URP’s Peretz apologizes for comparing gay people to dogs
“I have two dogs. Do they also need a pride parade?” Peretz said, according to Srugim, a religious-Zionist news site.
By LAHAV HARKOVRabbi Rafi Peretz, the recently elected chairman of the Bayit Yehudi party(photo credit: BAYIT YEHUDI)Union of Right-Wing Parties leader Rafi Peretz apologized for making hurtful comments about LGBT people even before they aired on Wednesday.“I don’t like dogs in my house,” Peretz said. “It’s different, yes, but should I make a parade for that?”The leader of Bayit Yehudi, which is now part of URP, Peretz made the comments on a podcast hosted by Channel 12 reporter Yaron Avraham.“As someone carrying the flag of religious Zionism, it doesn’t fit,” Peretz added. “They can live how they want. I don’t think we need to make a parade out of it.”Peretz apologized hours before the comments were broadcast.“In an answer to a question about the pride parade, I misspoke in a way that will surely hurt many people,” Peretz said. “Immediately after I made the remarks, I took them back, and once again I apologize from the depths of my heart.”Peretz added that he “respects all people, and does not intervene in how they live their private lives.”
