Who Knew? Israel Seems to Get More Feygeleh by the Minute
Oy, so how schizo is this? Even as rightwingers headed by Likud’s Bibi Netanyahu and the even more hardline (and probably half-meshuge) Avigdor Lieberman take the reins in the Promised Land, the local queens are doing plenty of reigning of their own, from Eilat to Galilee. Gay adoption’s cool; the military’s perfectly happy to accept homos (showing what babies many of our own generals are); same-sex couples have common-law marriage rights; and many Israelis seem to have an admirable “live-and-let-live” ethos.
OK, I said many. It’s not as if the black-hats in Jerusalem — you know, the nutjobs who go around in all that heavy Polish-shtetl drag in 100-degree heat and that stone cars for driving in their nabes on the Sabbath — have suddenly gone all rainbow-friendly. Jerusalem, Haifa, and the resort town of Eilat have their scenes, and even their own Pride parades (this year, June 25, June 19, and May 15, respectively), but sodomitically speaking, the main event in Israel — actually, make that the entire Middle East — has always been more sophisticated, cosmopolitan Tel Aviv. Here there’s no shortage of gay cafés, nightspots, even a bath house, and the Labor-Party-controlled city hall boasts a “gay affairs” advisor. And this year, as part of its centennial hoo-ha, the Big Orange is officially going out of its way to make the city’s eleventh Pride celebration this June 12 a bigger deal than usual, tucking a few shekels into its budget to upgrade the parade from Gan Meir Park to Gordon Beach and the post-parade party, along with adding events like movie screenings and a book fair.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Tourism (now headed by some Russian dude who’s a member of Lieberman’s rightwing party, no less) has gone so far as to help launch a gay Israel tourism site featuring pics of hunky guys draped all over each other at Tel Aviv’s beach and chock full of info on what to do, where to go out, where to cruise, you name it. The local tourism folks promote the sodo scene, and even the national airline, El Al, has joined the fun, pissing off more than a few rightwing rabbis by this year for the first time putting together air-hotel packages for Pride weekend.
Kind of amazing, ain’t it? I tell you, I’m a little verklempt…
your truly,
Dave