Pride parade in Haifa celebrating social justice and equality 26.6.15/XNUMX/XNUMX

The Haifa Pride Parade is the most important and central pride event in the city every year. In recent years, together we have seen the Haifa parade grow and intensify and allow more expression of our pride in any way we choose: pluralistic, happy, protesting, colorful, loving, solidary. We will march in Haifa in solidarity with each other and with other important struggles that take place around us. Because a society that respects and cherishes us - trans women, gays, lesbians and bisexuals - is a society that will be good to everyone!

This year we have many more reasons to celebrate pride in Haifa! Proud organizations, new alongside veterans operate here, events of a young and kicking queer culture, new party lines open and of course the gay businesses. More and more activity and Haifa activists choose to take an active part in the city and maintain a community life here. Some of them are already supported this year by the municipality, collaborations were slowly forged in the past year far from the spotlight.

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In honor of the month of pride and as a sign for the year of the pink activity, we have a good time - the Haifa Pride coalition finally received the most significant support from the municipality since the gay struggle began. We joined hands in a joint production and set out on a new path. But, with all the pride and voices of joy, we remember that the situation in Haifa is still far from rosy. Life is still difficult for LGBTQ people in Haifa, proud young people are still planning to move to Tel Aviv, teenagers still do not feel safe in their school and in the public space, trans women are violently attacked on the basis of their gender, and the community still does not have a single building for ongoing activities. This year too, We will march in the heart of the city and fight for the right to live our lives as we wish! To be who we are and what we dream of being, organizations such as the Immigrant Youth, the Fitz, the Association. Elam, the association and also the social service, the awards clinic, Haifa municipality and the police and more..

Rumia is a youth guide in the working and studying youth: We, the working and learning youth, started this year with the establishment of gay youth groups and gay groups and a youth center in Afula, and in the last year we are beginning to turn to a unique activity for gay youth and in part of the movement's activity, and we understand that this is a need and this is also our slogan. Our home is open to every girl and boy, and this is how we invite the youth to Some of us also in this way, the message I want to convey is the fight against homophobia and we think that education is what we do in the movement and it is the one that will bring the change and create it, both proud and non-proud youth and every boy and girl should have a place and we demand equality between everyone and there is also a club A youth named Leslie for the youth groups.

Following the murder in a youth bar, today we have expanded to Haifa and the north that the benefit population and being LGBT is a life task is not easy and it is complex and we invite you to our service to observe your soul in your inner world. in Haifa,

Shai Porat from the organization T.H.I.L.H - Association of parents for children with benefits We are parents who give support to parents who enter the closet and their children come out of the closet and there are support groups all over the country and I read from here that our association is for tolerance and love

, I'm very excited, it's going to be a stunning parade and thanks to all the other Haifa organizations and three trans organizations, the Green Block, the Dance Project there, and service transitions. Welcome to the gender process and the transgenders and bureaucracy. broad for social change. Organization "Transfers" works by making knowledge and resources accessible to the trans community; promoting legislation in favor of trans women and trans people; Working with institutional bodies to change policy; Economic empowerment, emotional support and assistance, personal connection with companies and community members; Accompanying and assisting with institutions; Cultivating leadership among trans young women and men. The organization "Mabarim" takes an innovative approach to dealing with gender oppression, which includes a combination of sustainable activism and recovery from trauma. Deep social change, similar to personal change, is a long and demanding process, which requires from us inner strength, perseverance, and the ability to deal with a difficult reality. Taking a groundbreaking approach to the issue of trauma in marginalized communities and attrition among activists, the organization "Movements" has set itself the goal of bringing about a positive change in society, the community, and in the lives of each and every one of us. And soon a branch in Haifa

Dodo from the awards clinic: The awards clinic is in Haifa and we receive not only awards and you are all welcome to come. We carry out tests for AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases for gays from the day they are performed and there are results, in recent years there has been an extremely alarming increase and the prevalence of diseases and we are talking about numbers of 1:10 and you have a 10% chance of performing sexual activity with Someone who has AIDS and the best way to prevent it is to get tested

Vicky and Jordan from the Elam organization in Haifa: We work at the Elam association and guide young men and women in all phases of life and work in Haifa and we are here for you. The Elam association was established with the aim of helping youths in situations of risk and distress in Israel to get out of their situation and find their place in society as adults and as contributing citizens, to themselves, their family and Israeli society. The association operates on a wide national scale, in about 40 settlements throughout the country, and provides answers to a wide range of hardships: starting with dealing with personal crisis situations of teenagers in adolescence, through dropping out of educational frameworks, absorption difficulties, social difficulties, family problems, identity and belonging problems, Exposure and addiction to drugs and alcohol, vagrancy, violence, sexual exploitation, youth with harmful sexual behavior, delinquency, and even severe disconnection situations such as minor prostitution and homelessness. Elam considers social action, volunteering and community involvement one of the cornerstones of the organization. About 1,700 people volunteer in the association in the various projects.

Marina Sinovsky: An activist of the Progressive Reform Judaism organization, I come to the parade every year and we from the Reform community celebrate Shabbat Pride all over the country and in Haifa and we put it on our flag. that sometimes it is difficult to pass things on the agenda and I would like to see more support from the institutions of the municipality, mainly because it is always difficult here, I would mainly like people to see that there are people here who make provocations here and people who have a real desire for equality and living together and ultimately love

It is a very special moment for us to stand here shoulder to shoulder in this crowd and feel together now more than ever and the large number of participants has doubled this year. There is a crowd here and a festival and a unique mosaic of identities. A significant year for the community in Haifa and currently it is a landmark in it and the point reflects the awakening of activity and action of desire and passion to be a living community that embroiders its stages and walks together into the fulfillment of ambitions and dreams while meeting our needs and we with our faces forward congratulate the Haifa Municipality for the help in the cooperation and marking the beginning of A shared and meaningful way, a way that in a common discourse will find us a home and serve as an address to the gay community in all its shades with comprehensive financial support for the promotion of comprehensive and broad activities, planning for sexual and gender education will be implemented in all the schools in the city and programs that will allow critical breathing space for proud and undecided youth will educate tolerance and acceptance of all this beauty called us and we are happy and proud today because Haifa is rising

What fun and peace to the optimistic and celebrating proud democratic Haifa, I have been accompanying the pride parade for years and believe me it is the largest, most impressive and most optimistic parade year after year our strength increases and it is a wonderful celebration and joy and hope and partnership, but this day is also a day of struggle and coping and who does not remember This week, banners calling for a parade were vandalized here in the city, and this was a reminder to friends and family that we are facing and fighting for the image of our society in the pride parades, which have been present for a long time not only in Tel Aviv, but also in Haifa and Jerusalem and Ashdod and Bat Yam, and the message goes from place to place and our struggle is for the whole of Israeli society, and also Our struggle and we come from different angles and the subject of the struggle is one and when we struggle against the hatred of the other and it is not only the hatred of the other and the LGBT communities but also racism and against the Ethiopians and also will build the periphery and the CIS expatriates and also we want a society in which there was equality and justice and respect and acceptance of the person Different colors with different angles and tendencies and this is our society and the struggle has other angles and when I come to Haifa there is also a struggle for the right to breathe clean air and this is also our struggle and on this day it is good that we give thanks and it is good that we are proud and strong because this force is a force that will allow us to fulfill the dream that is not We gave up on him and we will not give up on him to make this country a place for all of us.

I want to include the municipality of Haifa which has joined the enlightened world and there is still something to look forward to in the air we breathe in Haifa and there is something to be done and I am sure that the municipality will see the light in this area as well and we from the Knesset are fighting so that you can see it, I who had the privilege and pleasure of speaking at the first parade in the cell that it's a joy to see and embarrass you and tell you how much pride there is outside of a place outside of a cell and here in Haifa, who like you knows about the struggle to be proud of who you are and who you are and it's not over yet and every day that passes we take this step and this right to be who we are or what we are for the sake of freedom This and you are not only a beautiful community and you are strong and you are also a proud community and you will be the first to help other communities to be just as proud because there is still a struggle in the country for the right to be a different color from a different religion and a different nationality and we need to be the first to help be no less proud and proud and also of the faction I belong to Associated and I stand at its head, supporting and partnering and doing, and you are a great light for the State of Israel today.

, when I saw the photos of the violent attack that took place this month in Kiryat Haim in front of trans women who were sitting in a cafe and of trans women who are unable to hold their own in this city and I received derogatory calls here in Haifa as well and I remembered why I had no other choice, it cannot be that there is no other choice for the Latvian community and It is possible that we will not be able to live our lives in the places where we grew up with our families and loved ones and friends in another city, Haifa must be a home for the transgender community and in order for it to be a home for the gay community in Haifa and from the house will come out activities that were here and that are not heard about difficult things that happened to the transgender community and so that no one Trangander will never have to flee the city again and this is the real struggle of the community in Haifa and not just the parades and headlines and I am convinced that next year people who pay lip service will forget about the community as well as the parade and I hope that the struggle will rise above the joy and celebrate the long and committed political partnership that has been built here between the communities over the years and will be Here for many years

Binyamin Garden, Nordau Pedestrian Street, Haim St., Herzl St., Bialik St., Hasan Shukri, Ma'ale Ha-Ha-Khi'e-Ha'al, Shivet Zion, Hyatt, Palmer, the Port, Gava Downtown!
At the 'Pride in Haifa 2015' stage on Hanamel Street. Host: Galina Pour de Brea & Zohra Platinum! , in the position: DJ DNLM | DJ CharMe, speeches Performances MKs | drag, and the queer band
With: Shira Bernstein, Frida, Ella Zilberman, Dotan Brom, and finally Margalit Tsanani
The production of the parade: the Coalition of Haifa Pride, and the Haifa Municipality

We all have the right to be who we want to be and to be proud of who we are and to walk with our truth and ourselves until the end
Our right and our duty is the honor to respect and recognize difference and a person with a disability as part of society

Wishing everyone a happy Pride Day

Written and photographed by: Ben Ofir

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