Gay Pride

Palestinians climb over the Israeli Wall to attend the Friday prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque, in the town of Al-Ram, near the Qalandiya checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem, on the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, June 26, 2015. (Activestills.org)

A Month in Photos: Global Pride, Ramadan and refugees

LGBTQ people and allies celebrate pride while others protest ‘pinkwashing’; tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank head into Jerusalem for prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, some climbing over walls to do so; African asylum seekers bring the theater to their detention center; migrants and refugees commemorate their dead in…

By Activestills July 3, 2015

Rainbow and Israeli flags at the Tel Aviv Pride Parade, June 8, 2012. (US Embassy/State Dept. photo)

Why I won’t be participating in Tel Aviv’s Pride Parade

Israeli security forces exploit Palestinians’ sexual orientation to blackmail them into becoming collaborators. The Israeli LGBT mainstream’s silence about this persecution exposes a moral lapse. By Fady Khoury This weekend, LGBT Israelis will take to the streets of Tel Aviv as part of the yearly Pride Parade, this year under the banner, “gender equality and support…

By +972 Magazine June 7, 2015

The Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, June 26, 2008. (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

The cynical use of homophobia to attack the Joint List

The Pride Parade has become a litmus test of enlightenment for politicians. But clinging to that symbol is dangerous in that it disconnects the parade from its actual context — the LGBTQ community’s struggle for equal rights. By Inna Michaeli In a video question-and-answer segment produced by Haaretz this week, Arab actress and singer Mira…

By +972 Magazine March 12, 2015

Latest

Activists take part in a demonstration against the World Cup also mark 45 years to the Stonewall Inn riots, June 28, 2014. (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: In Rio, protests against World Cup mark Stonewall riots

Football can be a tool for social change, one protester says, but the poor people here cannot even participate in the games. ‘We are not just LGBT. We are also workers, blacks, women and we can not disconnect from the other social movement.’ Photos & text: Keren Manor and Mareike Lauken/Activestills.org RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil —…

By Activestills June 30, 2014

A Palestinian man stands in front of Israeli border policemen next to an outer wall of his house that had a graffiti writing sprayed on it, reading: "We will not remain silent over stone throwing" (loose translation). The price tag action in which two Palestinian-owned houses were spray painted and at least 20 cars were vandalized took place in the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem, June 24, 2013. (Photo by guest photographer: Tali Mayer/Activestills.org)

From price tag attacks to global gay pride: A week in photos – June 20-26

This week: A hunger striker bakes bread, African immigrants celebrate refugee rights, LGBT activists take to the streets around the world, price tag attacks hit Palestinian East Jerusalem, weekly West Bank demonstrations continue, an eviction is avoided, and privatization protests spread to Jerusalem.

By Activestills June 28, 2013

Pushed aside, Israeli gay rights movement searches for footing

It is not as severe as Iran’s nuclear program, not as consensual as the movement calling for a universal draft, and not as hip as the growing fight for social justice. The gay struggle just can’t seem to find its place. By Amnon Brownfield Stein There wasn’t much pride in the Jerusalem air Thursday evening.…

By +972 Magazine August 6, 2012

‘Pinkwashing’ preferred over ‘pinkstoning’

Israel’s record on gay rights should be applauded and celebrated, just as its record on Palestinian rights should be scrutinized and challenged. But the military should stay out of the first if it can’t find better answers for the second. The Israeli military, the IDF, is enjoying both widespread praise and criticism this week for…

By Roee Ruttenberg June 13, 2012

Why was the police violent with me at Tel Aviv gay pride?

A note added on 6/10/12: I’ve been doing some thinking since this post was first composed, and I’m not sure that I am entirely comfortable with it. In fact, I am more receptive to criticism in the comments than ever before. The critics are right: I did act in a way that was disrespectful to…

By Yuval Ben-Ami June 9, 2012

Controversy over Israeli envoy’s address at gay rights forum

WASHINGTON – Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren delivered a keynote speech at the 20th Annual Equality Forum held over the weekend in the U.S. city of Philadelphia, but his selection as the featured guest angered some pro-Palestinian activists in the LGBT community. The forum is intended to celebrate the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Transgender,…

By Roee Ruttenberg May 7, 2012

Israeli walks with flag during Tel Aviv gay pride (photo: wanderlasss/Flickr cc)

Same-sex funerals in Israel fall outside scope of general activism

For Israel’s gay and lesbian citizens, the passing of a partner can expose existing limitations on rights and an entirely new set of frustrations with the status quo A while ago, I was in the US switching through the channels when I saw comedian-turned-daytime talk show personality Ellen DeGeneres hosting Dolly Parton. The former is…

By Roee Ruttenberg October 6, 2011

Young Jews from all over the world participating in the Taglit Birthright program at an event held at the International Conference Center in Jerusalem. (Marc Israel Sellem/Flash90)

Tel Aviv Gay Pride March: Guest photo blog

Among whispers of pink-washing, and a fraught, sometimes violent history surrounding gay display in Israeli cities, Eyal Warshavsky provides a guest photo blog of last Friday’s Gay Pride March in central Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv Gay Pride 2011 – Images by Eyal Warshavsky

By +972 Magazine June 13, 2011