Tag Archives: Global Pride

Teenage Victim of Jerusalem Pride Attack Dies of Injuries

A hospital spokeswoman has confirmed that the teenage girl stabbed by an anti-gay extremist, Yishai Schlissel, in last week’s attack has died.

Shira-Banki-03

Shira Banki, 16, was one of six people stabbed Thursday during a Jerusalem’s Pride parade.

Banki died of her injuries Sunday at Hadar Elboim of Hadassah hospital. Her organs will be donated.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, released a statement assuring Banki’s family that her killer would be brought to justice.

Shira was murdered because she bravely supported the principle that each one can live their life in honor and security. We will not allow this despicable killer to undermine the core values that Israeli society is based upon.

We contemptuously denounce his actions of hate and violence. We will do everything in our power to bring this killer to face justice.”

Schlissel was released three weeks ago after serving 10 years in prison for a previous attack at the same parade in 2005.

Upon being released, he had returned to his hometown, where he began distributing “hand-written pamphlets in which he called on ‘all Jews faithful to God’ to risk ‘beatings and imprisonment’ for the sake of preventing the parade.”

As an estimated 5,000 people gathered to mark the annual Pride celebration with a parade through the streets of Jerusalem, Schlissel approached marchers on Keren Hayesod Street and began screaming, then pulled a knife from his coat and began stabbing his victims.

Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Attack 01 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Attack 02

Haaretz notes that a police officer was able to tackle the suspect and arrest him.

Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Attack 03

According to the newspaper Maariv, Schlissel wrote a letter ahead of the attack saying:

It is the obligation of every Jew to keep his soul from punishment and stop this giant desecration of God’s name next Thursday. Once again, the evildoers want to have a parade of sin and of all places, in Jerusalem — city of the king of kings blessed be he — in order to defile its holiness and desecrate its holy name on Thursday. They are always looking for ways to desecrate God’s name even more.”

In response to the stabbings, Israeli lawmaker Itzik Shmuli came out as gay in an op-ed published Friday in a Hebrew-language daily, Yedioth Ahronoth.

We cannot be silent any longer. We cannot be silent any longer because the knife is raised on the entire LGBT community — my community — and it won’t stop there. This is the time to fight the great darkness.”

Under heavy police protection, the Jerusalem Open House – which also runs the city’s LGBT community centre – held a mass peace rally in Jerusalem city centre on Saturday night.

Shira-Banki-01 Shira-Banki-02

Under the slogan “Love Alway Wins” the rally is being held to promote tolerance and acceptance in the wake of the attack.

Sarah Kala, Executive Director of Jerusalem Open House, said:

We are here in Jerusalem, and we will stay in Jerusalem. Against violence – we will protest, against incitement – we will educate, against hatred – we will love.”

Leading ultra-orthodox leaders have since spoken out to condemn the attacks, with Israel’s Chief Rabbis David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef asking the Jewish people to stand together in “kindness and tolerance.”

Lau said

The Torah of the Jewish people forbids all violence and [efforts to] injure any person, and especially someone who tries to kill another person.”

Yosef added

It’s unthinkable that a man can lift up his hand against another Jewish soul in the name of religion. I am praying from the bottom of my heart for the full recovery of those who were injured, and in the face of this type of hatred I call on the entire Jewish people to return to unity in kindness and tolerance.”

Attacker Stabs 6 People at Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade

Police say an Orthodox Jew – who stabbed marchers at a Jerusalem gay pride parade 10 years ago – launched another knife attack at the same type of parade in the same city Thursday, stabbing and wounding six people who were on the streets for the event, police said.

Police arrested the attacker, Yishai Shlissel, at the scene of the brutle crime. However, report that of the six people stabbed Thursday, two were injured seriously.

Israeli police say Shlissel, an Orthodox Jew, was released from prison three weeks ago after serving a 10-year prison sentence for stabbing and wounding three marchers at a Jerusalem gay pride parade in 2005.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the government would “pursue justice for those responsible” for the latest attack. The government fell short of calling it an act of terror, but Netanyahu did call it “a despicable hate crime.”

In the state of Israel, the freedom of choice of an individual is one of the most basic values. We must ensure that in Israel every man and woman lives confidently in any way they (choose).

This is how we operate and this is how we will continue to operate. I wish a speedy recovery to the injured.”

Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Attack 01 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Attack 02 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Attack 04 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Attack 05

Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Attack 03

President Reuven Rivlin said of the incident.

We came together today for a festive event, but the joy was shattered when a terrible hate crime occurred here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. People celebrating their freedom and expressing their identity were viciously stabbed. We must not be deluded; a lack of tolerance will lead us to disaster. We cannot allow such crimes, and we must condemn those who commit and support them.”

Israel has relatively liberal gay rights policies, despite the ultra-Orthodox community’s hostility towards homosexuals. The Jewish state repealed a ban on consensual same-sex sexual acts in 1988.

5,000 People March In Mumbai’s Pride Parade

Mumbai Pride Parade is now in its 8th year, but this year saw an exceptional turnout, with a 5000-strong march on Saturday. However what made it an even more special occasion was the hundreds of parents of LGBTQ children, making up a substantial chunk of the marchers.

Vikram Doctor, co-organizer of the first pride parade in the city, was quoted as saying that in earlier years, it would be…

“… only the occasional mother or sister or aunt who’d come join the gay person in the march. It’s great to see fathers and brothers step forward too.” Vikram Doctor

The parade, which started from August Kranti Maidan covering Grant Road and Nana Chowk, was one of the biggest Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender pride parades the city has seen.

Parents of LGBTI children have continuously voiced their support and lobbied for the decriminalization of gay sex under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

India’s Mid-Day news quoted a mother who says she wants a traditional wedding for her gay son.

“It took me a few years to accept the reality that my son is gay. Initially, I used to curse him, but gradually learnt to accept him. It’s every parents’ dream to have a grand wedding for their child and I want the same. I have been to Europe and seen a gay marriage and that’s how I came to know that in some countries, gay marriages are allowed.”

Following an 8-year legal battle, the Delhi Hight Court decriminalized gay sex in 2009. But on 11 December 2013, the Supreme Court of India overturned the decision of the lower court and recriminalized gay sex.

Facebook Pride Celebrates around the World

100’s of Facebook employees have joined forces to celebrate and support pride across the world. The Facebook LGBT employee group took part in pride’s in Seattle, London, Dublin, Chicago, SF, and NYC.

Not only this but Facebook also launched new custom gender optionin the UK, to help users better express thier own identity on Facebook.

When you come to Facebook to connect with the people, causes, and organisations you care about, we want you to feel comfortable being your true self. An important part of this is the expression of gender especially when it extends beyond the definitions of just “male” or “female.”

So today – following a successful launch in the US earlier this year – we’re proud to offer the UK a new custom gender option to help you better express your own identity on Facebook.

Earlier this year we collaborated with our Network of Support – a group of leading LGBT advocacy organisations in the US – to offer an extensive list of gender identities. We’ve now teamed up with UK experts Press For Change and Gendered Intelligence to update the list of ways people can choose to describe themselves so it’s relevant to people in the UK.

Facbook

Photo by Jason Agron

#LGBTPrideMonth – Global Pride, this is What it Looks Like Around the World

With London Pride and San Francisco Pride only days away, we take a look (curtesy of Getty Images and Buzzfeed) at this year pride events around the world.

These stunning pictures show love, celebration, and hope from the world’s 2014 Pride month festivities in Sao Paulo (Brazil), Thessaloniki (Greece), Nicosia (Cyprus) – who celebrated the countries first Pride parade ever, Miami Beach (Florida), Auckland (New Zealand), Guadalajara City (Mexico), Rome (Italy), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (Korea), Bucharest (Romania), Lisbon (Portugal), Athens (Greece), Los Angeles (California), Berlin (Germany), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Tel Aviv (Israel), Nantes (France), and Istanbul (Turkey).