Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai announced on Sunday that one of the candidates of his Israelis Party would be Hila Pe’er, the chairwoman of Aguda, the Association for LGBT equality in Israel.
If elected, Pe’er would become Israel’s first ever openly lesbian member of Knesset. There has also never been an openly bisexual or transgendered MK.
There are currently a record six gay MKs, but all of them are men: Public Security Minister Amir Ohana, Social Welfare Minister Itzik Shmuli, Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz, Blue and White faction chairman Eitan Ginzburg and Yesh Atid MKs Idan Roll and Yoray Lahav Hertzanu.
Lesbians who have run unsuccessfully in recent elections include Heidi Moses in Likud and Zehorit Sorek in Yesh Atid and Blue and White.
Pe’er said she was proud to join the party of Huldai, who she said had proven his devotion to advancing LGBT rights.
"The LGBT struggle has made significant achievements in recent years,” she said. “But the path to full equality is still long.”
Pe’er has a degree in emergency medicine from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She was deputy head of the Israel AIDS Task Force before becoming chairwoman of Aguda. She has a wife and two children.
“The LGBT community has received many promises over the years, but the Right, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, continues denying them their basic rights,” Huldai said. “Together, we will advance equality in marriage, adoption and surrogacy and widen the steps taken to eliminate discrimination against the transgendered population. We will not stop until we achieve full equality for the LGBT community.