Rivers speaks out for Israeli couple
Comedian joins campaign to help gay Tel Aviv duo raise money to become surrogate dads
Renee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.
If there’s one thing Joan Rivers doesn’t do, it’s keep her opinions to herself.
The comedian usually makes her points through humor, not always to everyone’s delight.
But she isn’t goofing around with her serious, heartfelt support for Yuval and Liran, a gay Israeli couple trying to have a child by surrogacy.
The pair, who depleted their savings trying to become fathers, issued YouTube a plea for help from the public in February, and are now trying to crowdsource enough money to work with a surrogacy agency in the US.
No other avenue toward having a child is open, as the doors to adoption and surrogacy are effectively closed to gay Israeli couples at home.
That’s where Rivers stepped in.
A Wider Bridge, a US non-profit building connections between the Israeli and American LGBT communities, reached out to the comedienne, asking her to help the Tel Aviv pair.
“Joan Rivers was one of the first names on our minds because she has always been outspoken about her support for gay people and her love for Israel,” said CEO Arthur Slepian.
Making the connection was Toni Tripoli, the head writer on Rivers’ “Fashion Police” show on the E! channel.
“We’re so touched by the story, and the cast would be happy to do it,” Tripoli said in response to the request, which came with photos of Israeli celebrities posing with signs reading, “I also want them to have a child.”
Rivers happily snapped a photo with a similar sign, which was delivered to the set during filming with co-stars Kelly Osbourne and George Kotsiopoulos, who also posed.
Time will tell whether Rivers’ star power will give the project a push. With 13 days left in their campaign, Yuval and Liran have raised NIS 47,318 of their NIS 250,000 goal.
