LGBT rights in Israel

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights in Israel are considered the most developed in the Middle East. In November 2005, a groundbreaking court decision in Israel ruled that a lesbian spouse could officially adopt a child born to her current partner by artificial insemination from an anonymous sperm donor; this ruling came despite protests by the minority Orthodox Jewish parliamentary parties. Common law marriage which grants most of the official marriage rights to the spouse has been achieved, but full official same-sex marriage has not yet been sanctioned. However, same-sex marriages performed elsewhere are recognized.

Israel also has one of the highest percentages of support for same-sex marriage in the world, with 61% of Israelis supporting civil marriage for same-sex couples.

Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Cyprus are the only countries in the Middle East where homosexuality between consenting adults in private is not illegal and homosexuals are not persecuted under law. In most other Middle Eastern countries homosexuality is illegal, often punishable by corporal punishment, prison, and even the death penalty. Israel was the first country in Asia where homosexuals were protected by anti-discrimination laws, and remains the only country in the Middle East to provide such legal protection.

Out Magazine has named Tel Aviv "the gay capital of the Middle East."

In August 2009, an armed attacker shot dead two people and injured 15 more in an attack on a lesbian and gay centre in Tel Aviv. The incident has been deplored by many organizations and government officials, such as the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and President Shimon Peres.

Law regarding same-sex sexual activity

The State of Israel inherited its sodomy or "buggery" law from British influence, but there is no record that it was ever enforced against homosexual acts that took place between consenting adults in private. In 1963 the attorney general declared that this law would not be enforced; however, in certain cases defendants were found guilty of "sodomy" (which according to Israeli law includes oral sex as well), apparently by way of plea bargains: those defendants had been indicted for more serious sexual offences. There were also cases of soldiers tried for homosexual acts in military courts. Although the Israeli Supreme Court ruled, in the 1960s, that the law should not be applied to acts between consenting adults in private. The ban on consensual same-sex sexual acts was formally repealed by the national legislative assembly Knesset in 1988. The age of consent for both heterosexuals and homosexuals is sixteen years of age.

Recognition of same-sex relationships

Israeli law recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. It is the only country in the Middle East and all of Asia to do so. It does not, however, allow same-sex couples to marry on Israeli soil. Civil marriage doesn't exist in Israel for heterosexual couples, either, (except where both spouses are non-Jewish) and therefore no marriage not sanctioned by religious authorities can take place within Israel. (This restriction forces not only gay couples, but also all mixed-religion heterosexual couples and any person who wishes a non religious marriage, to marry outside the country.)

The State of Israel allows foreign partners of its homosexual citizenry to receive residency permits. The Civil Service Commission extends spousal benefits and pensions to the partners of homosexual employees. The Israeli State Attorney's Office has extended the spousal exemption from property-transfer taxes to same-sex couples. Israel's attorney general has granted legal recognition to same-sex couples in financial and other business matters. Attorney General Meni Mazuz said the couples will be treated the same as common-law spouses, recognizing them as legal units for tax, real estate, and financial purposes. Mazuz made his decision by refusing to appeal a district court ruling in an inheritance case that recognized the legality of a same-sex union, his office said in a statement. Mazuz did differentiate, however, between recognizing same-sex unions for financial and practical purposes, as he did, and changing the law to officially sanction the unions, which would be a matter for parliament, according to the statement.

The city of Tel Aviv recognizes unmarried couples, including gays and lesbians, as family units and grants them discounts for municipal services. Under the bylaw, unmarried couples qualify for the same discounts on day care and the use of swimming pools, sports facilities, and other city-sponsored activities that married couples enjoy.

On January 29, 2007, following a Supreme Court ruling ordering them to do so, Jerusalem registered its first gay couple, Avi and Binyamin Rose.

Adoption and family planning

On January 10, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that a lesbian couple is able to legally adopt each other's children. During the past 15 years that Tal and Avital Jarus-Hakak have lived together, they have had a total of three children. The couple petitioned the Tel Aviv Family Court for the right to formally adopt each other's children in 1997, but the request was rejected because Israel's adoption law had no provisions for same-sex couples. The couple appealed. While they failed to get a favorable ruling in the Tel Aviv District Court, the Supreme Court accepted the case. Citing Article 25 of the Adoption Law, the Yaros-Hakaks argued that the law allows for "special circumstances" for adoption when it is for the good of the child, even if the child's parents are still alive. The only condition is that the person seeking to adopt be single. The couple argued that since the state does not recognize same-sex marriage, they are single by law. The Yaros-Hakaks added that adoption was in the best interest of the children if one of their natural mothers should die. The Supreme Court of Israel agreed, ruling 7-2 in favor of the couple.

Following the supreme court ruling, a lesbian couple was allowed to adopt each other's biological children on February 12, 2006. Before that, gay partners of parents were granted guardianship over their partner's children.

On March 10, 2009, the Tel Aviv family court ruled that former Knesset member Uzi Even and his partner, Amit Kama, can legally adopt their 30-year-old foster son, Yossi, making them the first same-sex male couple in Israel whose right of adoption has been legally acknowledged.

Military service

Openly gay soldiers serve without hindrance in all branches of the military. Discrimination against gay and lesbian soldiers in recruitment, placement and promotion is prohibited in Israel. Harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation is also prohibited in the Israeli military. The military recognizes same-sex couples, including widows and widowers of the same-sex. Soldiers are also allowed to participate in Gay Pride Parades.

Since 1993, homosexuals have been allowed to openly serve in the military, including special units. This is change in the initial policy, which tended to view homosexuality as a mental illness.

In 1956, two male soldiers were put on military trial on charges of homosexual sexual intercourse, then defined as sexual conduct "against nature" and were convicted to a military prison sentence of one year, but the punishment was reduced on the grounds that homosexuality should be defined as a mental illness and not a crime. At the time, many mental health professionals did view homosexuality to be a illness and, at the time, it was considered to be liberal to treat homosexuality as disability rather a crime.

In the 1960s, legal opinions by the Israeli Attorney General and the Supreme Court limited the application of the criminal laws against homosexuality, but the prevailing notion that homosexuality was disease remained. In the 1960s - 1993, gay, lesbian and bisexuals were not formally exempt or banned from military service, but the anti-gay criminals remained on the books, their sexual orientation was still classified as a mental illness, which limited their role within the military, and their was no protection from anti-gay discrimination or harassment in the military.

Up until the 1980s, the commanders still had to report to the military psychiatric department about homosexual soldiers, despite the fact that psychological and psychiatric organizations in Israel and worldwide had since the 1970s, stopped viewing homosexuality as a mental illness.

In 1993, the Israeli Parliament revised the military rules so that gay, lesbian and bisexual Israelis can serve openly and on a equal footing with their heterosexual counterparts.

Today, Israeli youth who are exempt from military service can volunteer for national service. Since June 2006, The Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgenders in Israel (Agudah) qualifies as such a service. However, a steadily increasing number of gay recruits do full military service, often in combat units. The Ma'ariv newspaper reported that one of the largest units in the Israeli army, an intelligence processing unit, is well known for the large number of uncloseted LGBT soldiers serving in it.

Living conditions

Israel has an active gay community, with well attended annual gay pride festivals held in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem since 1998. Pride events are also held regularly in Haifa, Beer Sheva, Eilat and Rosh Pina.

The Jerusalem parade gained international coverage when three marchers were stabbed in 2005. The perpetrator was subsequently sentenced to twelve years in prison. An attempt by Jerusalem's mayor, a Haredi Jew, to thwart Jerusalem pride in June 2005 had been challenged in the courts. The mayor lost and was ordered to contribute funds to the event.

The World Pride Festival was planned for Jerusalem in August 2005, despite protests and opposition from members of the three major religions in Jerusalem. However, it was postponed due to Israel's pull out from Gaza Strip, which required the presence of most Israeli police forces and would thus leave the parade with little to no security. However, that parade had been plagued with threats of violence, as well as consistent grandstanding against it by some Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders and members of the Knesset.

In November 2006, more than two thousand members of the Haredi community jammed into streets in an Orthodox neighbourhood in a show of force aimed at pressuring authorities into cancelling the gay pride parade to be held in Jerusalem. About a dozen people were reported injured.

Israel is one of only eleven foreign countries to have a chapter of the U.S. PFLAG group called TEHILA.

Palestinian issues

Some LGBT Palestinians have relocated to Israel, often fleeing harsh intolerance that includes physical abuse, death, or disownment. Significant expatriate groups exist in Tel Aviv and Netanya, where many live with their Israeli same-sex partners who help keep their presence in Israel hidden from the police (who would pursue them not for their sexual orientation, but for staying illegally in the country).

Palestinian society tends to be conservative with Christian, Muslim, and secular families alike tending to see homosexuality and cross-dressing as immoral acts, deserving of condemnation.

In 2003, Aswat was founded, which describes itself as a Palestinian lesbian support group. However, the group is headquartered in Haifa, Israel, and is geared toward Arab lesbians in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. A secret association of Aswat was founded in Ramallah in March 2007 by four gay students. The Israeli Jerusalem Open House has opened an Arab chapter called Alqaws, reaching out to gay and lesbian Palestinians.

In 2008, Aswat claimed that gays are sometimes targeted by the Israeli security services and told that they must collaborate with Israel or face being outed.