Thousands Turn Out For Biggest Tel Aviv Pride Parade Ever
The comments are vile, and Ha’aretz is the best I could find. But the parade itself was awesome by all accounts. Tzipi Livni gave it a big, rousing send-off, and it looks, well, FABULOUS.
Only gay pride parade in the Middle East!
More than 5,000 tourists from around the world arrived in Israel to join the celebrations titled “It’s good to be gay – marching for social equality.”
A dancer onboard a float at the Tel Aviv Gay Pride Parade, June 10, 2011.
Firday’s events kicked off with a fair at Meir Park, where opposition leader Tzipi Livni, former minister Isaac Herzog, and Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz spoke.
All of Israel’s leaders and political parties are obligated to the struggle for equality for all people, Livni said.
“I have come to say that being part of the gay community, to be gay or lesbian or any other member of the community, is not a political choice as is the choice to protect the gay community and its right for social equality,” Livni said, adding that “we are here to fight together against any phenomenon of hate, to fight for Israel’s values.”
Israel’s only openly gay parliamentarian, Nitzan Horowitz, lashed out at protests against the pride parade. “Those who speak of abomination, those in United Torah Judaism and the National Union, the abomination is there’s, and he who speaks about illness, he is the sick one.”