Anger erupts over Israeli mayor who says there are no gays in his town
Wednesday, November 13
, Posted by Angel❤ at 4:45 AM
Moshe Abutbul, the ultra-Orthodox mayor of Beit Shemesh, says no gays live in his town and homosexuality should be a police matter, amid debate in Israel over a proposal to allow same-sex unions
An Israeli waves a rainbow flag during the annual gay pride parade in Jerusalem. Photo: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images
Israel’s gay community has filed a criminal complaint against an
ultra-Orthodox mayor after he said there were no homosexuals in his town
and that homosexuality should be dealt with by the health ministry or
the police.
Moshe Abutbul, the Haredi mayor of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, made
the inflammatory remarks during an interview on nationwide television.
“We have none of those things [gays] here. Thank God, this city is
holy and pure,” he told Israel’s Channel 10. Asked how his town handles
the gay community, he replied: “There’s the Health Ministry, let them
handle it. The Health Ministry, the police.”
Mr Abutbul, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, made his
comments in a programme segment that featured an interview with a gay
man living in Beit Shemesh, a town of 75,000 that has become a
flashpoint for tensions between conservative religious and secular
residents.
The remarks triggered a complaint from the Association of Gays,
Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgendered [LGBT] in Israel, which accused
the mayor of incitement in a letter to Gideon Saar, the country’s
interior minister.“These statements by an incumbent mayor in the State of Israel comparing the LGBT community to lawbreakers who must be dealt with by the police or dangers to public health constitute incitement according to Statutes 144(b) and 144(f) of the penal code,” wrote the association’s lawyer, Ben Ilan.
Mr Abutbul’s views on homosexuality were aired against a backdrop of legislative proposals to allow civil unions, including between gays and lesbians. Tzipi Livni, the justice minister, has circulated a memorandum outlining a law to give “official status for the union of couples for joint life” without marrying.
The secular Yesh Atid party, a senior partner in Israel’s coalition government, is believed to be tabling a similar proposals.
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