Vitual Jerusalem
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news/lateststories/?disp_feature=XGVI2q.var
 
Gay parade in Jerusalem passes off peacefully

By Yoash Foldesh, Anshel Pfeffer, and Jonathan Lis, Ha'aretz Correspondents
June 7, 2002

Despite attempts to disrupt proceedings, police said Friday that the first gay pride parade in Jerusalem went off without incident. Police say that some 4,000 people took part in the parade on Friday afternoon.

Several people took to the streets to protest the parade, which set out from Zion Square at 12:00, most of them ultra-Orthodox Haredim. Several main roads in the capital were closed during the parade.

Jerusalem police were on high alert for possible disruptions of the parade. In addition to the customary security alerts, police were keeping an eye open for local disruptions by those opposed to the parade.

On Thursday, Jerusalem police detained for questioning three minors who hung posters calling for the disruption of the parade. The posters called on people to throw eggs at those taking part. The three were arrested on suspicion of incitement.

In response to the detention of the three, right-wing extremist Itamar Ben Gvir said "We will reach the parade so as to remove the pride from the faces of the homosexuals."

The three individuals detained were also found to be in possession of banners defaming the police investigating the case of right-wing activists suspected of planning terror attacks.

In recent days Jerusalem's investigations unit received threatening phone calls in response to the investigation. On Thursday three individuals were detained for questioning on suspecion of making threatening phone calls.

The Haredi community will not demonstrate against the parade and has officially ignored it, despite some wall posters condemning the march as blasphemy "that could drive the holiness out of the city."

The rabbis are saying that even mentioning the parade in the Haredi community will raise interest that might attract youths in their community - and even watching the parade is strictly forbidden.

Elad explained that the parade was not going to include music battles between competing discotheques, "because we're not marching in a bubble. Jerusalem's been through a very difficult year and you can't ignore it. This is an important event, and not only gays should be proud of it. It's our response to the voices of hatred."

Among other elements in the parade, the Traveler's Prayer were recited in Hebrew, Arabic and English, and black balloons, symbolizing both Jewish and Arab victims of the conflict, were released.

The city, which had refused to finance the parade "because of budget cuts," said Mayor Ehud Olmert, was ordered by the High Court of Justice to provide services, such as hanging flags and balloons from lampposts, and security, if not direct financial aid for the march.

According to Shas city councillor Eli Smaheyof, chair of the Municipal Finance Committee, "Not an agora of city money is being spent on those sickos, and the logistical support is from private donations."
 
Jerusalem  Post
http://www.jpost.com/
 
Gay pride parade ends peacefully
 
Jun. 7, 2002
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS

Jerusalem police were on high alert today for possible violence during this afternoon's controversial homosexual and lesbian parade.

The unprecedented "gay pride" gathering has sent shock-waves through the city's haredi community, which has threatened to use "all means" to disrupt what it sees as a sacrilegious and abhorrent event in Israel's holiest city.

"Beyond the injury to the holiness of Jerusalem, which is the eternal capital of the Jewish people, and beyond the injury to the morals and the sacred values of the people of Israel, from generation to generation, which safeguarded the concept of family life," Shas MK Nissim Ze'ev, a former deputy mayor, told Israel Radio earlier this week, "we are also liable to find ourselves in danger perhaps parallel to that of African nations infested with the AIDS virus."

Comparing the practice of homosexuality to "a pig or an idol in the Temple," Ze'ev said, "We must uproot this filth from our midst."

Haredi sources and former Kach members vowed to disrupt the event, which began at noon at Kikar Zion and culminates in a gala happening in Independence Park.

"Get out of our camp. Go to Holland, Germany, and Switzerland," a Kach flier distributed yesterday read. It ended with a pledge to meet the "members of abomination" with "eggs, tomatoes, and other fruits of the season."

Jerusalem police spokesman Kobi Zrihan said earlier that hundreds of police will maintain public order and the security of the parade.

The police force, which has been on full alert over the past week, will now focus its attention on keeping the peace at the rally as well, he said.

Protesters rallied in Zion square but were separted by Police.

Hagai Elad, director of the Jerusalem gay-lesbian community's Open House, said the parade will bring the city honor rather than shame, and that the haredi community has still not internalized the fact that the homosexual community is an integral part of the city.

"Like all other communities in the city, we have the full right to express ourselves publicly and in a proper manner, certainly in view of the decades during which homosexuals and lesbians in Jerusalem were kept erased from the public eye," he said.

Elad noted that a number of religious gays and lesbians will participate, marching under a banner reading: 'Blessed art Thou, God, who created us in His image."

Mayor Ehud Olmert, who unsuccessfully tried to convince organizers to hold the event in Tel Aviv, as in years past, said this week that he had no choice but to allow the parade to take place, according to the rules of a democracy.

Citing budgetary limitations due to financial difficulties, however, Olmert refused to fund the event, which spurred the organizers to petition the High Court.

On Monday, the court decided to delay its ruling by three months, and ordered representatives of the Justice and Interior ministries to prepare a document showing the municipality's level of participation in other organizations' marches and parades.

The justice said if their ruling favors the gay and lesbian community, it will receive retroactive funding for the parade.

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