Interesting interview with the lesbian deputy mayor of Tel Aviv who is campaigning for trans rights and gay men to use surrogacy services

[sueanddumplings]

www.advocate.com/world/2019/8/15/meet-new-lesbian-deputy-mayor-tel-aviv

www.advocate.com/world/2019/8/15/meet-new-lesbian-deputy-mayor-tel-aviv

Trans people are more discriminated against than Palestinians in Israel. Right

Weird interview.

The rabbinut controls all Jewish marriage (between male and female). There is no such thing as secular marriage. You MUST go through a religious institution or marry outside the country and then register.

There are women who are 'chained' in marriage to abusive men who will not receive a divorce (but still be barred from marrying again) because the husband is now legally considered female. Transwomen have more rights than women when it comes to divorce.

This is a country in which women are regularly pushed to the back of the bus. Radio stations are refusing to allow women to speak. Posters with women's faces are defaced. IKEA put out a whole catalogue without a single picture of a woman. A kids clothing company recently photoshopped an American girl doll face onto the female (children) models in their catalogue. More and more events are being segregated by sex (but transpeople seem to be allowed to pick and choose where they belong).

There are many ways to practice Judaism but the state religion is controlled by men and won't allow for any form of female leadership. There are a tiny number of female rabbis but they are not accepted by much of the establishment.

Tel Aviv is an incredibly woke city. Partly to distinguish itself from Jerusalem. I don't think that it would be possible to be an LGB activist in that environment and not have drunk the koolaid. (And gay men in Israel have a very favourable set of laws to deal with when it comes to surrogacy. No wonder they want to keep that while aping women and claiming further oppression.).

Fascinating interview thank you for posting.

These bits were eye opening for me, for anyone who feels TLDR or doesn't like clicking

'
It’s a wider example of Israeli culture and why we succeeded in having the biggest demonstration ever. Because the most core value in Israel society is family, no matter which community you're coming from. We strategically used that to promote this big demonstration.

That's always what pulls us out to the streets: gay issues, not lesbian, trans, bisexual, queer [issues]. We come out to the streets for white privileged reasons.

So we decided to use that foot in the door to really do something huge that would help all the other letters at the LGBT community. You know, the big rally we had in Rabin Square, we had 100,000 people.'

'So the anger from the surrogacy law is what got people into the streets, but it was about more than just that.
It's important for me to mark that as a feminist. I understood the political opportunity that we had last summer because I had the power to stop it. But if I would've stopped it, we wouldn’t have this written in history.

And it's true. We came out to the street for a privileged white gay reason, but on the stage in front of 100,000 people broadcasted live in four channels, more than half a million people were watching, and six out of 12 speakers on the stage were trans.

Out of 12, we had just one talking about surrogacy. We had an elderly trans woman, one of the pioneers from the trans community in Israel. This really brave young transgender female spoke and shouted her pain, and this speech got into so many houses. This for me is radical.

I think we need to be much more political and smart in our fight, not just in Israel, all over the world. If you want to write history, you need to be brave with what you think'.

I don't forgive Israel airlifting surrogate babies from the post earthquake disaster zone of Nepal, leaving the mothers to their fate. Gay/male entitlement to buy babies whilst exploiting impoverished people.

"And Nepal in the past few years has become one of the most popular destinations for Israelis to go looking for surrogates mainly because of the cost. It's very cheap in Nepal compared to other countries."

www.npr.org/2015/04/30/403231777/israel-criticized-for-leaving-pregnant-surrogates-in-nepal?t=1566044345149

It's fascinating to me that a women, who obviously cares about women's rights, appreciates structural oppression. Flags specifically that women are an afterthought in lgbt+ and its all about the gay white men.

Used that to leverage a massive demo.

And then focussed on trans issues. Even though, if I read correctly, she can't marry her partner in israel at the mo?

And of course supporting surrogacy especially commercial surrogacy, chucks women under the bus. The Nepal thing was shocking. This business, supporting it, was the lever she used.

Maybe she hopes to get some additional women's rights /lesbian rights off the back of it all. I think she will be disappointed. She hopes by supporting the dominant class she will get payback. That's not how it's ever worked. And, she seems to know this!

Really interesting.

May be she doesn’t give a monkeys about anything but her own success a la Ruth #unt. Her choice.

Yes good point.