Published: 28 January 2022
Last updated: 4 March 2024
SHARON OFFENBERGER savours the LGBTI party in Tel Aviv that celebrated something rare in the Middle East - unadulterated freedom
I’LL PREMISE THIS story with a qualification about language. I’m sure my 15-year-old daughter would be unhappy with my use of binary pronouns for a sexually fluid community, “gay” instead of LGBTI, and any or all generalisations about Arabs, Jews or people in general which may come across in the story.
She may be right, but the Middle East is neither politically correct nor socially courteous. Sexual preference is not an indicator of political viewpoints. Like everything else, sex, identity and emotion are processed in a way that don’t fall on the side of good manners. All Facebook profiles in the Middle East should automatically be a “hot mess”.
“We’re going to a party” my French friend said, “Meet me at an address in south Tel Aviv, which I’ll text you at 8pm”. I had barely gotten my children into bed, when I was all dressed up and ready to rock with very low expectations. Dancing at 8pm? Clubbing (for lack of a better word) in Israel never begins before 1am.
In a suspicious-looking alley, used by garages to make ear shattering noise during the day, or possibly a set for the TV series Fauda, we entered an unsigned doorway without waiting in a queue. Into an air-conditioned warehouse space with almost no decoration, the room was full of men, dancing.
This was the secret not-so-secret LGBTI party in south Tel Aviv.
Israel has marketed itself as a gay mecca for the past decade, and Tel Aviv’s annual Pride parade became a go-to event on the international LGBTI calendar. Yet Israel still suffers from internal homophobia, particularly amongst all its religious groups. The Jerusalem Pride parade occurs under tight security, especially after a teenager was stabbed and murdered there in 2015.
Pride parades in Israel’s Arab villages or its neighbouring countries are, of course, non-existent. In the Holy Land, it not uncommon to live an “official” life pursuing the correct steps in marriage, childbearing and family responsibility, and a secret life of everything that may be regarded as “sin” from drinking to premarital sex to infidelity.
