Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to respond to criticism over policy regarding Israel’s LGBTQ community, but avoided the subject of same-sex surrogacy rights in a letter to a Jewish organization last week. Massive LGBTQ Rights Protest in Tel Aviv, July 22, 2018 He was responding to a letter obtained by Haaretz and penned by LGBTQ […]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman refused a request from Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to consider including single men and same-sex couples in proposed legislation allowing single women to use surrogacy services. Protesting for gay surrogacy rights in Israel. Photo: Emile Salman Litzman told the attorney general he believed the version of the […]
In March, we reported on the case of Irit and Einat Zevieli-Efrat, who discovered that their children’s birth certificates had been changed and the name of the non-biological mother had been erased from the documentation of the other mother’s children. Now, Israel’s Interior Ministry has declared that this was a mistake and is making retroactive […]
If one man links Israel’s pop music scene to the LGBT community’s emergence out of the closet, it’s the enigmatic Offer Nissim. Ha’aretz sheds light on one of the most intriguing and secretive figures in Israeli culture. “Offer Nissim embodies the story of the maturing of the LGBT community of Israel in general, both accompanying it and […]
A lack of legislation makes it difficult for lesbian couples seeking to recognize maternal legal status for their shared children, and are often left at the whim of the courts. Photo: Ilan Aysag Nadia Eisner Horesh, a mother of five from Jerusalem, discovered after the birth of her sixth child that she is liable to […]
In Jerusalem, lesbian life partners Reut Cohen and Romina Gonzalez have faced threats and property damage from local ultra-Orthodox residents who are trying to shut down their restaurant. Photo credit: Emil Salman Even before the R&R Diner opened in downtown Jerusalem a month ago, the threats had already begun. “We will burn you down!” and “You […]
Israel’s Surrogacy Law doesn’t apply to single women or same-sex couples – who are forced to seek surrogacy abroad. Gay Activist Asaf Weiss reminds us that it’s time for a change. A demonstration on behalf of the right of same-sex couples to local surrogacy, in Jerusalem in March 2016. Photo: Emil Salman The relationship between […]
Two gay men, a lesbian and a transgender woman tell of hardship and acceptance over the Green Line Na’ama Arnon, 34: ‘Religion is very important to us, in every regard’ (photo:Emil Salman) Six years after she fell in love with a woman for the first time, Na’ama Arnon was married to a man. “My mother […]
The MK thrown out of Shas for attending a same-sex wedding is no poster-boy for ultra-Orthodoxy tolerance of the LGBT community. But he did the right thing, unlike Trump and Netanyahu who headline a year of shame Yigal Guetta after submitting his resignation to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on September 17, 2017. (Photo: Olivier Fitoussi) […]
A revised draft of the bill for a new basic law defining Israel’s identity as a nation-state requires courts rule “in light of the principles of Jewish law” in matters for which there is no current law or legal precedent. The proposal has also been submitted as a regular law rather than as a basic […]