Tough pride in Jerusalem – Israel – gay pride parade postponed after suicide bombing – Brief Article
As gay pride celebrations unfolded in countries around the world, June proved to be a difficult month for gays and lesbians in Jerusalem. The city’s second annual pride parade, set for June 13, bad to be postponed a week, following a June 11 suicide bombing on a bus that killed 17.
Alan Beer, an American immigrant who helped organize last year’s historic parade, was among the dead. “We cannot joyfully parade in the heart of Jerusalem while funerals are taking place, including those of neighbors and friends,” Hagai Elad, executive director of Jerusalem Open House, told GayMiddleEast.com.
Around the same time, Jerusalem police were investigating the destruction of about 20 of the 100 gay pride flags hung in the city center. In a statement the banned far-right Kach movement had sharply criticized the flags as “disgraceful.”
Jerusalem’s newly elected ultra-Orthodox mayor, Uri Luponlianski, gave lukewarm backing to the rescheduled parade. “Everyone has his own parade,” he said June 17. “I myself will be marching in another parade.”
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