Gay Pride

June 12

 

The Gay Pride Parade/Festival in Tel Aviv is, like in many cities outside the US and Western Europe, still an important political event. Tel Aviv is an island of liberalism and tolerance but it is significant for the gay community to come out in full force to assert their visibility and civil rights. It was a festive affair, not as bawdy as those in Boston, SF, and NYC, etc., and was clearly designed as a gesture to remind Israeli society of its own diversity. With so many other pressing social and political issues pertaining to the rights of Palestinians the many problems caused by the extreme Religious Right, the gay community is free to live in peace. Even the all-night dance parties are uninhibited and un-policed. Nobody really cares what you do here in Tel Aviv as long as you are not carrying a pipe bomb with the intent to blow up a club, café or bus. Tel Aviv is a big party town in spite of  and because of the fact that it is in the middle of an endless war with itself and its neighbors.