gay rights

Over 100,000 thousand people participate in the annual Pride Parade in Tel Aviv, June 9, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Pinkwashing: Is it really so black and white?

We must remain critical when the Israeli government co-opts the LGBTQ struggle to divert attention from the occupation. But let’s not minimize the urgency of the situation for many queer people in Israel and across the Middle East. By Frederick Hertz There’s a tendency towards extreme dualism when it comes to the LGBTQ community in Israel. Two recent essays…

By +972 Magazine June 9, 2017

Israeli LGBTQ activists take part in a vigil in solidarity with the victims of the Orlando massacre, in centre Tel Aviv, June 12, 2016. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

WATCH: What is Israel really doing for LGBTQ rights?

Much fanfare accompanies the Knesset’s annual LGBTQ rights day. But this year, as last year, the event coincided with a raft of LGBTQ rights legislation being shot down. Read more: Why the struggle for LGBT rights in Israel is far from over Why I interrupted a pro-army LGBTQ event in Tel Aviv Increasing homophobia mars…

By Social TV March 6, 2017

LGBT activists protest Yuval Steinitz as he speaks during a rally protesting the attacks on the Jerusalem Pride Parade, August 1, 2015. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Increasing homophobia mars Knesset LGBT day

As the Knesset marks first ever ‘gay community rights day,’ new reports on homophobia in Israel show 80 percent increase in documented homophobic incidents, alarming statistics about levels of violence faced by the LGBT community. The state of LGBT rights in Israel can effectively be summed up in a series of events surrounding the Knesset’s first…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland February 26, 2016

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The Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, June 26, 2008. (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

The cynical use of homophobia to attack the Joint List

The Pride Parade has become a litmus test of enlightenment for politicians. But clinging to that symbol is dangerous in that it disconnects the parade from its actual context — the LGBTQ community’s struggle for equal rights. By Inna Michaeli In a video question-and-answer segment produced by Haaretz this week, Arab actress and singer Mira…

By +972 Magazine March 12, 2015

People wave American and Israeli flags at a Zionist Christian rally featuring Glenn Beck in Jerusalem, August 24, 2011. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

The decline of Christian Zionism

America’s largest Christian Zionist organization boasts about its numbers. But while their influence is a given, many Christians are slowly but surely seeing the justice of the Palestinian cause. Text and photos by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest Zionist Christian organization in the U.S., recently sent an email blast celebrating the…

By Activestills January 15, 2015

Activists take part in a demonstration against the World Cup also mark 45 years to the Stonewall Inn riots, June 28, 2014. (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: In Rio, protests against World Cup mark Stonewall riots

Football can be a tool for social change, one protester says, but the poor people here cannot even participate in the games. ‘We are not just LGBT. We are also workers, blacks, women and we can not disconnect from the other social movement.’ Photos & text: Keren Manor and Mareike Lauken/Activestills.org RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil —…

By Activestills June 30, 2014

A Palestinian man stands in front of Israeli border policemen next to an outer wall of his house that had a graffiti writing sprayed on it, reading: "We will not remain silent over stone throwing" (loose translation). The price tag action in which two Palestinian-owned houses were spray painted and at least 20 cars were vandalized took place in the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem, June 24, 2013. (Photo by guest photographer: Tali Mayer/Activestills.org)

From price tag attacks to global gay pride: A week in photos – June 20-26

This week: A hunger striker bakes bread, African immigrants celebrate refugee rights, LGBT activists take to the streets around the world, price tag attacks hit Palestinian East Jerusalem, weekly West Bank demonstrations continue, an eviction is avoided, and privatization protests spread to Jerusalem.

By Activestills June 28, 2013

Scary: Romney/Ryan signs decorate many of the residential lawns in Boca Raton, Florida, Oct 31, 2012 (photo: Roee Ruttenberg)

U.S. elections: The majority voting on the rights of the minority

On Election Day in the United States, Americans are choosing between two different visions for the future of their country. And some are being asked to sacrifice their rights for the sake of one of those visions. Boca Raton, FL and Los Angeles, CA – Every four years, around this time, people begin criticizing the…

By Roee Ruttenberg November 6, 2012

LGBT flag (ivovisualista/CC BY NC SA 2.0)

The importance of thinking outside the LGBT box

By Leehee Rothschild A recent Israeli celebrity’s admission that he has had sexual experiences with men but does not consider himself homosexual has drawn ridicule from the LGBT community, exposing its own biases and intolerance. My Facebook feed recently filled up with posts by LGBT friends mocking the Israeli singer and songwriter Ze’ev Nehama, who…

By +972 Magazine September 5, 2012

Pushed aside, Israeli gay rights movement searches for footing

It is not as severe as Iran’s nuclear program, not as consensual as the movement calling for a universal draft, and not as hip as the growing fight for social justice. The gay struggle just can’t seem to find its place. By Amnon Brownfield Stein There wasn’t much pride in the Jerusalem air Thursday evening.…

By +972 Magazine August 6, 2012

Is the IDF the world’s most liberal institution?

If you read the international press and watch the images of female and gay soldiers, it can sometimes seem that way. Yet an institution cannot be separated from its main function. Our company’s staff sergeant at basic training was a short bald man, who used to terrorize us in our first days at camp with…

By Noam Sheizaf July 13, 2012

Eytan_Fox_2012 (Photo: David Shankbone/Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)

Film on gays and IDF could reinforce Israeli militarism

When “Yossi and Jagger” appeared 10 years ago, I found it both heartrending and groundbreaking. Opening up the still-taboo subject of homosexuality in the army, the film provided a sharp critique of the militarist-machoist complex that reigns over Israeli society in general. It exposed simply but precisely how that complex is the source of various…

By Dahlia Scheindlin May 27, 2012

Israeli walks with flag during Tel Aviv gay pride (photo: wanderlasss/Flickr cc)

Upcoming amendment will test Israeli gov’t regard for LGBT rights

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren recently boasted about Israel’s record on gay rights – however the LGBT community in Jerusalem has faced repeated intolerance and push back from the government. A proposal to be presented this Sunday to extend protection from discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation will be the real test of…

By +972 Magazine May 18, 2012