Gay Israeli Couple Gets Civil Divorce

By JTA December 3, 2012

A gay Israeli couple was granted a divorce by an Israeli family court.

The divorce of Tel Aviv University Professor Avi Even, the first openly gay Knesset member, and Dr. Amit Kama was granted on Sunday by the Ramat Gan Family Court, according to Haaretz, which ordered the Interior Minister to register their status as divorced.

They were married in Canada in 2004 after living together for more than a decade. But only Canadians citizens can be divorced in Canada. They also were the first same-sex male couple in Israel to have their legal right of adoption recognized.

Even and Kama filed a lawsuit with Israel’s Supreme Court that forced the Interior Ministry to register their marriage in 2006 recognizing the marriage abroad, bypassing the rabbinate. They bypassed the rabbinate again with Sunday’s divorce ruling.

The couple split up three years ago, and Even now wants to marry another man abroad.

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