LGBT rights in Israel

LGBT rights in Israel are considered the most free in the Middle East. Even though sex between the same gender has been legalized in 1988, the old law not allowing sodomy has not been enforced since 1963. Israel became the first country to allow unmarried couples to live together without marriage with the same gender. Even though the country does not see marriages of people of the same gender to be valid if done in Israel, it still sees it as valid if done in a different country. Couples of the same gender are allowed to adopt children after a court ruling in 2008. LGBT people are also allowed to fight in the military even if they show their pride about being part of the LGBT community.Institute, National Defense Research (2010), "The Experience of Foreign Militaries", Sexual Orientation and U.S. Military Personnel Policy, An Update of RAND's 1993 Study, RAND Corporation, pp. 275–320, ISBN 978-0-8330-5129-5, JSTOR 10.7249/mg1056osd.18

Tel Aviv is famous for the Pride parade that happens there every year. It was called "the gay capital of the Middle East" by Out magazine. Users of the website GayCities ranked it as the best gay city in 2011, even though some anti-LGBT violence happened there in the 2000s. The violence was criticized by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres. A monument to the gay victims of the Holocaust was built in Tel Aviv in 2014.

Related pages
LGBT rights in the State of Palestine

 References 

Israel
Category:Politics of Israel
Category:LGBT in Asia
Category:LGBT in the Middle East
Category:Israel–Palestine conflict
Category:Israel–United States relations