Neil Patrick Harris attends Entertainment Weekly's LGBTQ issue party at the Stonewall Inn on June 5, 2019, in New York. (Greg Allen/Invision/AP)
Actor Neil Patrick Harris, who portrayed playboy Barney in “How I Met Your Mother,” will be in Israel to serve as the international ambassador to the Tel Aviv Pride Parade.
Harris will visit Israel with his husband David Burtka, whom he married in 2014. The couple live in New York City with their children, Harper and Gideon.
Harris is also known for being the child star who portrayed the title character in “Doogie Houser, M.D.”
Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in Pride Week events and the Tel Aviv Pride Parade, which will be held on June 14.
Rvelers take part in the annual Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv, on June 08, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Harris’ participation was first announced on the website of Israel’s Tourism Ministry.
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Illustrative: People pass the Stonewall Inn, Wednesday, October 11, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Harris said in a statement of his upcoming and first visit to Israel: “Tel Aviv has become a symbol of the openness and acceptance of the LGBTQ community on the world stage, and we are honored to be in Israel for the first time and to have the honor to take part in this beautiful celebration and to stand with the LGBTQ community in Israel and around the world, especially on the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.”
The Stonewall riots were a watershed moment in LGBTQ activism as community members pushed back against police violence in New York City.
On Thursday, Police Commissioner James O’Neill officially apologized for the decision to raid the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969.
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