TEL AVIVThe 15th annual Gay Pride Parade here on Friday, June 7, drew LGBT revelers from around the world, capped by a wild, music-blaring, skin-filled sea of humanity on the beach and into the shallow water of the Mediterranean Sea.
Local organizers said the event attracted about 100,000 peoplefor the parade and the post-parade festivities under the bright sun on the beachand many locals said it was the largest gay pride parade this city has ever hosted. "Much, much larger than last year," said one gay male who lives in Tel Aviv, sitting with his boyfriend along rocks that overlook the water.
The joyous, upbeat, full-day party of rainbow delight was even more delightful for locals who learned the day before parade about major developments in this city's darkest LGBT moment.
On June 5, Tel Aviv police arrested three suspects who reportedly were involved in the shooting at the Bar Noar LGBT youth center in 2009 that left two dead and 15 wounded. The case, which police said Wednesday is still open, has been unsolved and certainly carries a long, wide shadow in a truly gay-friendly, gay-safe Middle East city.
Pride here is a bit different than Chicagoans are accustomed to when the LGBT spotlight shines through Lakeview on the last Sunday in June every year. The festivities begin here at about 10 a.m., with Pride Happening, held at Gan Meir Park, a large park located in front of the LGBT Community Center. Imagine a street festival on a grassy area in front of the Center on Halsted.
Thousands attended, many wearing colorful customs, face paint, body paint and more, including a strong contingent of LGBT-supporting students (high school and college-aged). There were drag performers galore on stage, some offering their take on classic, or at least current, English-speaking songs, and plenty of popular, high-energy Israeli songs, sung in Hebrew.
Numerous locals addressed the crowd, including Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. Plus, the first French couple to get married, Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau, appeared as part of their honeymoon celebration. They were invited by Tel Aviv's Global & Tourism Company and were being hosted by the French Embassy in Israel. In late May, the two became the first gay couple to wed since France became the 14th country to permit same-sex marriage.
"We were honored to receive the invitation and we are happy to have the opportunity to get to know this beautiful country and the Israeli LGBT community," Boileau told The Jerusalem Post.
"We've heard a lot about Tel Aviv and we understand that [the city] is a very important place for the global LGBT community. Everyone knows that Tel Aviv has one of the biggest gay pride events in the world and we think that we have a responsibility inside the gay community to be present here."
The park gathering featured a spattering of booths and/or organizations promoting their cause, such as, indHIViduality, which offered temporary tattoos in the company's logo, which is partially a rainbow flag.
When the three-hour park festivities ended, the parade beganbut nothing like what Chicagoans are accustomed to along Halsted Street and elsewhere every June.
As for a grand marshal, there is none, per se.
Chicago announced former professional football player Wade Davis has the honors this year. When asked, a local guide hesitated on who the grand marshal is, and then slowly replied, "Mayor Ron Huldai."
The revelers who congregated in the park streamed out onto the streets of Tel Aviv and proceeded to walk the parade route, right alongside, oh, give or take about 10 floats. There were, for instance, flatbed trucks with scantily-clad dancers for popular gay bars Evita and Dreck, and more.
Seeing the swarm of humanity in and around the limited number of floats was, well, just different. Forget the thousands of guardrails in Chicago that keep attendees away from the floats.
With tens of thousands of parade participants, not to mention the floats, the parade lasted about two hours, although the distance was probably just a bit more than a mile.
Cheering fans were ever-present along the route, and many sprayed or threw water on the marchers who, no doubt, didn't object too much as the sun shined brightly on a cloudless afternoon with temperatures in the upper 80s.
Another difference between Tel Aviv and Chicago's Pride Parades is the anti-gay protestersor lack thereof. None were seen along the route or at the beach. There were, though, multiple gay groups of pink-painted supporters of Palestine.
The parade culminates on the beachand it seemed everyone came to his rainbow festival. There was a DJ, cranking out up-tempo, extra-loud songssome in English and some in Hebrew. Imagine Chicago's Pride Parade ending at, say, Hollywood Beachand sexy, celebrating LGBT supporters for as far and wide as the eye can see.
Truly, the visual here at Gordon Beach after the parade was one that the "older generation" probably never thought would happen.
Fifteen years ago, there were about 20,000 involved in this city's first pride parade. This year, that tally has grown by at least five times that amountwith attendees from Russia, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Canada, Spain, England, Ireland, Romania, Panama, Ethiopia, South Africa, Denmark, Australia, the United States, and truly around the world.