Marion Fischel
June 7, 2022, Updated May 16, 2023

1963: Justice Haim Herman Cohn discourages the enforcement of British Mandate-era laws regarding consensual homosexual acts by denouncing the laws as “outdated.” Cohn was author of The Methodology of the Talmudic Law (1933) and was Israel’s representative to the UN Human Rights Council (1955-1957 & 1965-1967).

1968: Tel Aviv’s first gay bar opens in a private apartment, the harbinger of other gay clubs to follow.

1975: Israel’s first organization for the protection of LGBT rights is founded.

1979: Israel’s first Gay Pride event is a protest in today’s Rabin Square.

1986: Sex reassignment surgery is permitted and recognized.

1988: Same-sex sexual relations between consenting adults are decriminalized under Amendment 22 of Israeli Penal Code.

1992: Discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation becomes illegal.

1992: Stepchild adoption and limited co-guardianship rights are introduced for non-biological parents.

1993: Gay, lesbian and bisexual Israelis can serve openly and equally in the IDF.

1993: First Pride Parade takes place in Tel Aviv,

1994: Unregistered cohabitation is legalized.

1998: A trans woman, known as Dana International, represents Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest.

2001: The first Pride Parade takes place in Eilat.

2004: Same-sex couples are awarded the same inheritance rights as heterosexual couples.

2004: A 1999 Supreme Court ruling that foreign nationals married to Israeli citizens cannot be deported extends to common-law marriages, including same-sex couples.

2005: Lesbians can officially adopt a child born to their partners by artificial insemination from an anonymous sperm donor.

2006: Lesbian couples are able to adopt each other’s biological children.

2006: Israel recognizes same-sex marriages performed abroad in the same way it recognizes heterosexual civil marriages, as legal units for tax, real estate and financial purposes. Civil marriages are not performed in Israel, whether heterosexual or otherwise.

2007: Jerusalem registers its first gay couple.

2007: The Jerusalem Open House organizes a Pride Parade in central Jerusalem.

2008: Same-sex couples are able to jointly adopt.

2008: Tel Aviv opens the first municipal LGBT Community Center in the country.

2008: A gay Palestinian man from Jenin whose life is in danger there due to his sexuality is granted residency to live with his partner of eight years in Tel Aviv.

2009: The right of adoption is recognized for same-sex male couples.

2019: Israel elects its first openly gay party leader when Nitzan Horowitz becomes leader of Meretz.

2021: Horowitz is appointed as Israel’s first openly gay Health Minister.

2022: The government passed a law stipulating that as of January 11, 2022, same-sex couples, single men and transgender people may become parents through a surrogate in Israel, reversing a previous ban.

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