Shlomo Laufer, in an opinion piece on Ynet, writes about the homophobia and attacks that gays and lesbians even in Tel Aviv face every day.
Friday night on Tel Aviv’s beachfront promenade; two guys holding hands, standing at the beach line, and kissing. Three men pass by and swear at them; one man spits. Tel Aviv, Israel’s liberalism capital, the city that openly celebrates pride parades and markets gay tourism packages worldwide; a city whose leaders inaugurate gay centers, but cannot defend us from our greatest enemy – fear and hatred....I'm listening right now to Yaron Dekel's morning show on Reshet Bet, and he began the broadcast by talking about how politicians need to take responsibility for their speech - and that anti-gay hate speech can lead to murder. His discussion with Yonit Levy, the mother of a gay son, includes a mention of the murder of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 - which was preceded by wild hate speech against Rabin and posters of Rabin dressed in an SS uniform. Levy is now saying that she's going back to the hospital to be with the wounded, since for some of them, their parents have not come to visit them and they need people to be with them.
Dozens of youth groups, gay association branches, and small community groups operate outside of Tel Aviv through silent agreement. Yet it is not always silent. Eight years ago, when a youth group was established in the town of Hadera, we were ambushed by dozens of haredi thugs organized by the local Shas chairman. They raided the branch, beat us up, threatened us, and threw us out. It worked out for them; a few gay teenagers cannot face hate-filled brigades. So we spread across the country; most of us moved to Tel Aviv. This was supposed to be the ultimate shelter; a local version of San Francisco.
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