Ohana: Most hate for Likud Pride group comes from 'so-called' LGBT community
Ohana: Most hate for Likud Pride group comes from LGBT community
By YUVAL BAGNO/MAARIVLikud MK Amir Ohana attends the Pride parade in Jerusalem, June 6, 2019(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Justice Minister Amir Ohana, who became the country’s first-ever openly gay minister last week, slammed the LGBT community, saying that it – not the religious or right-wing community – has been harshest toward the Likud Pride movement.Ohana made the comments while attending the ILGBT conference in Tel Aviv, which advocates for gay rights within Israel.“I debated whether to come here,” the right-wing politician said. “From the day we began our activities with Pride in the Likud, the most deadly and lethal arrows that were fired at us were from neither the Right nor the religious groups, but from the so-called LGBT community.”In fact, he added, “it is not certain that we have the characteristics of a community.”The appointment of Ohana to the post of justice minister was met with criticism from the LGBT community, which attacked him for failing to stand up for the community’s struggles.“It reached a peak with my appointment as minister,” Ohana said. “We thought then, in 2011, that the time had come for us to emerge from the closet – not from the LGBT closet, but from the political closet. We are right-wingers with all the values and positions of right-wingers.“In 2014, when I made a decision to run in the primaries, I asked voters: ‘Do not choose me because I am gay and do not refrain from choosing me for this reason. I’m gay but I’m not just gay.’“The first bill I submitted was the Hate Crime Law, and I wanted to add gender identity as part of the definition of the crime, but unfortunately we were unable to pass the law.“Here is a member of Knesset who voted the most against the coalition’s position. I never voted against any pro-LGBT proposal.“And, when I was expelled from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee as a price [for voting with the opposition], I became an individual who paid a price for standing up for LGBT issues.”
Added Ohana: “I decided to come today for another reason – the same reason that I decided to come to the Jerusalem pride parade. [I came] for the 15-year-old boy from Beersheba who I was, and for the girl from Kiryat Shmona, and for the trans girl from Dimona who are also part of the rainbow colors our flag represents. They will know that the future does not contain only victims and sorrow; the future can also be a future of self-fulfillment, success and love.”
