Contents:
- MIZRAHI, GAY AND PROUD – THE TEAM BEHD ISRAEL'S PK PANTHERS’ REVOLUTN
- WATCH: OFFICIAL TEL AVIV GAY PRI 2013 VIO
MIZRAHI, GAY AND PROUD – THE TEAM BEHD ISRAEL'S PK PANTHERS’ REVOLUTN
It’s hard to exaggerate the succs of Arisa, whose Middle Eastern-themed gay parti began five and a half years ago Tel Aviv. You’ll fd about 1, 500 people at the rto monthly events – a mix mostly of transgenr people, gays and lbians, but also heterosexuals.
Revelers dance wh ntag joy smoke-filled clubs, to the sound of roarg Mizrahi mic, sgg along to every 's Gay Scene Beyond Tel Aviv Pretty Men and the Shutterbug Who Lik Them But the succs of Arisa n’t measured only by mand for s parti. Its activi crossed the boundari of the nightlife and gay experience long ago and turned to a genue phenomenon. The latter, which Tobi and Pappo worked on wh songwrer Doron Medalie, beme the official anthem of Tel Aviv’s Gay Pri Para 2013 and was one of the top hs of that year.
WATCH: OFFICIAL TEL AVIV GAY PRI 2013 VIO
Its party vios went viral, succs seems surprisg on two levels: First, bee cross boundari between what is still nsired the ge and the mastream; and send – and even more surprisg – has fed a nnectn between Mizrahi mic and the gay scene. But this nnectn did more than jt boost Mizrahi culture; also created a means of exprsn for a group that had hherto fallen between the cracks – the gay Oi Ilany, a historian om Ben-Gurn Universy of the Negev, Be’er Sheva (and Haaretz ntributor), labels the velopment as nothg short of a cultural revolutn. The more that LGBT rights have strengthened the iology of Wtern, liberal mocraci – to be precise, the Uned Stat and Europe – the more homosexualy Israel has bee intified wh Ashkenazim, Tel Aviv and left wgers.
If five years ago was difficult to image this nnectn, even though there were some Mizrahi gays the public nscns, that is no longer the se today. In other words, the current suatn – which the Wt is, so to speak, gay-iendly and the East is homophobic – is relatively new. ”“Even if sounds pretent, ” he says, “I n fely say that until Arisa arrived, the character of gay parti and nightlife was very specific.
It appeared that Tel Aviv had a monopoly on shapg homosexual inty. It forced you to unrgo this kd of membership procs orr to be the ial gay who danc to electronic mic. ”A two-door closetLivg what he f as an enclave wh an opprsive society, Azulay says he liv wh a dual inty – beg both gay and Mizrahi.