 27, 2012
  9. ^ The world's most gay-friendly places . In: Calgary Herald , June 29, 2011. 
  10. ↑ Yam, Yehoshua: Tel Aviv grants gay couples eligibility for benefits Article of October 3, 2002 in: HaAretz
  11. ↑ Queer.de: Israel: Gays recognized as marriage partners , January 31, 2007
  12. ^ New York Times: Centrist Party in Israel Introduces Civil Union Measure
  13. ↑ Queer.de:Israel: Laws on civil marriage failed , accessed on July 10, 2015.
  14. ↑ Conservative Movement sanctions same-sex marriage Article dated June 2, 2012 in: HaAretz
  15. ↑ Gaylawnet, chapter "Asylum, Immigration, Refugees"
  16. ↑ "Immigration: Israel Strengthens Rights of Gay Couples": queer.de article from August 13, 2014
  17. ↑ Army recognizes same-sex couples according to article from May 19, 2015 at israelnetz
  18. ↑ Several examples can be found in: Kozma, Liat: Sexology in the Yishuv: The Rise and Decline of Sexual Consultation in Tel Aviv, 1930-39, in: International Journal of Middle East Studies 42 (2/2010), 231-249 (= Kozma), especially pages 231 and 236
  19. ↑ Hirschfeld wrote about him, "that Dr. Chaim Berlin, one of the most loyal students of our Institute for Sexology, practiced in Tel Aviv". (Magnus Hirschfeld: The world tour of a sex researcher, Brugg / Switzerland 1933, p. 356)
  20. ↑ A kibbutz inhabitant from the Jisre'el valley in the north calls him "a champion for the liberation and renewal of humanity in the field of sexual problems" (Hirschfeld, Weltreise, 1933, p. 375),
    and Meir Dizengoff, Mayor of Tel Aviv, wrote in Hirschfeld's album: "Dr.Hirschfeld, who dedicated his life to the renewal of the human race". (Hirschfeld, Weltreise, 1933, p. 363)
  21. ↑ The longer article written by Chaim Berlin on page 3 (to be found under the date May 21, 1935 in: Dawar online ) mentions the places of lectures in Israel (5th paragraph), assigns it to people who "do a lot for the good of humanity "(7th (last) paragraph), because he wanted to" free people from physical and psychological suffering and social torment "(6th paragraph), honors his" exploration of the different types of human sexual life and love "and especially the "male and female homosexuality" and "transitions between genders", for example "transvestites" (all 2nd paragraph).
  22. ^ Kozma, pp. 237f
  23. ↑ a b Article in the Jerusalem Post of November 9, 2006: Middle Israel. Oy gay!
  24. ↑ Gay Rights in Israel 01/05/2010 Article on the Aguda Interest Group website
  25. ↑ Agudah
  26. ^ Gay King David theory starts Goliath of a row ROBERT BLOCK, The Independent, February 11, 1993
  27. ↑ Only as a woman , in: Kulturspiegel 5/1998 online , accessed on December 11, 2011
  28. ↑ Police chase the gay murderer in: Spiegel Online from August 2, 2009, accessed on December 11, 2011
  29. ^ Attack in Tel Aviv: Demos in Cologne and Berlin , in: queer.de on August 3, 2009, accessed on December 11, 2011
  30. ↑ Lee Walzer: Between Sodom and Eden. A gay journey through today's changing Israel, New York 2000, p. 16.
  31. ↑ BBC News: Israel's first gay MP enters parliament , November 4, 2002
  32. ^ NZZ: Controversial Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) , November 8, 2006
  33. ↑ Gay leader not daunted by Muslim threat - Israel News, Ynetnews , online , accessed June 22, 2011
  34. ↑ http://www.tlvfest.com/en/
  35. ↑ Raberger, Ursula: Israeli queer film. Zaglossus Verlag, Vienna 2015, p. 257 ff.
  36. ↑ Holy Wigs on Facebook , see also: Orthodox Jew as Drag Queen
  37. ↑ Wigstock on Facebook , Wigstock 2011
  38. ↑ RLS Team: “The weakest link”. In: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Israel Office. March 7, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2017 .
  39. ↑ Israeli Transgender Pioneer Gila Goldstein Dies. In: A Wider Bridge. Building LGBTQ connections with Israel. February 6, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2017 .
  40. ↑ Municipal GLBT Community Center ( Memento from February 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  41. ↑ Rights of homosexuals in Israel (edited by the Embassy of the State of Israel, Berlin), p. 3.
  42. ↑ Queer.de: UNO no longer condemns the death penalty for gays
  43. ↑ Queer.de: Vatican fears gay-friendly UN on the UN declaration: Joint statement on ending acts of violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity
  44. ^ Silver, Ian: Homosexuality And Judaism ( Memento April 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  45. ^ Israeli president apologizes for his anti-gay statements , in: Jewishsf.com , accessed June 4, 2011
  46. ↑ Shas MK blames gays for recent earthquakes in the region ( Memento from June 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), in: Ha-Aretz newspaper, accessed on January 5, 2014
  47. ↑ Bat Kol's own website and in the English Wikipedia
  48. ↑ Havruta's own website and in the English Wikipedia
  49. ↑ Hod's own website ( memento of the original from November 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and in the English Wikipedia @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hod.org.il
  50. ↑ Article "Transgender. Finally in the right body" , Jüdische Allgemeine, May 6, 2015
  51. ↑ Rain Ball Tel Aviv peace ambassador in shorts
  52. ↑ Queer.de: Israel inaugurates homosexual memorial , WAZ: Israel inaugurates first memorial for homosexual Nazi victims and Ha'Aretz: Memorial to gay Holocaust victims inaugurated in Tel Aviv park
  53. ↑ Read up on Planetromeo . Scandinavian countries are ahead of Israel, Germany in 14th place.
  54. ^ "Premiere.Israel: First openly gay Likud MP ", Queer.de article from December 22, 2015
  55. ↑ a b Peter Münch: You are so free. In Israel, eleven transsexual women are running for the first time in a miss election. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 30, 2016, p. 8.
  56. ^ Felix Müller, Stefanie Wegele: After the Orlando assassination attempt: "The scene is in shock." In: Münchner Merkur , June 13, 2016.
  57. ↑ Lee Walzer: Between Sodom and Eden. A gay journey through today's changing Israel, New York 2000, p. 224.
  58. ↑ Queer.de: "Arab Catholic is Miss Trans Israel" , May 28, 2016
  59. ↑ Hess, Silvan ('Team' magazine): "First Arab LGBTIQ emergency hotline thanks to sesame paste" , July 13, 2020
  60. ↑ mena-watch: Why Israeli diplomats order 300 kilos of sesame paste , July 27, 2020
  61. ↑ Worldwide Laws on Homosexuality
  62. ↑ globalgayz.com: Palestine - Gay Travel and Culture
  63. ↑ agudah.israel-live.de : refugee status. Gay in Palestine
  64. ↑ "Anyone who is Palestinian and gay is quickly suspected of being on the street and spitting on Israel: 'Sometimes they throw stones at me'", Berliner Zeitung of October 8, 2010
  65. ↑ haaretz.com : Israeli court decides: Because of the persecution in his homeland, a Palestinian is allowed to stay in Israel
  66. ↑ Thorsten Schmitz, Allah's Lost Sons, Süddeutsche Zeitung of November 22, 2006, p. 11.
  67. ^ "To approve permanent resident status in Israel for the Gazan ... so that he could continue to live with his Jewish Israeli partner" (Lee Walzer: Between Sodom and Eden. A gay journey through today's changing Israel, New York 2000, p. 237 )
  68. ↑ Phu, Susan: Israel grants visa to gay Palestinian , article of March 26, 2008 in: Pinknews
  69. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated November 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.alqaws.org
  70. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.alqaws.org
  71. ↑ More detailed information on "HaSeman HaVarod" in Hebrew
  72. ↑ More detailed information on “HaIr beVarod” in Hebrew