In Tel Aviv and Haifa, an Arab community is formed with strong and supportive connections, and in the gay pride parades in Haifa and Tel Aviv there’s already visibility of Arab participants.
Talleen shared that she had suffered humiliation and physical violence from her father, from a hostile family environment that pushed her out of her home to Tel Aviv. She entered the hit reality show “Big Brother” and bravely told that her family saw her gender differences as a mental illness. Talleen Abu Hana, the transgender Arab from Nazareth, broke into Israeli discourse following her win in the Miss Trans Israel Competition in 2016. The most prominent among them is Muhammad Zoabi, a Muslim Arab, publicly gay with over 40,000 Facebook followers, who is a prominent spokesman against homophobia. Violence that in many cases drives them out of their family-cultural-social space, to Tel Aviv, for example, where they are even more exposed to isolation and alienation, drug addictions, sexual exploitation and even suicidal attempts.Īlongside the manifestations of violence, winds of change in the Arab sector are blowing. Revealing one’s sexual identity or gender variability often endangers the ability to live confidently with the family and the surrounding culture, and in many cases LGBT youth may become victims of severe physical violence and humiliation on the part of their families and society. Manifestations of violence, humiliation, ostracism, threats and isolation towards LGBTQ people are worse in the Arab sector. The need for a pride parade in Nazareth results from the great distress that LGBTQ Arabs suffer from. Maybe the parade will even trigger parents to ask their son whether the partner with whom he’s living in Tel Aviv for years is actually his partner? Then, when a parent sees the neighbor’s gay son walking with a rainbow flag and who is out of the closet, and next to him his straight friend, the hostility toward the lesbian daughter coming out will just diminish. In order to moderate the opposition to such a parade, it’s important to involve the political leadership in supporting it. A Pride Parade in Nazareth can bring, even if slowly and gradually, a change in the perception of Arabs toward LGBTQ people, and finally, perhaps, can even inspire identification, understanding, and solidarity. A change that will make it easier for Arab youth to grow confidently with their families, a change that will enable LGBTQ Arabs who don’t have the economic opportunity to live in Tel Aviv or Haifa, to live in dignity and security in the society in which they grew up. A parade in the Arab sector could bring about change. Attorney Eran Rosenzweig believes that a parade that will create dialogue rather than antagonism, can remove the curtain of silence in the matter and break the closet doors in Arab societyįollowing the establishment of pride parades in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Be’er Sheva and Jerusalem, there’s a particular importance for an LGBTQ pride parade in Nazareth. A pride parade in Nazareth can be a significant step in alleviating the distress from which Arab LGBT people suffer.
LGBTQ people in the Arab sector are exposed to manifestations of violence, humiliation, ostracism, threats, and isolation.