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ISRAEL - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's daughter Dana told Army Radio on Sunday that the struggle of the homosexual community in Israel has just began, charging that the community's rights remain violated.
"There is a continuing history of violence and hatred, there is homophobia. Coming out of the closet is not a one-time struggle," Dana, a lesbian, said.
She said: "I thought it is important to tell those who were not there what those who were there felt. I was happy to be there with the sweetest people there is.
"But on the other hand there is a sad feeling in that they took us into a closed area. It was a feeling of being in jail. At the entrance we were asked to put on a pink ribbon and the feeling was that the event is too sterile."
She claimed that a violent campaign was waged against the community and the event's organizers.
"After what happened I am sure the community's leader should not give up and therefore we have to march. The fear campaign is a problem. The fact that we were distanced from the public teaches us that something in the separation war succeeded, and that's what turned the event into a bitter victory …
"I think that the community was offended in this struggle but there is another side to that. Now, homosexual and lesbian haredim, and there are haredi homosexuals and lesbian, know they are not alone in the world."
Olmert said that the media presented both sides in an equal manner boosted haredim opposing the parade.
"There is on the one hand a group of people who want to march without violence, and their message is not one of hate. And on the other hand there is a group of people who express themselves violently – and the media presents both sides in a politically correct manner. I believe the media should take a stance."
She was asked about her father's silence over the issue and his unwillingness to support the community.
"I would have been happy if, as Eliyahui Yishai called it 'the abomination parade', someone had answered him from the government system … I don't like to speak as the daughter of my father. I don't act in the public sphere as such, but I keep to myself the right to express myself when I think I am right and this is one such time."
from Y Net News
JERUSALEM - A few thousand gays and their supporters rallied in Jerusalem on Friday under heavy security, going ahead with a festival that has sparked religious protests and highlighted deep divisions in Israeli society.
Gays, lesbians and civil rights activists waved rainbow flags representing gay pride and held up banners in a small stadium where the rally took place. Dance music echoed across the stadium, creating a carnival atmosphere.
Two men dressed as sperm handed out condoms.
Organisers had planned a gay pride street parade but cancelled it after police said they needed to beef up security to guard against threatened Palestinian attacks following a deadly Israeli army shelling attack in Gaza this week.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews had also threatened to disrupt the march through the holy city. There have been nightly protests in Jerusalem's religious neighbourhoods against the parade.
"Why are they pushing us back in the closet? There is more than one way to be a Jew," said Yossi Gilad, 36, from Tel Aviv, who works for a non-governmental organisation.
One woman held a poster that read: "I am a proud Jewish lesbian."
Police said they arrested several religious youths near the venue who were carrying knives and brass knuckles. There were also a few minor scuffles between right-wing opponents of the event and gay rights activists in the city but little violence.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews view homosexuality as an abomination.
"This is not the homo-land, this is the holy land," said Rabbi Yehuda Levin, a member of one Orthodox organisation.
"Today is a great victory for religious power. The sodomites are back in the figurative closet. They are not free to provoke."
Some 3,000 police deployed to secure the event and set up checkpoints on all routes to the stadium to prevent ultra-Orthodox Jews and other protesters entering. Many roads were also blocked.
The move to hold the rally in the Givat Ram stadium came after Palestinian vows to revenge Israel's shelling of a northern Gaza town on Wednesday, which killed 19 civilians.
Israel said the carnage was the result of a "technical failure" by Israeli artillery. The army had said it was targeting rocket launchers.
The ultra-Orthodox and many other Israelis had seen the planned march in Jerusalem as a provocation against religion.
Debate about the march had also exposed deep fissures in Israeli society, caught between its vocal religious community and a desire to be seen as progressive and "modern".
Gay pride festivals have been held each year in Jerusalem since 2001, but this year's was billed as being bigger and better, causing greater outrage than before.
Organisers say the event promotes understanding, tolerance and open-mindedness.
The festival had been scheduled for August but was postponed because of Israel's war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
from Reuters
ISRAEL - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's daughter Dana told Army Radio on Sunday that the struggle of the homosexual community in Israel has just began, charging that the community's rights remain violated.
