Homosexual Rights in Israel

The annual Gay Parade will march this afternoon in Jerusalem. No counter demonstrations are expected, probably because the Haredi community is collecting its powder for the large demonstration they're planning for Saturday afternoon against a municipal parking lot that will be opened near their neighborhood; this is turning into the first major test of the political mettle of our new mayor, Nir Barkat. The Gay Parade is a distraction so will be ignored.

Personally, I don't know what the Gay Parade is for. It originated in New York, a town that loves parades about everything, in the 1970s when gays were campaigning for acceptance. Jerusalem doesn't generally have political parades, and anyway, what are the local gays demonstrating for?

A few weeks ago the research unit of the Knesset posted a paper they'd prepared about the legal status of gay marriages in Israel and elsewhere. (In Hebrew, of course). It tells that there are seven countries in the world that recognize gay marriages, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Canada and South Africa; also, five States in the US. Then there is a larger group, though not that large, that recognizes varying forms of civil arrangements. Israel is near the top of that group, with arrangements that are functionally the same as marriage, without the name.

I followed this up by checking with a legal fellow who's invovlved in this matter. He agreed with me that the legal rights of homosexuals in Israel are mostly guaranteed, and there isn't much left to kvetch about. He even agreed with the logic of my position that marriage itself, being a cultural and religious institution with many layers of meaning to it, is better left alone, and told me that's also the position of the Supreme Court. He'd probably like it otherwise, but he can see the sense of the compormise.

I'd have you compare this with the Arab world, but that would be snarky of me. So compare it to Asia Africa or South America, instead.