Gay community protests lack of support for Tel Aviv birthday events

According to a report, the city cut its budget for gay festivities during the 100th birthday celebrations by 50 percent.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Tel Aviv's gay community is furious that the city has halved its budget for gay events in the city's current 100th birthday celebrations, reports www.mynet.co.il. And the community says that as well as cutting funding, the city is downplaying events for gays, even failing to mention them in promotional material on its Web site. According to the report, the city cut its budget for gay festivities during the 100th birthday celebrations by 50 percent to just NIS 400,000, out of which only NIS 100,000 has been allocated for the community's star event, the gay pride parade. A gay community spokesman said that gay events were being downplayed "to the point where they almost can't be seen," with the word "pride" failing to appear anywhere in the Web site of the city's 100th birthday celebrations committee. "I wish to emphasize our severe disappointment with this prominent and hurtful expression of priorities… The gay pride parade, one of the biggest events in the city, which has been one of the city's outstanding symbols for years, which draws 100,000 people, doesn't even appear in the schedule of events," the spokesman said. No response was reported from the city.