Israeli LGBT activists mobilize online after gay rights bill fails

[Jesus Malverde]

'My country defines me by my sexual orientation,' laments campaign leader. 'It defines me as unacceptable. As unequal to my brothers or friends.'

LGBT rights activists have taken to Facebook to protest and vent over the failure of a bill that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

When the bill was blocked from reaching the Knesset plenum for a vote, gay rights activist Yonatan Vanunu started a Hebrew-language Facebook page on Tuesday under the banner “LGBTs Demand Equality." By Wednesday evening, it garnered nearly 4,000 likes.

In a post on his Facebook page, Vanunu lashed out against what he sees as a general and pervasive rejection of LGBT people by the government.

“I did full military service, I am an independent business owner who pays taxes, I pursued academic studies and I am also gay," he wrote. "Many people say that sexual orientation does not define the person; that being gay is only in bed; that no one cares what I do behind closed doors. And there's nothing that annoys me more than this attitude. Homosexuality is not just in bed! It’s a relationship, it’s a family, it’s a community.

“Surprisingly enough, my country actually does define me by my sexual orientation. It defines me as unacceptable. As unequal to my brothers or friends. Although I’m single now, someday I also want to get married and start a family in Israel."

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