(JTA) — Israel’s Meretz party became the first to elect as its leader an openly gay person. The left-wing party picked Nitzan Horowitz as its new head on Thursday in Tel Aviv. Horowitz, a former journalist who served in the Knesset in 2009-2015, defeated incumbent Tamar Zandberg. “Meretz doesn’t… Read more »
Tagged gay
Israel touts gay-friendly climate, but rights fight faces religious firewall

TEL AVIV (JTA) — As last Tuesday ended, it felt like Israel’s gay community had taken a major step forward. On Feb. 23, eight separate Israeli parliamentary committees convened to discuss a broad set of issues facing the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Lawmakers from a range of parties… Read more »
Op-Ed: Reform movement will continue to push for transgender rights

WASHINGTON (JTA) — On Nov. 5, delegates to the Union for Reform Judaism’s 73rd biennial convention unanimously adopted a resolution on the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming individuals. It was a moment of great pride and celebration, tempered by the knowledge that just two days earlier — and… Read more »
Gay pride parade used ruse to include anti-Israel group, critics charge

TORONTO (JTA) – Canadian Jewish organizations are saying they will not back down after an unexpected policy reversal that will allow an anti-Israel group to participate in this year’s Toronto gay pride parade. Organizers of the annual parade, one of the largest events on Canada’s cultural calendar, backtracked this… Read more »
Shooting a German-Israeli relationship
By Toby Axelrod BERLIN (JTA) — Israeli filmmaker Tomer Heymann almost never stops shooting. He shoots his mother. He shoots his relatives. And, most of all, he shoots his German boyfriend. Heymann’s latest documentary, “I Shot My Love,” tells the sometimes painful story about how his love affair with… Read more »
For religious gays in Israel, new initiatives are providing hope
By Ben Harris TEL AVIV (JTA) — Gidi Grunberg at 16 fell in love with a boy at his Orthodox high school near Tel Aviv. Consumed by guilt, he transferred to a high school that was more strictly religious, hopeful that with more rigorous Torah study his attraction to… Read more »