New York Mural Touts Israel’s Gay Record

By JTA May 18, 2012

A mural contrasting gay rights was completed Friday in New York’s West Village.

The mural, on a parking lot wall, show the outlines of two men holding hands, according to The New York Times. Above them are the words, “Who Would YOU want at Your Wedding?” The figures also hold two balancing scales.

Above one scale on the side of the mural that reads “Israel,” the text notes that Israel allows same-sex couples to adopt children, that Tel Aviv’s 2011 Pride Parade drew more than 10,000 people and that “gay people serve openly in the military and government” in Israel.

Above the scale on the side of the mural labeled “Israel’s neighbors,” the text notes that homosexuality is illegal in Syria and punishable by death in Iran. “There is no pride parade in Egypt, Jordan or Gaza,” the mural reads.

The mural was commissioned by Taglit-Birthright Israel’s alumni community. Artists 4 Israel collaborated on the design. Chris St. John, a former graffiti artist, did the artwork.

Adem Carroll, a member of the steering committee of the Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition for Truth and Justice, called the mural “blatantly divisive, opposing Israel against its neighbors in the region,” the Times reported.

Keren Gelfand, senior press officer for the Consulate General of Israel, told the Times that all of the statements in the mural regarding gay rights in Israel were accurate.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO