As if gay pride was not a controversial enough issue, this year a small group of Israeli protesters threw donkeys into the mix.
Israel's LGBT community marched through the streets of Jerusalem last Thursday for the country's annual Gay Pride Parade, an event that has proven to be extremely high-profile in past years.
While the participants in the Gay Pride Parade are no stranger to protesters against their cause, the parade this year encountered a new kind of objection.
A few dozen extreme right-wing demonstrators showed up at the entrance of Jerusalem with multiple donkeys in tow, and consequentially, police intervention was required.
The donkey protesters were attempting to get to the route of the pride parade with the donkeys, to exhibit the "bestial" nature of homosexuality. The police prevented them from interfering and denied them entrance.
Baruch Marzel, one of the men involved in the "donkey protest" told Arutz Sheva: "Muslims, Christians, Jews, all of them are hurt by the fact that the Holy City of Jerusalem is defiled by abominations like today's march in Jerusalem...These donkeys do not commit acts that are as bad as what the marchers are doing."
Marzel and his fellow protesters held signs with slogans saying: "Go back to the closet you came from."
The Gay Pride Parade this year took place amidst the doctor's protest and the housing demonstration, which has seen a large number of Israelis dwelling in "tent cities." This years march was also a show of solidarity between Israel's movement for gay rights and the larger social struggles currently encompassing the country.
"We will walk with the pride flag in one hand and the flags of the rest of the social protests in the other," Yonatan Gher, director of Jerusalem Open House said in a statement to the Jerusalem Post. "This is one day of the year that we can march through the streets exactly as who we are and the way we are, and we're marching hand in hand with many of Israel's struggling communities... Our march is not about sexual identity versus religious identity, but is about our identity as Jerusalemites to march in this city."
group of Israeli protesters threw donkeys into the mix.
A few dozen extreme right-wing demonstrators showed up at the entrance of Jerusalem with multiple donkeys in tow, and consequentially, police intervention was required.
