HAARETZ: Five Gay couples wed Friday in a ceremony held on the Tel Aviv beach to mark the city's 11th annual Gay Pride Parade.
The white city was turned pink all day Friday as tens of thousands of gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and their heterosexual compatriots marched in the parade. The event was financed by the municipality and set out at 1:30 P.M. from the gay community center at Meir Park, after a happening and an international gay tourism fair in the park.
Massive traffic jams were expected, as several city thoroughfares were closed to traffic for the parade, which was guarded by police, Border Police and civil defense volunteers. Bograshov, Ben-Yehuda and Ben-Gurion streets were closed to traffic from 11:30 A.M. until 5 P.M., as were the streets leading to them. The parade proceeded from King George St. to Bograshov St., Ben-Yehuda St. and Ben-Gurion Boulevard and finally ended up at Gordon beach, where a huge party with singers and DJs was to be held be held from about 3 P.M. to sunset. The event is to culminate in five simultaneous gay marriages.
Alon Elbakri, 15, came out of the closet about a year ago when he told his mother that he was gay.
"All my life I've been attracted to boys," he said. "I'd go to gay sites on the Internet, but I kept fighting myself, saying 'I like girls,' even though it wasn't true. Last year, in eighth grade, I underwent a change and realized that's what I am."
Elbakri is not exceptional: A survey conducted by Dr. Guy Shilo of Tel Aviv University indicates that the average age at which Israeli gays come out of the closet is declining. The agonizing that plagued most gays until a few years ago now mostly ends during high school.
"We're witnessing a social change," Shilo said. "At the end of the 1990s, the average coming-out age was 22. Today, it's 16."
Shilo, the head of research for the gay youth movement IGY, recently completed his doctorate at TAU, on the consolidation of sexual inclinations among gay youths. "Gay boys and girls mostly start feeling different from their peers between age 10 and 13," he said. "But the time between feeling different about themselves and deciding to categorize themselves as gay is getting shorter."
One reason why teenagers are coming out sooner is earlier sexual development among both gay and straight teens, Shilo said. Another reason is the growing exposure to gay boys and girls on television and the Internet. The latter, in addition to various forums and informational sites, also provides gay dating sites. >>> By Ofri Ilani and Noah Kosharek, Haaretz Correspondents | Friday, June 12, 2009
