Thousands Revel At Tel Aviv Gay Pride Parade
Image by Getty Images
Tens of thousands of rainbow flag-toting revelers attended the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parade in Tel Aviv on Friday, billed as the largest of its kind in the deeply conservative Middle East.
The annual parade featured floats with blaring sound systems and gyrating dancers. Revelers could be seen dancing on the balconies of surrounding building.
“We need to show ourselves and we also need to fight for others who need to feel like they can show themselves too, to empower everyone around us,” Max Kratz, a parade participant from Germany told Reuters.
Same-sex marriage is against the law in Israel, but polls published in the country’s media this week suggested that around three quarters of Israeli Jews supported permitting it.
“We are here to party and to celebrate with them, their freedom in Israel and we are hoping they are going in the right direction and have more privileges in the country,” party-goer Shir Geri told Reuters.
The parade caps a week of pride festivities in the city, which authorities expected to draw 35,000 tourists. The parade is sponsored by the municipality, which said it had invested heavily to promote gay tourism in recent years.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
