One of the surprises from this year’s Pride Parade was the debut of the Jews For Pride float, a small group of Jewish people who marched in support of the Jewish LGBT people.
Supporters carried placards with messages like ‘We do not support faith-based bigotry’ emblazoned on them. The float was awarded Best Walking Group by this year’s judges on the night.
One of the organisers, 21 year-old Tamar Cohen, said the group wanted to show there was a ‘place for every Jew in our community’.
‘Last year at Pride, my Jewish friends and I were there and we noticed the Christian floats and it had never really occurred to us before but why there wasn’t a Jewish one?’ she said.
‘Sydney’s been doing it for 11 years and they’ve got this massive gay Jewish support group as well and we don’t have a support group in Perth.
‘We just wanted to say there is a place for every Jew in our community, we’re diverse, we accept you no matter what your sexual orientation is.’
In October, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria found Jewish LGBT people in Melbourne were subjected to discrimination, harassment and abuse from within the Jewish community. In its report, it acknowledged that it was ‘probably harder to come out in the Jewish community’ than in others and that the Orthodox community needed to become more accepting.
Steven Vilensky, 22, also helped organise the parade float and agreed with the report’s overall findings. While Vilensky said his Jewish heritage had been widely accepted in the LGBT community, he found the Jewish community had been less accepting.
‘Being a gay person in the Jewish community has caused far more difficulties for me and mostly my proclamation of who I am is often suppressed during these such instances,’ Vilensky said.
‘I feel that in WA a presence of gay Jewish people is very limited, and that our participation in the Parade will only better the understanding of both the LGBT community of Jewish people, as well as the greater Jewish community of gay people.’
‘After attending the Pride Parade in 2010, my closest friends and I felt inspired by the strong presence of religious and political groups promoting their support of gay pride.
‘As this had never occurred in Perth for the gay jewish community, we felt it was a progressive and important event that we needed to get involved in, especially considering the difficulties facing minority groups within minority groups.’
Benn Dorrington
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