LGBTs lay out demands from government for ‘full equality’

LGBT organizations announce they are calling off a planned protest, fearing it will detract from the Jerusalem Pride Parade set for later in the week, which they expect to be the largest the the city has ever seen amid widespread anger over a law that bars gay men from surrogacy rights.

The Jerusalem march, set for August 2, comes after some 100,000 people packed into Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square to protest the exclusion of single men from the surrogacy law, which has drawn accusations of LGBT discrimination in the Jewish state.

At a press conference in Tel Aviv, Agudah, Israel’s umbrella organization for the LGBT community, presents a document, endorsed by 14 LGBT organizations, listing what it expects from the government, stressing it will accept nothing less than “full equality” and an “end to discrimination.”

The demands are divided into six categories: preventing violence against the LGBT community; full recognition of gay families, including equality in surrogacy; providing appropriate social welfare to LGBT people; equality in health care; educating the general population for tolerance and acceptance of the LGBT community, and allocating at least NIS 50 million ($13.75 million) for the community.