THE NEW NORMAL SWIFT ACCEPTANCE OF GAYS BY THE ISRAELI MILITARY HELPED TRANSFORM ISRAEL INTO ONE OF THE MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD. By Brian Schaefer N THE MID-1980S, A FORMER EL AL FLIGHT ATTENDANT FROM THE SMALL COASTAL TOWN OF HADERA BEGAN WRITING A FAIRY TALE ABOUT THE LIFE HE DREAMED OF LIVING IN ISRAEL. IT TOOK THE FORM OF A WEEKLY COLUMN IN THE WIDELY READ HA’IR [THE CITY], A VILLAGE VOICE-LIKE WEEKLY OF CULTURAL COMMENTARY. THE COLUMN, CALLED “MOSHE,” CHRONICLED THE DAILY DOINGS OF A YOUNG, MIDDLE- CLASS GAY COUPLE WHO COULD OPENLY LIVE LIKE ANY OTHER YOUNG, MIDDLE- CLASS COUPLE IN TEL AVIV AT THE TIME. The author was Gal Uchovsky, and although Fast-forward a few decades and Ucho- he had already comeI out as gay, he wrote the vsky’s dreams of domestic bliss have come column under a pseudonym. “I was still in the true. The man, recognizable for his shiny bald mindset of not wanting to be pigeonholed,” head, hip dark-framed glasses and friendly says Uchovsky, now an outspoken and visible demeanor, now lives openly in Tel Aviv with member of Israel’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and his partner of 24 years, !lm director Eytan transgender (LGBT) community, and one of Fox. Together, the two of them have helped the country’s best-known television and !lm make Uchovsky’s dream of normalcy a real- writers and TV personalities. “I didn’t want ity for themselves and many others. to write about my personal life. I wanted Fox’s !lms, several of which Uchovsky more freedom. So I invented this couple, this wrote, have included Yossi & Jagger, the bourgeois, mid-thirties couple.” story of the relationship between an army “Moshe” described a mostly mundane commander and one of his soldiers, which domestic life, a fantasy compared to the became a national hit in 2002. He also reality of gays and lesbians in Israel at directed The Bubble (2006), a Romeo & the time. Homosexuality was a criminal Juliet-type tragedy about two men who fall offense, and Independence Park in Tel Aviv in love—one Israeli, one Palestinian—that (as well as the park of the same name in mixed sexuality with politics and garnered Jerusalem) served as a clandestine meeting international praise. Even when Fox’s !lms place for gay men who had no other venue don’t explicitly deal with gay themes, like to connect. Being gay was furtive business: Walk on Water (2004), they feature promi- Men opened post of!ce boxes to exchange nent gay characters and subplots. “We’re notes because receiving anything at home asked at !lm festivals why we need a gay was too risky. Often, only !rst names were character in every !lm,” says Uchovsky. “I used between friends and lovers to protect say, ‘A !lmmaker creates a world that never identities and to avoid police harassment. existed before and that would never exist For lesbians, the situation was even bleaker: without him. And if I have the privilege There were no communal meeting places of creating a world, why would I create a and few social networks, underground or world that doesn’t have me in it?” otherwise. Worse than the risk of exposure The rise of the Israeli gay movement PAGE 47 AND 48: CREATIVE COMMONS was the loneliness of isolation. began in 1975, when !ve men and one JACK KHOURY "& A3>B3;03@=1B=03@ Page 47: Gal Uchovsky and his partner Eytan Fox, the Israeli filmmaker. Above: Uzi Even, dissmissal from his high-ranking post in Israeli intelligence led the military to change it’s policy and allow gays to serve openly. woman established the Association for How and why did Israel transform Human Rights, now known as the Asso- so rapidly into a gay paradise? One sur- ciation of GLBT in Israel or, more com- prising stepping-stone was the Israel monly, the Agudah. In the nearly 40 Defense Forces, which followed a very years since the group’s founding, Israel different path than its counterparts in has become one of the most gay-friendly the United States. As be!ts a nation countries in the world and the only one where the next war could break out at in the Middle East where gays experience any minute, the military wields outsized any degree of mainstream visibility and in"uence on Israeli society through equality. Tel Aviv in particular is touted compulsory service. Historically, this as a gay paradise. In 2010, Out Magazine created “a very chauvinistic country named it “the gay capital of the Middle and a homophobic country,” says Aviad East” and last year, it was crowned the Kissos, a popular gay radio, and TV host best gay city in the world in a survey by and writer. He notes that the celebrities American Airlines and GayCities.com. of the past generation were the coun- According to New Family, an Israeli legal try’s military heroes, and the result was a WIKIMEDIA COMMONS consulting !rm, the number of gay and mentality that rejected any sign of weak- lesbian households in Israel is estimated ness, which many still consider homo- at 18,000, raising more than 3,000 chil- sexuality to be. “Israel hates everything dren among them. that threatens her ability to win the next A3>B3;03@=1B=03@ ;=;3<B "' situation, I could do something.” So the in 1988, creating the space for others to wry and feisty Even addressed the Knes- push for ending discrimination against set and told his story. The speech was gays. Dayan admits that there were televised, and people paid attention. arguments among women in the Knes- One of those people was Prime Min- set at the time about whether !ghting ister Yitzhak Rabin, and within a matter for gay rights would dilute the feminist of weeks, Even was called to the prime agenda. “But all over the world it’s the minster’s of!ce. Rabin offered to rein- same,” says Dayan, explaining why she state him. Even refused, but demanded championed LGBT inclusion. “It’s part the law be changed. Rabin responded by of the same package of human rights forming a committee made up of rep- and anti-discrimination.” resentatives of several branches of the The rights that gays have won in Israel military. After three months of talks, the surpass those in most countries and in military changed the law, allowing gays to many ways the United States as well. In serve openly. Compared to the nearly 20 Israel, where the Orthodox rabbinate years it took the United States to merely controls marriage, couples who cannot repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the speed or do not want to have a religious mar- with which the Israeli government and riage have alternatives, such as common military accepted and implemented the law marriages. The legal recognition of integration of gays was remarkable. common law marriage provides a wide Rabin wasn’t Even’s only well-placed range of rights and protections. Same- political ally. Even, who went on to become sex couples were granted access to this the !rst openly gay member of Knesset in status in 1994, which led to other ben- 2002, credits Dayan for making it pos- e!ts, including inheritance, tax exemp- Moshe Dayan’s daugher, Yael, is one of Israel’s sible for him to address the Knesset. The tions, partner bene!ts for civil employ- foremost champions of LGBT rights. daughter of famed military commander ees, residency rights for non-Israeli Moshe Dayan was a brand-new member partners, etc. Since 2006, Israel has also war,” Kissos says. So in 1993, when the of the Knesset and the chair of its Com- recognized international same-sex mar- military changed its policy much of Isra- mittee on the Status of Women, through riage, just as it recognizes marriages of el’s society followed suit. which she organized the LGBT sub- interfaith or non-Orthodox marriages committee. For a new parliament mem- from outside of Israel. ber to take on such a controversial issue, Israel’s courts have also weighed in he story of the Israeli mili- and for a heterosexual feminist to include on adoption rights, greatly expanding tary’s about-face begins with gays and lesbians in her agenda, required them in the last !ve years. In 2006, the Uzi Even. A lieutenant colo- chutzpah. But before joining the political courts determined that same-sex cou- T nel in military intelligence scene, Dayan had spent time in New York, ples can adopt the biological children Tand a nuclear expert, the then-head of mixing with, among others, Andy Warhol of their partners, and in 2008 rights the chemistry department at Tel Aviv and Truman Capote. “It’s from there,” says were extended further so that same-sex University was stripped of his security the soft-spoken and unassuming Dayan, couples can adopt a child who is not clearance in 1992 when the army discov- “that I treated [gay identity] as a non-issue biologically the child of either partner. ered he was gay. socially and an issue politically.” In other areas of the law, gays and les- “At the time I had a partner who Now 73 and chairwoman of the Tel bians are treated with equality and are was much more involved socially,” says Aviv City Council, Dayan has what covered by national employment anti- Even, now a 71-year-old professor with might be one of the best views in the discrimination laws.