Tel Aviv Pride – Where are the lesbians?

Gay men and fag hags do not constitute a proper gay pride!

I was so disappointed to be in my first ever Tel-Aviv pride (after so many great London Prides over the years) and notice so few gay women.

It's nice that the community gets together and Tel Aviv has definitely changed since I last lived here 10 years ago, but I still feel as though most of the city caters for men.

Just last month The Minerva; the only real lesbian pick up bar in Tel Aviv, was shut and in Jerusalem and Haifa the only full-time gay bars that existed in those towns (one in each city)  suffered a similar faith not so long ago.   

But my biggest shock was after the Tel Aviv Pride day events; that night when we went out, a group of friends; all gay/bi men and women, to the biggest party that night just to hear from the bouncer: "yuck women, you discuss me, fuck off".

Israel might have advanced in some ways, but in most of the periphery it is still a big taboo, gay men and women seems to live completely separate social lives, and politically we still have idiot right wing politicians who blame the gays on every flood, earthquake, etc.

So where is the progress I was promised by my friends? Just because there are a few streets in Tel Aviv where a gay couple will not get beaten up for PDA, and a few soap-operas featuring very stereotypical camp gay men (that just provide the ignorant with more ammunition), do not mean progress.

Also, a few rulings of the Supreme Court that have helped some gay couples adopt or get spousal recognition for the purpose of receiving benefits – those are great! But it seems that the only people in the country aware of those rulings and their significance are the judges and plaintiffs, not the average person in your average town.

I guess I shouldn't have had such high hopes. After all this is still a country where every comedy show features jokes about homos and homo is still a common derogatory term heard from the sand box at the kindergarten to The Knesset (our house of representatives). Maybe I'm better off within the bounds of the EU?

Again: so very disappointed L