With great pleasure we invite you to join us for the 6th award ceremony, prize distribution, and presentation of the winning academic papers on
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST LGBT-PHOBIA AND ADVANCING LGBT EQUALITY

FREE ADMISSION

The first ‪IDAHOT‬ Football match was organised by the Fare member New Israel Fund.

The event kicked-off with the opening speech of Gil Ohovski, a representative of the pride community and director of the Open House Sarah K. Meier, a Jerusalem-based centre for the LGBT community, on the importance of the initiative to raise awareness of homophobia and to promote LGBT rights.

Participating teams included team amateur  clubs of Hapoel Katamon and Tel Aviv Pride Football Club “Rainball”, the biggest LGBT sports clubs in Israel.

The initiative was the first oficial match organised in the country in support of the fight against homophobia.

Speaking ahead of the event, NIF executive director Rachel Liel said: “The aim of the event is help set an agenda for the fight against homophobia in Israel, and using football, a sport that is linked to the values of equality, tolerance and fraternity, makes it easier. 

“As other national and international football governing bodies have done before, we hope that after today Israeli football can also join the fight and challenge homophobia.”

The initiative was funded through a Fare and Football v HomophobiaIDAHOT grant to support football related activities around the day and further a message of diversity across the globe.

Find more details here.

In Israel, LGBTI organisations and allies came together for two events in Jerusalem, as well as two events in Tel Aviv and a radio interview to mark the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia 2014, amongst other highlights.

Jerusalem

Coordinated by Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, there were two events planned prior to May 17 in commemoration of IDAHOT that were linked to the topic of freedom of speech. One was “Pride Shabbes” which took place on the 5-6th of May and is a joint pride event with a local Jewish congregation. The second was a LGBTQ week that has been organised at the Hebrew University on 14-15th of May.

The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH) is an LGBTQ organisation based in Jerusalem. They provide direct services to LGBTQ people in the community and the area. For more details about the organisation, please visit their website.

Tel Aviv: Knowledge is Power!

Once again, for IDAHOT 2014, LGBTI communities and allies came together in Tel Aviv for the award of the prize of Outstanding academic or research paper on LGBTI-phobia. This event was supported by long standing organisers of IDAHOT events in Israel, Havana.

The programme also included discussions and panels on masculinity, health resources, working with high school students, as well as presentations on gender fluidity and trans communities. You can find the academic papers on the Havana website.

The event took place on May 15 at the School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University.

Knowledge Is Power, Tel Aviv. Source: Havana

The full programme was as follows:

15:30 / Registration
16:00 / Prof. Bilha Davidson-Arad – Head of the School of Social Work
Yadin Sapir – One of the organizers of the International Day Against LGBT-phobia in Israel
Yali Ben-Ami Vitenberg, Hoshen CEO
Dr. Gill Fishof- Coordinator of the Aguda’s Nir Katz Center Against LGBT-phobia
16:15 – 17:10 / Opening Lectures
Dr. Amit Kama – Outline of the LGBT Research Field in Israel
Uri Eick – Changing Attitudes of High School Students in Israel towards Homosexuality

Knowledge Is Power, Tel Aviv. Source: Havana

The LGBT Club of Tel Aviv University invited the Seminar participants to a social continuation at the pub ‘Rosh Pina” in Brodetzki Center, Ramat Aviv.

Youth movements rally to mark IDAHOT – International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in Israel

The event took place on Thursday, May 22, 2014, and was hosted by Youth Movements in Israel – IGY (the Israel Gay Youth), The Scout Movement, Hamahanot Haolim, The Youth Guard, and The Federation of Working and Studying Youth. It included a dialogue between youth organizations and movements and the main ceremony of the Gay Youth Council. Professor Yuli Tamir, former Education Minister and current president of Shenkar College, attended the event, as well.

Tel Aviv University promo videos:

Radio Interview

Additionally, May 16 in Israel also saw a radio interview, in English with Yali Kelrich (one of leading co-organizers of Havana this year), about the battle against discrimination towards LGBTI communities.

The interview was on TLV1 station, which is an English-language internet radio broadcasting from Tel Aviv. Founded in 2013, TLV1 seeks to provide listeners with a fresh and novel perspective on the daily agenda in Israel and its neighbors, and keeps its finger on the beating pulse of Tel Aviv. The interview was part of the show “Where cultures meet – Weekend Edition”.

You can find the interview here at 104 minutes in.

Photo: Jerusalem Pride 2013, source link.

One is “Pride Shabbes” on the 5-6th of May which is a joint pride event with a local Jewish congregation.
The second is a LGBTQ week that will be organised at the Hebrew University on 14-15th of May.

The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH) is a LGBTQ organisation based in Jerusalem. They provide direct service to LGBTQ people in the community and the area. For more details about the organisation, please visit their website.

Interview by Nevin Öztop.

Some of you might still remember little Na’ama, an 8 year old girl in Israel, who was spat on by ultra-Orthodox extremists and called a whore for dressing “immodestly” on the way to her school back in 2011.

Elinor Sidi, the Executive Director at Jerusalem Open House, went beyond the limits of this individual incident and invited everyone to see how little space there is left for women to breath in the fight between ultra-Ortodox men and liberal men: “I do get angry when women’s pain is being cynically used in the war between secular men and religious men over power. What difference does it make for little Na’ama who spits upon her, religious or secular men, is she still gets spit upon?”

She now invites us to question if everything that is good for liberal gay rights is also good for all human rights, for women in particular. Our main topic is surrogacy and where race, class and money are in all the state regulations. Her message for March 8 is “Our rights should not be gained on someone else’s back and that race and power dynamics should never be used.”

First let me ask – where will you be on March 8 and what will you be doing?

I believe a part of our job we are doing is for women’s rights. We are an LGBT organization but women’s rights are a big part of what we do. On the weekend there will be a Slut Walk in Tel Aviv and I will be marching there.

Let me step in here… You just gave a great example for a cross cutting message that concerns both the LGBT society and women. Why will you be at this walk?

First of all, I am there to say “We are not asking for it”. In Israel it is not common knowledge that if a women is dressed in a certain way, she is not asking for sexual assault or harassment. That basic notion still needs to be broadcasted through to a wider public. Personally I am going to be there because every time I was involved in the protection of that walk, I was sexually harassed myself. While submitting all the papers to get an approval for the walk itself, I was harassed by police officers: “Why do you need to dress like sluts?” “Why do you use the word ‘slut’?”… Working on the Slut Walk itself is an experience on its own. I will stop going to the walk when working on the walk becomes non-offensive and no longer harmful.

People outside and inside of Israel have many conceptions and misconceptions about what Israel looks like for women and LGBT society in general. You live in Israel and you have your own words to say. What are the common agenda and problems, can you describe to us?

I think we have one big problem, which is the fact that policy and actual life are very much different. We do have a liberal policy and we do enjoy freedom and legal rights, and I am talking for both LGBTs and women. For instance it is granted by law that you cannot discriminate against women and LGBT people in employment and hiring processes but in real life things work differently.

One of the main regulations in Israel is surrogacy. It is also one of the very troubling issues in the country. Can you please give us an overview of what is on the table right now?

I guess it is a Jewish thing, or demographic thing: We always have another war we are waiting to win. Having more babies is an actual obligation that a person needs to fulfill in order to get approval from society. This applies for LGBT people too. One of the struggles by women back in the 80s was to gain social and legal rights to have a family like anybody else. For women it is very easy, but for men, they have a technical problem. As technology has improved over the years, surrogacy has become available for gay men, mainly in India and Thailand. Now gay men in Israel using surrogacy in certain countries is becoming a pressing issue inside the LGBT community. I think it is really going to split up the lesbian women and gay men over this topic. There is a big movement of protest against surrogacy, which says gay men should not gain their rights on the back of women, that gay rights should not be gained by using women who are in financial difficulties.

One of the main struggles that is going on in Israel has been opened to thousands of gay men, and we are talking about thousands of women in financial difficulties who are being used. Hopefully we will be able to reach some kind of an agreement. I think using women from completely different cultures and backgrounds, some of whom are not even able to understand what is written in the contract they are signing, is completely out of question. I think it is completely against human rights and completely wrong. I also have strong feelings against the use of Israeli women, but at least they would have the same culture and the relations can be regulated better on the contract they are signing. The way it is happening now is completely against the human rights of the surrogates.

It is basically for gay men who do have the money to buy the service of surrogacy. It serves a specific class, a specific group of men, and a specific group of nationals. In a way there is a class and race issue involved, right?

Exactly, it is also a question of race because the men who are using this service are white. They come from a a certain socio-economic background. So when they are using surrogacy in India, in addition to their sperm, they will also need an egg. We are talking about race economy, colour economy; it is quite horrific. They usually get an egg donor from Eastern Europe, which is also not regulated and it is not insured. It is a white egg, inserted into a brown woman.

If you would ask me, “What would gay men say about that?”, I think they would say they want families, their own families. As a lesbian, when I wanted to have a child, I only needed to get a sperm which I could get wherever I wanted. The Israeli government subsidized the whole process which made everything easy for me. They might say it is cynical to criticize gay men’s needs for a family. I do understand what they are saying, but I just think that the violation of women’s rights – the human rights of the surrogate – is not something that the LGBT community can accept. Our rights should not be gained on someone else’s back and race and power dynamics should never be used.

A lot of people go to Israel for many reasons… As for gay tourism, Israel is seen as a gay destination. People do not know, or rather don’t want to know, the kind of debates you might be having within the movement or the sorts of violations that are going on in the country. The occupation and inhumane siege of Palestine, demonstrations about the poor working conditions of African immigrants, recent protests about rising housing prices… Where is all that?

It is funny, one of the main news websites just published a survey in which they examined Netenyahu’s speeches throughout the past few years in Knesset, the Parliament. They looked at the topics he tackled the most. He speaks about Iran almost 50% of the time. Public housing, which is a major problem in the country, was mentioned only twice.

It is unbelievable that Iran has become such a big topic that it distracts all other discussions about civil society, public housing, lack of jobs, immigrants… I think as long as Israel continues to occupy itself by “security” issues, as long as we don’t end the occupation, as long as we continue occupying different nations, we will not have the ability to fully address civil society issues. It is a complete destruction for Israeli society. Unfortunately I am a minority in Israel.

This year, several events for Havana will be held in Israel between the dates May 16th to 19th.
(For Hebrew version of IDAHO Israel 2013 events).

The Hamsa Project: Protect us from prejudice

A Facebook campaign against hate and prejudice.

It all starts at home. It’s the place where we stand and say:”I’ve got something to tell you” The place that we spend most of our time.  The place, where everyone wish to feel safe and loved. The place, that we wish would  provide us peace and quiet. The place that we wish would protect us from the voices of prejudice that are roaring outdoors.
Unfortunately, sometimes, these voices are crawling into our home, through T.V. radio and internet, and whether it’s members of our family, friends, or colleagues are those who are  exposed to these voices, we find ourselves dealing with ignorance, hatred and violence.

We do not think that we should stay away from home, we think our home should stay away from prejudice. And it’s our job to fight for our homes. On May 17th we’re all saying: prejudice will not step foot in our houses, offices, schools, in the streets, on the net, and so on…Let us all bless our surroundings with love and acceptance. For the sake of our hearts . For the sake of our home.

Join the campaign at www.hamsa.havana.org.il

Main event for Havana / IDAHO, marking twenty years of visibility

Twenty years have passed since the famous “coming out of the closet” event was held in the garden of “Sheinkin” street in Tel Aviv. At the same event, people were filmed going out of a closet that was put in the middle of the garden for everyone to see. Amongst all the participants of the event, there was a soldier, whose picture was published in the next morning’s paper and led him to be sentenced and removed from the Israeli army.

The LGBT community has come long way since those days, and today enjoys the leadership of a younger generation and its actions. This year, Iggy’s youth (youth organization) leads the “coming out”  event, which  will take place on Sunday May 19th at 17:30.

In an addition to the symbolic “coming out ” action, there will be round tables and dialogue circles about the day and the life outside the closet.

The event will honor with greetings and thanks to a dearest member, and much appreciated woman of the LGBT community in 2013, Nora Greenberg, who has led and continues to lead a determined struggle for LGBT right, over the years and has many achievements of the transgender community registered in her name. The event will also honor key volunteers of the community.

Protest vigils in Haifa – It is illegitimate that lesbian couple showing their love, will get a bottle thrown at their head

It is not right that the authorities such as the police, city officials and the education system are not fulfilling their roles. It is not right that the words “homo” and “sissy” are still the most common curses in schools and that “Hoshen” an organization founded to specifically teach tolerance and LGBT rights is still not allowed to come and teach in most of the schools in Israel.
Because it is imperative and our right to protest, yell and also explain LGBT rights in and of the broad public.

The event will be held at Carmel Center, Haifa, Friday May 17th, 12:00.

Homophobia & Transphobia: who is responsible for policy practice and change?

Thursday, 05/16/2013, 15:30 to 20:00, School of Social Work Bob Shapell, Tel Aviv University, Lecture hall #127.

The event will also include an awards ceremony to outstanding papers in the subject of LGBTphobia and LGBT equality, that have participated in Havana’s annual contest, that is taking place the for the 3rd year. This year’s competition subject were: Judaism and LGBTphobia thesis,and two more tracks for general LGBTphobia seminar papers undergraduate and graduate.

A number of lectures will be held in this year’s seminar. Prof. Idit Weiss-Gal will talk about practices for policy change, the personal, communal, social and political. Prof. Eyal Gross will talk about the politics of LGBT rights in Israel in a historical perspective, contemporary and Comparative. Dr. Guy Shilo will explain whether and how research can be used to bring change in Israel’s LGBT policy. A round panel will summarize the seminar in the subject of LGBT policy change in Israel in 2013 in fact.

Please register by email info@havana.org.il

LGBT Visibility Projects on Facebook

Another independent visibility campaign “LGBT people – Not what you thought” is up on the Facebook page of the Jerusalem Videopub gay bar, which will publish every day this week until May 17, a LGBTphobic quote of a well-known Israeli personality. “Homophobia is still alive and we must kick it and call against it” they wrote on their Facebook page.

IDAHO or ‘Havana’ has been held in Israel since 2006, under the name HAVANA (הבנ”ה) which is the abbreviation for IDAHO in Hebrew, and also means “Understanding”. A complete lists of events for this year is available online on the havana.org site in English and Hebrew.

They included an artistic program with a theatrical performance, the screening of world clips dealing with the struggle against homophobia and transphobia, an award to the outstanding community volunteer and an award of recognition as “Yekir Hakehila” in which Naomi Hernik and Zoharit Sorek were named as the 2012 laureates.

In Tel Aviv – Jaffa, “Homophobia, transphobia – Not in our house”: The Moran Zafrir seminar included lectures about homophobia and transphobia and the challenges faced in the education system, and workshops on how to deal with the phenomenon.

Other events included:

Tel Aviv – Jaffa, The Struggle in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) for the rights of LGBT: A panel on the subject “The Fight in the Knesset against homophobia and transphobia, and for equal rights for LGBT”.

Explanation Stands of the IDAHO in which flyers, stickers and pins were distributed to heighten awareness in commemoration of IDAHO. Stands were manned in Tel Aviv, two in Beer Sheva and at the Tel Hai College.

A seminar on “Homophobia among the Youth” at Tel Aviv University conducted by “Hoshen” – the eEducation arm of the LGBT community -– in conjunction with the Herzlia Council. The seminar dealt with various expressions of homophobia, and patience and recognition of the variance of sexual orientations and gender identities in Israeli society.

A “I also am Gay Friendly” group youth project: A new youth group called the “National Youth Council for LGBTs” began a campaign among Israeli youth to identify with IDAHO. During the campaign, members of the group photographed many youth holding placards bearing the words “I also am Gay Friendly” and “Down with Homophobia”. In addition, the group produced a home movie entitled “Am I forbidden to be a Homo?”

A roving exhibition entitled “This is My Story” which was an exhibition of photographs depicting “Hoshen” volunteers in intimate and private moments.

An educational meeting of youth in Haifa in which the youth movement group “Machanot Haolim” for the second year held an educational gathering of youth on the struggle against homophobia.

Issues regarding the medical treatment and health of transgender people was held at Tel Aviv University, entitled “Space of Our Own” and featuring a panel discussion.