I went to the gay pride march today in Jerusalem. It was quiet and peaceful. I saw one counter-demonstrator holding a sign - that was it. Otherwise, it was just a big group of people, many wearing or carrying rainbow flags, marching from Gan ha-Pa'amon to Gan ha-Atzma'ut. I saw signs and banners from the Meretz party and from Hadash (Israeli communist party), and some people carrying their own homemade signs. There was very little chanting, except from the two political groups. As before, the whole march was led off by people carrying a rainbow arch of balloons. (I didn't see them myself at the beginning, only at the rally afterwards at Gan ha-Atzma'ut). Oh, and there was a group of clowns too! Very silly.
I went with two friends who were also visiting from the U.S and who were thrilled to go to the march. As before, it was a very Yerushalmi experience - very sweet.
Mishmar ha-Gvul (Border Police) guarding the march.
"Our son is gay - and we are proud of him!"
One of the clowns
Flags
Gay deely-bobbers
Wearing flags
flags put up by the Jerusalem municipality
marchers from Hadash
flag flying from balcony
flags on Agron St.
and finally, the balloon arch
the Jewish gay pride flag
It was a lot of fun. I wish we could have met there, but I think we were in different areas; I was near the balloon arch the entire time. The rally was great; I really liked the music. I don't know much hebrew so I didn't understand the speeches, but I could tell they were good. I saw Yotam, the volunteer coordinator at the Open House (my boss for the month), but we only had time for brief hellos because he was so busy.
ReplyDeleteOverall, it was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I went.
The Haredi counter demonstrations took place only for a year or two (the last time there was the stabbing incident). One take on this that I was told by a volunteer on the male rape crisis line, is that the counter-demos backfired on the Haredi community, because it raised consciousness amongst their closeted members that there is a gay-religious community out there. So they prefer to ignore it and hope it goes away.
ReplyDeletethat's interesting - I'm glad that it's led to a reduction in the counter-demonstrations.
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