VOICES from Jerusalem

-- Homophobic picket sign:
"Jerusalem is not San Francisco."
......


-- Jerusalem Open House director Hagay Elad:
"What we saw here today is a direct result of the incitement that took
place during the past few weeks against the homo-lesbian community....
This is not the first time we have seen how incitement in Israel
leads to physical violence,
which begins with Mayor Uri Lupolianski and his associates. "
....


-- David Bernstein, 23:
"I don't believe there is such a thing as homosexuality....
It's simply not natural. I think the mayor was right to try and stop this
march, particularly here in the holy city of Jerusalem."
.....


-- Ziv Nevo-Kulman, 35:
"It's still easier to be gay in Tel Aviv, but things are improving."
......


-- queer Palestinian man, 30, who declined to give his name:
"It's not possible to be openly gay in Palestinian society."
......


-- Dafna Stromza, spokeswoman for Jerusalem Open House:
"The message is one of tolerance and acceptance and pluralism....
Many of the participants are religious or conservative.
We hold tolerance in Jerusalem to be of the utmost importance.
What the marchers are expressing is not their sexual identity,
but their belief in pluralism and diversity."


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Quotes above are Copyright ©2005 SF Chronicle
.......................................

+ Commentary by
Tortuga Bi Liberty
(NOT copyrighted):

Jerusalem isn't SF,
indeed it isn't even Tel Aviv.
Jerusalem attracts highly religious people,
from three major religions.
Some of these people are saintly,
while others are fundi-fascists.

Those brave persons who dare to march
for freedom in Jerusalem in 2005
-- whatever their personal identities, nationalities,
or orientations may be --
are heroes in the world-wide struggle for human rights.

They remind me of those who marched and struggled,
several decades ago,
for the human rights of African-Americans
down in Dixie.

................