It is so easy to ask the organizers of the pride and tolerance parade in Jerusalem to cancel it. Why do you need to annoy others, why can't you be considerate, why in Jerusalem of all places? And there's even talk about the danger of violence. Why don't you just give up on it? Seemingly this sounds like a decent solution that will bring relief to everyone. Some of the objectors are even saying: We don't care that you do what you do in private, just don't do it publicly, not in Jerusalem. There are even those who suggest that the parade be moved to Tel Aviv (as if there the "abomination" is permitted).

Yet this is what it's all about. The parade is an important battle for being out in the open, in Jerusalem too, and we must not yield. The gay community's struggle is not only for the civil rights to live one's life according with one's sexual orientation and desire, but rather, for public legitimacy and the right to be a gay or a lesbian openly without hiding or feeling ashamed. This is not a small matter.

Every year, thousands of young men and women who feel they are alone in the world, shunned by society, despaired by life, discover they're not alone. That there are thousands like them who are willing and able to march through the streets of a city, that there's a chance for life, and that there's a supportive community where they can live with dignity and even raise a family. The community does not only include gays and Lesbians, but rather, all of us, all the decent people who believe in their right to live just like any other person and accept them as an integral part of society.

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