Thousands gather as LGBTQ Pride Parade kicks off in Tel Aviv for first time in two years

Thousands of people gather on the boardwalk along the Tel Aviv coast to kick off the city’s first full-fledged LGBTQ Pride Parade in two years.

A procession of floats heads out from Gordon Beach, each featuring a display organized by one of the city’s popular Pride party lines.

From there, they will soon start driving south along the beach to Charles Clore Park, where the march will end with a party featuring performances from Israeli pop stars.

People fend off the heat with Pride-themed handheld fans, while many wave or drape themselves in rainbow flags bearing a white Star of David.

People dance on a truck that leads the first Tel Aviv Pride parade in two years pic.twitter.com/DJLrLn0gpP

— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) June 12, 2026

The newer so-called Progress Pride flag, which includes different shapes and colors to represent additional identities, including transgender and intersex people, is largely absent here, despite having become popular at Pride marches around the world.

Near the floats, a DJ plays hypnotic dance music while attendees dance, pose for photos and browse souvenirs.

Many flock to trees and other stands where online Israeli sex shop FetishDeal has supplied the public with stickers to celebrate a plethora of sexual identities and practices.

The parade is being held this year under the slogan, “Vote with your feet” — likening the march to a show of political strength for the LGBTQ community.

But the march appears largely divorced from party politics. The one party with an organized presence here appears to be the left-leaning Democrats, whose members huddle by Frishman Street, hand out fliers and wave rainbow flags with the party’s logo in the middle.

A man hoists an anti-LGBTQ sign declaring: “Jesus saved me from homosexuality” before it is confiscated by the police, at Tel Aviv Pride, June 12, 2026. (Noam Lehmann/The Times of Israel)

At one point, police on the boardwalk confiscate a Christian anti-LGBTQ sign that declares “Jesus saved me from homosexuality,” and officers escort the man away.

The parade was cancelled last year just hours before it was due to begin after Israel launched its shock bombing campaign on Iran. The previous year, the city’s central Pride event took the form of a somber beachside gathering, some eight months after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.