Pride in Jerusalem

Thursday was the 12th Annual Pride Parade in Jerusalem. I didn't know this in advance; I found out because in walking home from the shuk there was clearly a commotion of some sort - helicopters hovering. When we got to Ramban Street the parade was just passing -- quietly. The music wasn't loud, there were no naked or nearly naked people, but there were lots of folks with flags. It felt more like a Pride March. Generally, the crowd seemed energetic, but not rowdy. Here are some pictures:

I did spot one Haredi man holding a sign up in protest -- I'm told it was something in Biblical Hebrew denouncing homosexuality. He didn't attract any substantial attention.

Certainly, the Pride Parade is not a major feature of the Jerusalem summer event schedule. And, it is a quiet affair compared to the Vancouver Pride Parade. Jerusalem needs rainbow sidewalks too! Still, in a religious and conservative city like Jerusalem, the fact that there is a parade to acknowledge the LGBT community is huge.

Here's how it was described in Haaretz (Israel's leading leftist paper) today:

Imagine an LGBT pride parade without pomp. Without trucks, mandatory naked abs, and electronic club music flooding the scene. Imagine a pride parade in a place where accepting one another, socially and politically, regardless of sexual, ethnic or religious identities is still controversial, and a parade which puts this challenge before hedonism and a party mood.

That pretty much sums it up.