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Jews, as well as Israeli Arabs, can get married by religious leaders in their respective communities, but interfaith marriage is also prohibited. "It really, really, really hurts."Īs a Jewish state, Israel does not allow same-sex marriages, and there is no alternative, such as civil unions, either. It feels really, really bad when I’m not equal to all other citizens in Israel," Michal told Refinery29. "I pay all my taxes and I do everything, but when I need to get my rights, I don’t get them. Michal says that after years of military service and sacrifice, she expects equal rights for both herself and other LGBTQ people in Israel. Now, as an openly gay woman, her frustration lies not with her fellow Israelis but with the stringent and antiquated religion-based laws that prevent couples like her and Adi from having equal rights as same-sex married partners. In her first years in the army, Michal dated men, and says she never sensed any homophobia among her comrades.
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Staying beyond the mandatory two years Israel requires of all young people, Michal rose to the rank of commander during her five years of active-duty service. Michal is an openly gay woman serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. Adi was just feet from Schlissel's knife during the 2015 parade. It's a bitter reality that Michal Shneiderman and her partner, Adi, know too well.
#JEWISH GAY PRIDE FLAG FULL#
"Our magical Shira was murdered because she was a happy 16-year-old - full of life and love - who came to express her support for her friends' rights to live as they choose," her parents wrote in a statement following her death.īut the right of gay people to live as they choose isn't one that is respected by Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community, or by the country's laws surrounding marriage. Sixteen-year-old Shira Banki died after being stabbed at the parade. Police officials are still investigating why he was not being monitored more closely after his release. Just three weeks after being released from jail, he returned to the scene of his original crime. An ultra-Orthodox Jew, Schlissel had served 10 years in prison after being convicted of stabbing three people at the city’s 2005 Pride parade. It wasn't the first time Schlissel had staged such an attack. Before police apprehended Schlissel, Associated Press photographer Sebastian Scheiner captured the terrifying attack on camera. As marchers tried to flee, Schlissel reportedly lunged at them with his knife. The plan was for the crowd to march down the mile-long route, and then end with a pride rally and a party.īut as the parade reached Keren Hayesod Street around 6:30 p.m., Yishai Schlissel allegedly pulled out a knife and started stabbing people.
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On July 30, Jerusalem’s small but determined LGBTQ community and their supporters were assembling in Independence Park for the parade. And the tensions between the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and the city's gay population don't always hide below the surface. Although only 36 miles from the more progressive Israeli capital of Tel Aviv, it feels a world away. This is what it is like to be openly gay in 2015 in conservative Jerusalem.
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"Look!" a middle-aged man can be seen telling his wife. "You gay sons of bitches," two teenagers can be heard sneering as heads turned.