JERUSALEM, Nov. 10 - After Supreme Court rulings, criticism from the Vatican and several nights of rioting by angry opponents, Jerusalem’s gay community held a small, orderly rally Friday under a heavy police guard. The police contingent of 3,000 was nearly as large as the crowd, which cheered speeches and danced to music from a stage draped in rainbow banners at Hebrew University’s sports stadium.

The venue was changed twice as the police sought a secure area, well away from an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood where youths have rioted in opposition to the event. Friday’s rally was much more modest than the original plan, which had called for a large march through the city center, and organizers and participants were divided on whether to declare it a full success.
“I’m disappointed because I believe the religious people won this battle, and the people who believe in democracy and human rights lost,” Jonathan Oron, 29, a graduate student at Tel Aviv University, said at the rally.

But Avshalom Vilan, a member of Parliament from the left-wing Meretz Party, said, “This is a success, because we stood up for the basic principle of our right to demonstrate.”

Many in the crowd said they were not gay, and had come to show support for civil rights in what has become a contentious annual affair in this religious, conservative city.

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photoes of meretz participation in the Gay Rights Advocates Rally in Jerusalem

meretz members and supporters in the Rally.

 Meretz members of Parliament in the crowd (from right to left): MK Avshalom Vilan, MK Haim Oron, MK Ran Cohen

MK Zehava Galon Speaks on behalf of Meretz Party.

.Hadag Nachash Band entertained the crowd

 

No Gay Rights Advocates Rally  is complete without an excellant drag show.