Reading Response 13

Many Western media outlets portray Israel as a beacon of liberal progressiveness shining from a land of socially prohibitive and "backwards" nations. These outlets cite Israel's democracy, allowance of homosexual military personnel and general societal traits. While I realize that Israel certainly has its share of faults, I always had the impression that Israel was quite progressive when it came to sexual identity. After all, why would a socially conservative nation spend money to exhibit at international tourism trade shows and promote its cities as gay-tourist destinations? Thus, the readings/organizations and their implications were rather unexpected. I was also surprised to learn that same-sex marriage is illegal, due to the government's refusal to recognize any religious institutions that support same-sex marriage. I knew that religious institutions were ingrained in the political sphere and political decisions certainly reflect certain religious groups' expectations; however, I did not realize the extent to which Israeli legal codes adhered to religious dogma. Denial of marriage choice constitutes a human rights abuse, as these activist groups note. Furthermore, as in the United States, acceptance of homosexual soldiers but not civilians represents a terrible double standard.

I was particularly impressed by the City of Borders story. In a land where divisiveness is ubiquitous, it is encouraging to see a group embrace the divisiveness inherent in their sexual orientation and use it to foster unity. Reuniting divided peoples requires an initial commonality; these activist groups are a West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, only of a different flair. On the contrary, it is rather disheartening (even if somewhat darkly humorous) that sexual orientation serves as uniting tool, albeit a prejudiced one. Conservative Palestinians and Israelis may openly oppose each other over any number of issues; however, one thing is certain, the immorality and icky-ness of same-sex couples transcends religious or political identity. It truly is unfortunate that human rights abuse is necessary to bring together divided peoples, whether for positive or negative reasons.