Tragedy in Tel Aviv
Dear friends,
Israel's LGBT community has endured a terrible tragedy. On Saturday evening, Aug. 1, a cold-blooded murderer entered the offices of the Aguda, Israel's national LGBT organization, and mercilessly opened fire on 11 defenseless teenagers. Two young people were killed. The rest were rushed to ICU where some still remain.
The public outcry against this crime came to a head Aug. 8, when close to 70,000 people rallied in Tel Aviv's central "Rabin Square," demonstrating their support for the Gay community and against violence.
The message at the rally was clear: No murderer will frighten us! No murderer will succeed in pushing us back into the closet! Tel Aviv will continue to be the capital of pride and freedom. Hate crimes and gay bashing have never been part of the Israeli mosaic. They never were part of our culture and the population screamed out in one loud and clear voice that they will not be accepted now.
The gay community in Israel is powerful and united, and with the companionship of our worldwide friends, we will continue marching forward.
Each social movement, each struggle, has a moment in history that changes everything. That was the moment we experienced last week in Tel Aviv.
The enormous support that our community has loudly and unequivocally received from President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Minister of Education Gidon Sa'ar and other government officials is groundbreaking. We hope and pray that from the pain, some major achievements will be attained in promoting our ongoing struggle for equal rights.
During the last few years we've been working non stop to build Tel Aviv's image as a Mediterranean capital of gay tourism. The people, the bars, the parties, the restaurants, the white sandy beaches, the sense of absolute freedom—these are the components that justify this image.
Especially now, especially today, I'm calling you to choose Tel Aviv as your next holiday destination.
For more info please visit our Web site, www.visit-tlv.com, or write to Shai Doitsh, IGLTA Israel ambassador and the head of gay tourism department at The AGUDA, at shai@glbt.org .il.
Best regards and we look forwards to greeting you here in Tel Aviv!
Yaniv Waizman
Tel-Aviv City Council Member
Advisor to the mayor on the GLBT community
Chairman of the tourism committee
Wed-letter day?
Letter to the editor:
We are witnessing an interesting strategy develop among the Catholic bishops of the United States on the issue of gay marriage. Currently, Cardinal Francis George, the president of the U.S. Council of Catholic bishops, has signaled his willingness not to oppose civil unions in Illinois as long as there no attempt to pass a same-sex marriage bill. This strategy has not gone unnoticed by the New York Catholic Conference.
The New York State Catholic Conference said it supports providing every government right to same-sex couples through civil unions. New York is in process of passing a gay-marriage Bill. But bishops said redefining marriage—with all its cultural and religious aspects—isn't necessary or even possible in any context other than in a political world.
This is an interesting shift in the bishops' strategy. While many in the LGBT community will see promoting civil unions over same-sex marriage as accepting second-class citizenship and lacking constitutional integrity, others may not. Separate but equal seems now to be a compromise solution for some Catholic bishops, and gay politicos are also embracing it.
The Catholic bishops and part of the political leadership of the gay white male community have something in common—both are willing to sell out their goals for incremental progress. I accept the notion that we all want the same thing.
People in positions of power decided that their personal legacy and the promise of political expediency are more important than protecting our equal marriage rights. My purpose is not to sling mud at those who differ with but to remind them of their original goal of equal marriage rights for all in the LGBT community; anything less is a sell-out.
Sincerely,
Joe Murray
Executive Director
Rainbow Sash Movement
