Hundreds of Israelis participated in a mass wedding in Tel Aviv to demand the right to same-sex marriage ahead of the country’s Gay Pride week.
23 same-sex couples walked down the aisle at the Tel Aviv LGBT Centre in unison and exchanged vows at the unofficial marriage ceremony, cheered by family, friends and supporters.
The annual Tel Aviv Pride Parade, set for June 14, draws thousands of foreign visitors to the city, which flaunts itself as one of the world’s most gay-friendly tourist destinations. Jerusalem Pride Parade is set for June 7.
Yet political rights for Israel’s gay community lag behind the increasingly widespread cultural acceptance. Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties, powerful in the Israeli parliament, have rejected legislation that affords rights like same-sex marriage and the inclusion of gay men in surrogacy laws.
In any case, Israel stands in sharp contrast to the rest of the Mideast and becomes an exception in the region on acceptance of LGBT rights.
Tel Aviv Pride Parade is one of the largest in the world
Actually Israel has recognized same-sex marriages since 2006. However, there is a caveat. All same -sex marriages. like all other marriages made outside one of 15 recognized religious authorities (Catholic, Greek Orthodox, other Christian, Muslim, Druze, and Orthodox Jewish) must be performed outside of Israel and registered upon return. Consequently, Israelis who desire to have their same-sex marriage recognized by the Israeli Government must first marry outside Israel, in a jurisdiction where such marriages are legal, and then registered upon returning home. Civil marriages of any type have never been allowed in Israel -- because the laws from the Ottoman period (before 1917) were never changed in the British Mandate (1918 - 1948), and have never changed since Israeli independence in 1948. The reason is that doing so would simply be too contentious and hard to legislate. Same-sex marriage is a right that is guaranteed by the Supreme Court of Israel An opinion poll published in June 2019 showed that 78% of Israelis supported same-sex marriage or partnerships. Broken down by level of religiosity, 93% of secular Jews and 54% of religious Jews expressed support.
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