Love Not Bombs: Queer Tel Aviv with Etai Pinkas

On May 1, 2006, Tel Aviv City Council member Etai Pinkas spoke to an audience of Meretz USA and Ameinu members, as well as others in the community, at the East Village's KGB Bar. Below is a partial summary of his remarks.

I was born and raised in Tel Aviv. I was interested in politics but never thought I could be involved because of being gay. In university, I started volunteering for the Agudah (Israel's GLBT association) and became more politically involved. I was elected to vice-chair and then chair. Then I became fully involved in politics. I believe one of my greatest achievements is a new government-funded GLBT center. On the City Council I also work on environmental issues, which are becoming all of our top concern. My boyfriend, Yoav, and I just got married in Canada - we made the trip with several other couples and attracted significant media attention.

Do you have contact with Palestinian groups?
In the Agudah, we did try to rescue gay Palestinians who were being hunted either by the government or by their families.

How do you balance your promotion of environmental concerns and GLBT rights with the fact that, in Israel, security concerns often trump all others?
It's a matter of a decision - the conflict is very important, I have my views on it and I like to promote them, but it shouldn't stop me from promoting my views on other things. It's just a decision - people can speak with many voices.

What are the biggest battles facing the GLBT community in Israel today?
The biggest battles right now are over the GLBT family - marriage and adoption. We are in a good place with the Supreme Court: it's no longer legal to discriminate against GLB's in the workplace. It is still legal to discriminate against transgendered people and we are working on that. Marriage is the main issue, and we're lucky to have other people with problems in that area - whether it's a divorced woman and a cohen, or just two people from different religious backgrounds, many couples can't get married, so we're in a large company with that. Just like other couples go to Cyprus and then return and demand that the state recognize it, we go to Canada and do the same.