In a Jerusalem restaurant, nearly two dozen Bay Area gay and lesbian community leaders sat before an Orthodox Jewish woman, expecting confrontation.
Instead, they found love and acceptance.
“She expressed how open she was to complete and full rights for the LGBT community,” recalled Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council and leader of the LGBT mission to Israel. “It deeply touched our participants.”
That was just one of many memorable moments for the 23 visitors who toured Israel on a 10-day mission last month. The trip was sponsored by the JCRC in cooperation with the LGBT Alliance of the Jewish Community Federation with a grant from the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation Endowment Fund.
“The goal,” Kahn said, “was to allow key members of the Bay Area LGBT community to experience Israel through their own eyes, including exposing them to the full range of political and social issues Israel faces.”
The delegation included a wide spectrum of community leaders, Jews and non-Jews alike. Among them, San Francisco AIDS Foundation Executive Director Mark Cloutier, and Barak Ben-Gal, financial services manager of the Oakland Unified School District. Mission co-chairs were Kathy Levinson, Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School president, and her partner, Naomi Fine.
“It was a tremendous privilege to go to Israel,” said Fine, CEO of Pro-Tec Data in Palo Alto. “Not only to see it in its current state of complexity, but as a land that includes LGBT communities.”
Highlights included several stereotype-busting presentations, among them an Israel Defense Forces captain who outlined the agency’s policy of inclusion. “They don’t have ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,'” noted Fine. “He said, ‘We need all the able-bodied people in our military we can get.'”
Also on the agenda was a visit to the Jerusalem Open House, Israel’s leading LGBT advocacy center and a haven for Jewish and Arab gays and lesbians cast out by their families.
Jerusalem Open House sponsored the controversial World Pride march, first scheduled for 2005, then postponed for political and safety reasons. Kahn originally organized the mission to coincide with that World Pride event, but had to cancel twice. The third time was the charm.
Mission participants “saw the unique challenges that arise from engaging in LGBT work in Jerusalem compared to the more open experience in Tel Aviv,” Kahn said. “The two communities are only an hour away from each other, yet they felt like worlds apart.”
While visiting Agudah, an organization serving Tel Aviv’s LGBT community, mission attendees viewed a documentary about the lead-up to World Pride, which depicted the homophobic backlash to the march.
On a positive note, the travelers also met with a man whose same-sex marriage in Canada was recognized in Israel following a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court. Social gatherings at the homes of Israeli LGBT leaders created “strong and deep connections,” according to Kahn.
While there may be universal aspects to the gay and lesbian experience, Fine did perceive some cultural differences between the LGBT communities here and in Israel. “They have to face different issues. They have to worry about having a gay pride parade. For us, our big issue is marriage. For them it’s not even on the table.”
Israel not only forbids gay marriage, current law states that only Orthodox rabbis can sanction weddings — and they aren’t about to permit gays and lesbians to marry anytime soon.
LGBT issues weren’t the only items on the agenda. The group attended presentations on Zionism and Israel’s religious divide. They also traveled north, close to the Lebanese and Syrian borders, and met with leaders of Jewish-Arab dialogue groups.
Perhaps most important, mission participants made lasting connections with their Israeli counterparts. “Many in the group are looking forward to professional exchanges in the future with the people they met,” Kahn said. “Strong relationships were built.”
Added Fine: “I don’t see how anyone could have gone through the experience and not been transformed. For people on the trip involved in LGBT activism, there’s no question they are committed to helping out corollary organizations in Israel.”