Patriarchal, Theocratic, Apartheid Fail. Israel holds first Trans-beauty Contest

Hows that patriarchal theocratic apartheid state working for you, Israel?

To mark the beginning of pride month, Israel just held it first Trans-beauty contest. Ta'alin abu Hanna, 21, a Christian Arab-Israeli from Northern Israel was crowned the winner at  the Habima national theater and will represent Israel at the Miss Trans Star International pageant in Barcelona in September.

CREDIT: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

CREDIT: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

From Reuters:
Abu Hanna, 21, told journalists. "Our country allowed me, a Christian Arab from Nazareth, to end the war between my soul and my body. So if it made peace for me, our country is only a country of peace..."

Carolin Khoury, a Muslim contestant, said she hoped Friday's contest would "send a message to the Arab communities in Israel or abroad, to accept the other".

More photos at CBS News

Pinkwash this. Palestinians Whitewash LGBT flag

Pinkwash this.

Palestinians have white-washed a rainbow flag painted on  Palestinian side of the security barrier.

Can't show tolerance. No. Not that.

The painter of the flag, Khaled Jarrar, told the Associated Press that the destruction “reflects the absence of tolerance and freedoms in the Palestinian society.”

One man said he helped whitewash the flag because “we cannot promote gay rights.” According to the  Pew research center , 93% of Palestinians believe homosexuality should not be accepted in society.

From Haaretz:

The artwork ignited angry responses among Palestinians and activists whitewashed the flag on Monday night, just a few hours after it was painted on the best known section of Israel's graffiti-covered barrier, next to a portrait of Yasser Arafat and other Palestinian leaders.

Jarrar, 39, who has exhibited in Europe and the United States, told The Associated Press that the destruction "reflects the absence of tolerance, and freedoms in the Palestinian society."

"People don't accept different thinking in our society," he said, adding he drew the rainbow flag on the barrier to put a spotlight on Palestinian issues.

On the Israeli side of the security barrier, nearly 180,000 people participated in the 17th annual Tel Aviv Pride Festival and Parade , the largest LGBT event in the Middle East.

Anti-Israel activists threaten to silence LGBT voices at UC Santa Cruz

This weeks events at UC Davis highlighted the increasingly shrill intolerance of anti-Israel activists and their efforts to drown out opposing voices on California campuses. The  exposure of the anti-Semitism at the heart of the BDS movement, the taunts of "Allahu Akbar"directed towards Jewish students and the poisoned campus climate have had a chilling effect that extends well beyond the boundaries of the bucolic Davis campus.

No, Davis is not alone in this struggle.

Tyler Gregory, the Director of Programs and Development  at A Wider Bridge was recently invited to UC Santa Cruz by the staff of Hillel.  The  program was scheduled for the Lionel Cantu LGBT Center on campus. According to Tyler, his objective was " to engage LGBT students with Israel through the experiences of Israeli LGBT people – their challenges and victories, their fight for equality, and their desire to live and to love."

Tyler Gregory has documented how  "students and faculty, unsuccessfully attempted to use intimidation to cancel the event", and failing that, threatened to drown out their voices.

No, it was not the Westboro Baptist church trying to silence the voices of LGBT activists. It wasn't a far right homophobic  group, motivated by religious fervor. It  wasn't a neo-fascist group.
Had it been, perhaps this story would have been more widely heard,

It was anti-Israel activists that threatened to silence LGBT voices at UC Santa Cruz

Tyler writes:

The day of the program, Israel's detractors at Santa Cruz began contacting the LGBT Center to demand that the program be canceled and then to threaten that they would block students' entry to the event. The environment in and around the LGBT Center, intended to be a safe place for students, became so hostile and threatening that the program was relocated. With the leadership of Cantu Center Director Deb Abbott, Hillel Director Jim Atkins, and UC Santa Cruz Provost Elizabeth Abrams, the program moved forward successfully at the campus' Merrill College.

What is it about what I had to say that so angered or threatened the protesters that, rather than simply not attend, they seemed determined to deny interested students the opportunity to learn, engage, and come to their own conclusions? Our nuanced message about Israel and its LGBT community — thriving, yet still yearning for equality, doesn't fit well into their black and white world, in which Israel is nothing more than a pariah state. The students who came to the program that evening learned that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly since 1993, the same year Bill Clinton signed "Don't Ask Don't Tell" into law. They discovered that LGBT Israelis have been protected from workplace discrimination since 1992, while the US Congress in 2015 has still failed to pass ENDA. At the same time, I didn't shy from sharing that same sex marriages are not yet legally performed anywhere in Israel and that beyond the gay "mecca" of Tel Aviv, homophobia is still widespread. Why? Because these realities aren't about promoting or rejecting Israeli governmental policies – they're about relating shared experiences to build understanding and connection.

Read it all here.

Hamas, ISIS and Iran kill Gays like me

NEW YORK – Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, executive director of This World: The Values Network, and Israel advocacy group Stand With Us have taken out a full page ad in The New York Times this week exposing the repression and persecution of LGBT communities throughout the Middle East

The text of the ad follows, via  Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

 

 

My name is Rennick Remley. I’m a gay American. And I support Israel.

If I lived in Gaza or Israel’s neighboring states, I would be thrown in jail, mutilated or killed.

Though I am not Jewish, Israel is the only country in the Middle East where I can live without fear. I am free to adopt children, serve openly in the military, advocate for my community’s rights and be accepted as a human being.

I visited Israel and marched with thousands of people from around the globe in Jerusalem’s Gay Pride parade, and all were treated with dignity. The freedom I experienced made me feel at home.

That’s why I’m appalled that so many in the Western world – including the media, Hollywood, and self-proclaimed human rights activists – fail to hold terrorist organizations like Hamas and autocratic governments like Iran accountable for their persecution of LGBT communities.

Have you no decency?

Hamas calls homosexuals subhuman, accusing us of engaging in a “filthy practice” that is punishable by death.

It’s not an empty threat. Gay Palestinians have been tortured and killed. That’s why many gay Palestinian men risk their lives to cross the border and seek refuge in Israel.
If I lived in Iran, or under Hamas’ ideological cousin ISIS, chances are you’d be seeing my picture.

Not in this ad, but hanging from a crane in a public square. That’s a regular practice against gay men by the Iranian regime.

The only way for gays to avoid persecution in Iran is to undergo a forced sex change operation.

To those who scapegoat Israel while pretending to care about human rights yet remain silent about the oppression and violence Hamas, Iran and other Middle East countries inflict on the gay community:

Shame on you. You are letting them murder us, literally.

Your misguided actions ensure that LGBT people in the Middle East continue to live in hiding under constant threat of violent death.

It’s time to hold oppressive dictators and religious fanatics accountable for their homophobia and violence against LGBT communities.

As a nation that respects the rights and humanity of every citizen, Israel is a model for the rest of the region. Speak up for Israel. You don’t have to be Jewish to love the only democracy in the Middle East.

Join the fight for justice and human rights in the Middle East at shmuley.com, thisworld.com and StandWithUs.com.

In Israel, I am free.

June is Pride Month in Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv City Hall becomes a huge rainbow flag for Pride month

 
June is Pride Month in Tel Aviv.   Tel Aviv expects 130,000 people, a record breaking number, to attend the Gay Pride events . In addition, 30,000 tourists are slated to arrive in the city for pride events across the city.

•    June 1-12: Pride Village at Meir Park (outside the Gay Community center) - events and shows (in Hebrew)
•    June 5-14: Pride Beach @ Hilton Beach with open air parties through the day until sunset
•    June 7-16: The Tel Aviv LGBT International Film Festival at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and the Tel Aviv LGBT Community Center
•    June 8-12: GAY EXPO at Dizengoff Center Mall, showcasing gay products and services (10:00-21:00 daily)
•    June 11: Gay football team practice (June 11 at 19:30 in Jaffa)
•    June 12: Mayor's cocktail at the Gay Community Center at Meir Park (in Hebrew)  (19:00)
•    June 13: Pride Parade 2014, starting at 10:00 in the morning from Meir Park . The 2014 Tolerance Award will be hosted by Israeli model and actress Moran Atias, with a performance by Israeli singer Dana International.

Check out all the Pride festivities at A Wider bridge, building LGBT connections with Israel

include the 2014 Tolerance Award and will be hosted by Israeli model and actress Moran Atias, with a performance by Israeli singer Dana International. - See more at: http://awiderbridge.org/record-breaking-number-of-people-expected-at-tel-aviv-gay-pride-events/#sthash.lKVfCEag.dpuf

Is it really "Pinkwashing" if its true? A info-graphic from the BBC drives home the fact that Israel is the only  nation in the Middle East and north Africa, where the LGBT community has full legal and civil rights.

                        Where is it illegal to be gay?

 Just a few of the many reasons we have pride in Israel

LGBT Rights in Israel:
* Gays have had full civil rights since 1992
* Gays have full rights to serve in the military
* Gays have partner adoption rights
* Gays have partner benefits for governmental employees
* Same gender marriages preformed abroad are recognized.

LGBT Pride in Israel
* The first transgender person to win the Eurovison contest was Israeli Dana International with her song "Diva".
* Openly gay singer Ivri Lidder is one of Israel's most popular entertainers.
* Openly gay movie producer Eytan Fox has created such popular movies Yossi and Jagger, Walk on Water and The Bubble
* Openly gay politicians have served in the Kenneset and on many local councils.

Out of Israel Comes Pride: Gay men in the promised land

There is reason to feel pride in Isael's LGBT record.

* Gays have had full civil rights since 1992
* Gays have full rights to serve in the military
* Gays have partner adoption rights
* Gays have partner benefits for governmental employees
* Same gender marriages preformed abroad are recognized.

Inspired by the openness of Israeli society, gay porn producer Michael Lucas has created his first non-pornographic feature  Undressing Israel: Gay Men in the Promised Land,.  Check out the film trailer:





From Outsmart Magazine ,an article by  local journalist David-Elijah Nahmod

 When people think of Israel, they often conjure up images of suicide bombings, rocket attacks, and Orthodox Jews. During the opening moments of Undressing Israel: Gay Men in the Promised Land, the first non-pornographic feature from gay porn-king Michael Lucas, people in New York City’s Times Square are asked if they think homosexuality is legal in Israel. Many say they have no idea, while some assume it’s not.

 For nearly an hour, Lucas reveals the other side of life in the Jewish State. He visits the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament), where Parliament member Nitzan Horowitz issues a Gay Pride proclamation. In Tel Aviv, the country’s gay mecca, gay dad Yossi Berg, founder of Rainbow Families, walks with his young son and explains the importance of having children in Jewish culture.

 Lucas takes us to an Israeli gay wedding. He interviews an openly gay personal trainer, who shares his experience of coming out in the Israeli army, where homosexuality has been accepted since 1993.

 Throughout the film, Lucas makes it plainly obvious that much of Israel is a safe place to be openly gay.

 “Israel is more progressive than the United States,” he observes.

 Undressing Israel is not the first time Lucas’s camera has ventured inside the State of Israel. In 2009, he raised many eyebrows when he produced Men of Israel, the first in a series of gay adult features to be shot inside the country with an all-Sabra (Israeli-born) cast.

 Lucas, who works in New York City and Tel Aviv, has become one of Israel’s most vocal champions in the gay community. Unafraid of controversy, he’s been equally vocal in his condemnation of the virulently antigay regimes that exist in the Muslim world. His columns for publications like The Advocate, in which he harshly condemns the anti-Israel activism of queer-identified organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace, often draw fire, but he always stands his ground.

Read the whole interview at Outsmart