Quarter of a million people attend Tel Aviv Pride
More than 250,000 people attended the Middle East’s largest LGBT+ celebration on Friday, celebrating the 20th year of Tel Aviv Pride. The Pride March took place from Ben Zion Boulevard down to Charles Clore Park on the beach where Eurovision winner Netta Barzilai performed.
This year’s theme was “community into History” commemorating not just the 20th anniversary of the event, but also 30 years since Knesset decriminalised gay sex and 10 years since the opening of the city’s LGBT+ centre.
The festival attracted many celebrities, including American TV personality Andy Cohen who was the grand marshal of the parade. “I’ve been struck by how incredible it is—not only to be here, but as a proud gay Jewish man surrounded by my people,” Cohen said. “It’s also an amazing thing seeing gay pride flags flying everywhere next to the flag of Israel.”
Cohen also said how remarkable it was to see such inclusion “in a region where many of the neighbors cannot live as their true selves or be who they were born to be.”
Tel Aviv mayor, Ron Huldai, was also there, he told the crowd he would work to “smash legislative barriers until there is full equality” for LGBT+ Israelis. Israel has yet to achieve marriage equality or adoption rights for same-sex couples.
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