San Francisco Sentinel » Blog Archives » SAN FRANCISCO GAY JEWS MARCH FREELY AS POLICE BAR PRIDE PARADE FROM ENDING AT ISRAELI KNESSET

SAN FRANCISCO GAY JEWS MARCH FREELY AS POLICE BAR PRIDE PARADE FROM ENDING AT ISRAELI KNESSET

24 June 2010

Israel’s gay community request to end Pride Parade at parliament denied.
Open House chairman calls decision ‘infuriating’;
Israel Religious Action Center threatens legal action

Gay Jews in San Francisco will again march proudly in Pride Parade 2010. Seen in last’s Pride Celebration March are Rabbis Ryan Bauer, center; and Sydney Mintz, far right, of San Francisco Congregation Emanu-El march with the Jewish LGBT Alliance.
Photo By Bill Wilson © 2009-2010

Israel Police denied on Thursday a request by the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance to allow this year’s Gay Pride Parade slated to conclude outside the Knesset building.

Authorities demanded that the procession be held along the same route as last year’s The parade will be held on July 29 and mark the year anniversary of the shooting attack on a gay youth center in Tel Aviv that took the lives of gay youth leader Nir Katz and teenager, Liz Trubeshi.

gay-muslims-hanged
Muslim gesture to gay Arab teenagers

The police still do not have a lead on the identity of the perpetrator.

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“The decision is infuriating,” Open House Chairman Mikie Goldstein told Ynet.

“We are determined to rally for our rights – and this year we wanted to end the march at the Knesset.

“Marching to parliament is a right in every democratic country. We get the sense that it is easier for the police to tell us, ‘March along last year’s route.’”

Paul Munson prepares to light rainbow candles during a Pride community ceremony
in Sonoma County

Open House said in a statement that police had delayed the response to the community’s request for more than a month and eventually decided that the gay community cannot march in public places.”

The Israel Religious Action Center has requested Israel Police to reverse its decision and threatened to take legal action in case it refuses to do so.

Open House Director Yonatan Gar expressed his disappointment with the police’s conduct. “On the anniversary of the murder at the gay youth center, the gay community asks to exercise its democratic right to march to the Knesset, the most fitting site to protest against the ongoing discrimination and the wild incitement that gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals suffer throughout Israel. march –from Independence Park to Liberty Bell Park.

“The police’s puzzling refusal to allow the event to be held is illegal, and even dangerous. It is best that the police invest its resources in finding the murderer instead of violating the gay community’s freedom of expression,” Gar said.

The police confirmed that the Open House’s request was rejected out of “security and safety concerns.” However, they claim that two alternative locations were offered: the Liberty Bell Park or the Rose Garden. “We are awaiting the response of the Open House in order to conclude the matter,” the police reported.

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BILL WILSON
Sentinel Photojournalist
Bill Wilson is a San Francisco-based veteran photojournalist. Bill embraced photojournalism at the age of eight. In recent years, his photos capture historic record of the San Francisco LGBT community in the Bay Area Reporter (BAR), The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, SFist, SFAppeal. Bill has contributed to the Sentinel for the past six years. Email Bill Wilson at wfwilson@sbcglobal.net.