LGBTQphobia Report #8

LGBTQ on the Religious Spectrum

“I was at girls school (Ulpanna), when the teacher said that same sext marriage is like hybrid seeds...homosexuality is a pervercity that needs to be dealt with...an abomination in the state. An entire lesson about how people on the trans spectrum don’t believe in god and a lot of other comments and stigmas against the LGBTQ community.”/ C. South Israel During 2020, the LGBTQ-religious community had to cope with a variety of events impacting them externally as well as LGBTQphobia, aimed to stain their combined identity as both people of faith and LGBTQ. The Coronavirus has affected many religious LGBTQ, bringing challenges as well as opportunities. Many religious LGBTQs, especially closeted ones, have found themselves under a lot of pressure in times of lockdown, spending more time at home than usual, which left them handling LGBTQphobic behaviour from family members, as well as with their conflict of religious-based restrictions versus their desire to follow on their sexual orientation and/or their true gender. In early February, ‘Ba’Shviee’ newspaper demanded, from the Kachol-Lavan party to remove the term LGBTQ from an election ad they had placed on the paper. In the same month the religious conservative organisation - ‘Choosing Family’- has protested against the Electricity company, for its declaration to give surrogacy funding for same sex couples. Senior rabies speaking against the community remain constant throughout the year sparking incitement against the LGBTQ community. For example,“Rabies for Religious Zionism”, a union of senior conservative rabies, gathered and called for action to be taken against LGBTQ families and “for the sanctity of the Jewish family.” These are just a few expressions made and actions taken by senior religious public figures. When it comes to politics, the religious oriented parties have tried to bring down the law forbidding conversion treatments to be carried out, in the employment and welfare committee; Mr. Dror Aryeh, founder of the ‘Noam’ party, started a trust fund to subsidise conversion “treatments”, etc. The community also had to deal with the media and educational areas: Channel 20 refused to receive any stories from the religious-LGBTQ spokesperson, whereas the REA (Religious Education Administration) removed their support from training teachers about LGBTQ students. Towards the end of the year, an organisation by the name of Offek - The Jewish Information Headquarters, has created a video against “LGBTQ missionarism” - the presence of Hoshen and Shoval organisations in the educational system. Community Support: Many inquiries have been received by the ‘Havruta’ organisation (religious LGBTQ men organisation), for support in this complex time from the religious and Haredi (ultra orthodox) LGBTQs. In addition, Bat Kol organisation (religious LGBTQ women organisation) has also established an online support center for women in the closet, nemed “For you”, due to the increase in inquiries. The lack of interpersonal highschool programs, due to the Coronavirus, have brought Shoval to think outside the box and focus their attention on non-formal communities, creating Zoom events for pre-military colleges that were active during that time, as well as focusing their attention also inwards, on the foundations of their organisation. Among those, were the educational activities for volunteers, a new website and long term collaborations with key persons in local authorities, in order to promote the religious-LGBTQ community at a municipal level. Moreover, the law against conversion therapy has passed in the pre-vote at the Knesset, a move lead by the Havruta organisation and the other LGBTQ organisations, which also includes creating digital infrastructures to support those who have been through them, education about them and taking part in the Knessett committees. A success against all odds, which predicted failure.

LGBTQphobia Report