KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Hamas on Wednesday released a gay Israeli man’s sister who had been held hostage in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

Media reports indicate Yarden Roman-Gat is one of 12 Israelis and four Thai nationals who the militant group released.

Roman-Gat, a physical therapist who works with elderly people and those with physical and mental health issues, and her family had just returned to Israel after a vacation in South Africa when they decided to spend the Simchat Torah holiday with Gat’s parents in Be’eri, a kibbutz that is near the border between Israel and Gaza. They were in their home on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched its surprise attack.

Media reports indicate four militants placed Roman-Gat, Gat, their 3-year-old daughter and two other Be’eri residents into a car. One of them had reportedly been placed into the trunk.

Roman-Gat and Gat jumped out of the car with their daughter as it approached Gaza. Roman-Gat’s brother, Gili Roman, a teacher and member of the Nemos LGBTQ+ Swimming Club who lives in Tel Aviv, on Oct. 30 told the Washington Blade that the militants began to run after them. He said they were shooting at them when his sister handed her daughter to her husband because he was able to run faster. 

Gat hid with his daughter for 18 hours before they reached Israeli soldiers in Be’eri. He told Roman he last saw his wife hiding behind a tree to protect herself from the militants who were shooting at her.

“For us it’s like a Holocaust story,” Roman told the Blade. “It’s a horror story, the worst horror story that you can imagine.”

More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the war began. This figure includes at least 260 people who Hamas militants murdered at an all-night music festival in Re’im, a kibbutz that is a few miles away from Be’eri. Thousands of other Israelis have been injured and Roman-Gat is among the 240 people who militants from Hamas and other Muslim terrorist groups kidnapped.

The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 13,000 people and injured thousands of others in the enclave.

A truce between Israel and Hamas that allowed for the release of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinians in Israeli prisons took effect on Friday. 

The Associated Press notes roughly 160 hostages remain in Gaza. The truce that the U.S., Egypt and Qatar brokered was extended two days on Monday, but is slated to expire tonight.  

WDG is the Washington Blade’s media partner in Israel. This article ran on WDG’s website on Nov. 23.

EIN YAHAV, Israel — Among dozens of reservists who became a family, with a spontaneous canopy at the B&B in Ein Yahav and refreshments donated with much love from Eilat businesses and residents, Adam Din and Ilan Cohen held their wedding ceremony Nov. 22.

“We did this wedding because it is important to us that the world knows that there is love even in the middle of the war and that we can celebrate love as well through it all,” said the couple.

Adam and Ilan’s wedding was scheduled to take place about two weeks ago on the beach between Ashdod and Nitzanim. The invitations were already prepared, but the terrible massacre on Oct. 7, and the war that broke out in its wake, postponed all their plans.

Ilan was immediately drafted into the reserves in the Gaza Division, leaving Adam alone at home. Nati Harosh, the couple’s best friend who was supposed to be the groomsman at the wedding, was also drafted into the reserves as a Givati Brigade fighter.

“We were supposed to get married on the beach,” says Adam, “The war postponed the wedding, and also took Nati.”

Adam and Ilan met a year and eight months ago.

“We met on Tinder, not for a serious purpose,” says Adam. “After we met, Ilan introduced me to a group of travelers from the gay community and we used to go on trips together. Over time we got to know each other more and more and in an organic and natural way we became together. It never had an official date.”

The short acquaintance was very significant for both of them. 

“I was in the closet in front of the family before I met Ilan, and also childfree. And getting to know Ilan changed me completely,” says Adam. “I came out in front of my family and introduced them to Ilan, and I also decided that I wanted us to become parents together. My life changed thanks to him and we are really a family.”

The first friend Adam introduced to Ilan was Nati.

“Nati is a friend of mine from the time I lived in Jerusalem during my internship. We met through mutual friends and became very close friends. Nati was a giving person, like the meaning of his name Nathaniel. One of those people who were untouched by the cruelty of the world. Always ready to help. Doesn’t hold a grudge even when he is treated badly, and I would get angry for him and he wouldn’t get angry,” says Adam.

“Nati’s move from Jerusalem to Ramat Gan was one of the reasons that led us to move there as well, and since then we have been at each other’s house a lot on Shabbat,” he adds. “Nati came from a religious family, and he is liberal and open and loves every person regardless of who they are. And it was very clear and natural to me that he would be the one to accompany me on this significant occasion of mine. In the Utah wedding we held in Zoom, Nati was my witness, and we planned for him to be the groomsman in the wedding party.”

An April Fool’s prank that turned into a marriage proposal

Adam proposed to Ilan a few months ago.

“On April 1, we repeated one of our significant dates at the Saker Garden in Jerusalem,” says Adam, “Then Ilan knelt down as if he was going to propose to me and took out a Kinder egg. Kind of an April Fool’s prank. He thought it was funny. So I decided to get back at him and a few months later I also gave him a Kinder egg, only my Kinder egg had a ring in it.”

Three months ago, the two were married in a Utah wedding on Zoom in order to receive recognition as a couple who married abroad, with Nati accompanying them as a witness. They planned to hold the party itself at the beach between Ashdod and Nitzanim, at the exact place where Adam proposed to Ilan. About two months ago they returned to the place, found the perfect location for the wedding and we set a date.

But as mentioned, the events of Oct. 7 postponed the plans, and Ilan was drafted into the reserves.

“During his reserve service, Ilan saw horrible and terrible sights,” says Adam, “[It is] a horror that has no name, that gives him nightmares and scars his heart and soul. But when he comes home he comes to his shelter and his safe environment. Here he can get away for a moment from the horror outside. With the announcement of Nati’s death, the bereavement burst into our house, into our safe place.”

The two found out about Nati’s death through a news website. 

One evening at the beginning of November, when Ilan was at home for a short break, a message about the death of a Givati Brigade soldier in Gaza popped up on his phone.

“He fell silent and went to the side,” Adam recalled. “His face went blank, the way it went blank when he remembered the terrible things he saw there. I asked him what he saw. He didn’t want to show me and started crying. I asked him again what happened and then he told me that Nati died. I didn’t believe him and then he showed me the news. I looked and couldn’t believe what I was reading. I saw Nati’s photo in the article and I said, ‘What idiots, they accidentally put a photo of Nati. What a mistake.'”

“I quickly called Nati to tell him to ask for the photo to be taken down so his family wouldn’t see it, but he didn’t answer,” he added. “Since then I send him WhatsApps all the time. Yesterday I sent him a selfie of us and wrote to him: Tomorrow I’m getting married, you’re invited.”

Many people will have to die for there to be equality

After Nati was killed, the two felt that the wedding was becoming more urgent. Ilan told the story of the wedding to his friends in the reserve battalion, and also told them about Nati, who was killed in the war.

“He told them that the wedding is now more urgent than ever, and that it is precisely now in this war that love should be celebrated, and his friends suggested that the wedding be held in the unit. Two days ago he came to me and asked: What are you doing on Wednesday? And I answered him that I was working. Then he asked me, do you want to get married? I told him yes and asked him if he was coming back from the reserves, and he told me: No. We will do it in the battalion.”

WDG: Did you felt complete with the choice?

ADAM: Ilan and his colleagues have been together for over a month. When I talk to him I hear them, and I hear him talking about them, they really became family. So although the wedding is spontaneous without my friends and family being able to come, it is being held with his family, who are actually the army and the friends from the reserves. And Nati will be there in spirit too. He died among soldiers, so we will feel his love among other soldiers who will be happy with us”

WDG: How does it feel to have a “military wedding”?

ADAM: This is not the wedding I expected, but I always told Ilan that I would marry him even inside a volcano. Everywhere. At the same time, this wedding has a lot of mixed emotions. This period is full of sadness and disappointment. The LGBTQ community is an equal partner in the national effort and the war, and its men and women do not receive equal status when they return home.

We could get married like everyone else but we have to do it in a crooked way with Zoom, and in no way, LGBTQ people are literally dead to protect us but no one counts them.

Ilan has been in service for a month and a half, and yet he had to find crooked ways to get married, feeling that he is worth less than other people, who don’t even join the army.

So for me this wedding is both defiance and pride. And this is the ambivalence. We feel a part and we sacrifice the most precious, and yet we don’t deserve to be married like everyone else and we are in a less good position. And yet we continue and get married in the middle of the war.”

WDG: Do you think that following this period, which highlights the gap between what we give to the state and what we receive, a change will come?

ADAM: For Sagi Golan’s law, Sagi had to die. Part of his mate is dead too, I guess. I do believe that we will have equal rights, I believe that many people will have to die for it.

WDG: What is it like to live when your partner is so far from home for such a long period of time?

ADAM: Since that terrible Saturday when he was called I have been sleeping on the sofa. I can’t sleep in bed without him. There are long periods when he is without reception on the phone and I am constantly refreshing the pages of the news sites, to see if anything has happened. And when he returns home afterwards there is a tremendous feeling of momentary relief and an opportunity to be together for a bit. Even though as a volunteer in the LGBTQ help line, even when he goes out to retire from the reserves, he takes a shift and volunteers remotely.”

The couple and WDG would like to thank WILLOW – Zimmer in Arava, for volunteering to host the ceremony.

WDG is the Washington Blade’s media partner in Israel. This article ran on WDG’s website on Nov. 23.

EIN YAHAV, Israel — Among dozens of reservists who became a family, with a spontaneous canopy at the B&B in Ein Yahav and refreshments donated with much love from Eilat businesses and residents, Adam Din and Ilan Cohen held their wedding ceremony Nov. 22.

“We did this wedding because it is important to us that the world knows that there is love even in the middle of the war and that we can celebrate love as well through it all,” said the couple.

Adam and Ilan’s wedding was scheduled to take place about two weeks ago on the beach between Ashdod and Nitzanim. The invitations were already prepared, but the terrible massacre on Oct. 7, and the war that broke out in its wake, postponed all their plans.

Ilan was immediately drafted into the reserves in the Gaza Division, leaving Adam alone at home. Nati Harosh, the couple’s best friend who was supposed to be the groomsman at the wedding, was also drafted into the reserves as a Givati Brigade fighter.

“We were supposed to get married on the beach,” says Adam, “The war postponed the wedding, and also took Nati.”

Adam and Ilan met a year and eight months ago.

“We met on Tinder, not for a serious purpose,” says Adam. “After we met, Ilan introduced me to a group of travelers from the gay community and we used to go on trips together. Over time we got to know each other more and more and in an organic and natural way we became together. It never had an official date.”

The short acquaintance was very significant for both of them. 

“I was in the closet in front of the family before I met Ilan, and also childfree. And getting to know Ilan changed me completely,” says Adam. “I came out in front of my family and introduced them to Ilan, and I also decided that I wanted us to become parents together. My life changed thanks to him and we are really a family.”

The first friend Adam introduced to Ilan was Nati.

“Nati is a friend of mine from the time I lived in Jerusalem during my internship. We met through mutual friends and became very close friends. Nati was a giving person, like the meaning of his name Nathaniel. One of those people who were untouched by the cruelty of the world. Always ready to help. Doesn’t hold a grudge even when he is treated badly, and I would get angry for him and he wouldn’t get angry,” says Adam.

“Nati’s move from Jerusalem to Ramat Gan was one of the reasons that led us to move there as well, and since then we have been at each other’s house a lot on Shabbat,” he adds. “Nati came from a religious family, and he is liberal and open and loves every person regardless of who they are. And it was very clear and natural to me that he would be the one to accompany me on this significant occasion of mine. In the Utah wedding we held in Zoom, Nati was my witness, and we planned for him to be the groomsman in the wedding party.”

An April Fool’s prank that turned into a marriage proposal

Adam proposed to Ilan a few months ago.

“On April 1, we repeated one of our significant dates at the Saker Garden in Jerusalem,” says Adam, “Then Ilan knelt down as if he was going to propose to me and took out a Kinder egg. Kind of an April Fool’s prank. He thought it was funny. So I decided to get back at him and a few months later I also gave him a Kinder egg, only my Kinder egg had a ring in it.”

Three months ago, the two were married in a Utah wedding on Zoom in order to receive recognition as a couple who married abroad, with Nati accompanying them as a witness. They planned to hold the party itself at the beach between Ashdod and Nitzanim, at the exact place where Adam proposed to Ilan. About two months ago they returned to the place, found the perfect location for the wedding and we set a date.

But as mentioned, the events of Oct. 7 postponed the plans, and Ilan was drafted into the reserves.

“During his reserve service, Ilan saw horrible and terrible sights,” says Adam, “[It is] a horror that has no name, that gives him nightmares and scars his heart and soul. But when he comes home he comes to his shelter and his safe environment. Here he can get away for a moment from the horror outside. With the announcement of Nati’s death, the bereavement burst into our house, into our safe place.”

The two found out about Nati’s death through a news website. 

One evening at the beginning of November, when Ilan was at home for a short break, a message about the death of a Givati Brigade soldier in Gaza popped up on his phone.

“He fell silent and went to the side,” Adam recalled. “His face went blank, the way it went blank when he remembered the terrible things he saw there. I asked him what he saw. He didn’t want to show me and started crying. I asked him again what happened and then he told me that Nati died. I didn’t believe him and then he showed me the news. I looked and couldn’t believe what I was reading. I saw Nati’s photo in the article and I said, ‘What idiots, they accidentally put a photo of Nati. What a mistake.'”

“I quickly called Nati to tell him to ask for the photo to be taken down so his family wouldn’t see it, but he didn’t answer,” he added. “Since then I send him WhatsApps all the time. Yesterday I sent him a selfie of us and wrote to him: Tomorrow I’m getting married, you’re invited.”

Many people will have to die for there to be equality

After Nati was killed, the two felt that the wedding was becoming more urgent. Ilan told the story of the wedding to his friends in the reserve battalion, and also told them about Nati, who was killed in the war.

“He told them that the wedding is now more urgent than ever, and that it is precisely now in this war that love should be celebrated, and his friends suggested that the wedding be held in the unit. Two days ago he came to me and asked: What are you doing on Wednesday? And I answered him that I was working. Then he asked me, do you want to get married? I told him yes and asked him if he was coming back from the reserves, and he told me: No. We will do it in the battalion.”

WDG: Did you felt complete with the choice?

ADAM: Ilan and his colleagues have been together for over a month. When I talk to him I hear them, and I hear him talking about them, they really became family. So although the wedding is spontaneous without my friends and family being able to come, it is being held with his family, who are actually the army and the friends from the reserves. And Nati will be there in spirit too. He died among soldiers, so we will feel his love among other soldiers who will be happy with us”

WDG: How does it feel to have a “military wedding”?

ADAM: This is not the wedding I expected, but I always told Ilan that I would marry him even inside a volcano. Everywhere. At the same time, this wedding has a lot of mixed emotions. This period is full of sadness and disappointment. The LGBTQ community is an equal partner in the national effort and the war, and its men and women do not receive equal status when they return home.

We could get married like everyone else but we have to do it in a crooked way with Zoom, and in no way, LGBTQ people are literally dead to protect us but no one counts them.

Ilan has been in service for a month and a half, and yet he had to find crooked ways to get married, feeling that he is worth less than other people, who don’t even join the army.

So for me this wedding is both defiance and pride. And this is the ambivalence. We feel a part and we sacrifice the most precious, and yet we don’t deserve to be married like everyone else and we are in a less good position. And yet we continue and get married in the middle of the war.”

WDG: Do you think that following this period, which highlights the gap between what we give to the state and what we receive, a change will come?

ADAM: For Sagi Golan’s law, Sagi had to die. Part of his mate is dead too, I guess. I do believe that we will have equal rights, I believe that many people will have to die for it.

WDG: What is it like to live when your partner is so far from home for such a long period of time?

ADAM: Since that terrible Saturday when he was called I have been sleeping on the sofa. I can’t sleep in bed without him. There are long periods when he is without reception on the phone and I am constantly refreshing the pages of the news sites, to see if anything has happened. And when he returns home afterwards there is a tremendous feeling of momentary relief and an opportunity to be together for a bit. Even though as a volunteer in the LGBTQ help line, even when he goes out to retire from the reserves, he takes a shift and volunteers remotely.”

The couple and WDG would like to thank WILLOW – Zimmer in Arava, for volunteering to host the ceremony.

ובשיתוף Washington Blade, שותף המדיה של WDG בארה”ב

בעקבות מתקפת הטרור על ישראל בשבת השחורה של השביעי באוקטובר, יצאו חמישה ארגונים להט”בים אמריקאים בעצומה הקוראת לכלל ארגוני הלהט”ב האמריקאים לתמוך בישראל.

העצומה, שפורסמה ביום שישי האחרון, קוראת ללהט”ב אמריקאים לגנות את המתקפה הרצחנית שביצע חמאס נגד ישראל ואזרחיה.

מאחורי הקמפיין, הנושא את הכותרת “להט”ב אמריקאים מתאחדים נגד טרור חמאס” עומדים חמישה ארגונים – ארגון A Wider Bridge הפועל לקידום הקשר בין הקהילה היהודית לקהילה הלהט”בית, ארגון One Community מאריזונה, ארגון SAVE מדרום פלורידה, ארגון Equality California וארגון Garden State Equality מניו ג’רסי.

“באוקטובר 7, 2023, ארגון הטרור חמאס פתח במתקפה על מדינת ישראל והעם היהודי”, נכתב בעצומה, “מתקפה זו הביאה לרציחתם באכזריות של למעלה מ-1,400 ישראלים – כולל ניצולי שואה וילדים, חטיפתם ולקיחתם כבני ערובה של לפחות 200 נוספים, ולמותם הטראגי של אינספור פלסטינים חפים מפשע שחמאס מנעה את פינויים.

אנטישמיות, הומופוביה וטרנספוביה הולכות יחד. כאמריקאים להט”בים ובעלי ברית, אנחנו יודעים מה זה כשקיצוניים אלימים מנסים  להרוג אותנו בגלל מי שאנחנו ומי שאנחנו אוהבים. יתרה מכך, אנו יודעים היטב מה זה שאנשים שסמכנו עליהם שישמיעו קול של אומץ ומוסר שותקים לנוכח ההרס שלנו. חיפשנו את ליבנו בשבועות האחרונים כאשר מלמולים של “זה מסובך”, נשמעו מסביבנו כאזעקה מוכרת מדי. למרבה הכאב, אפילו ראינו כאלה שמאשימים את היהודים באלימות שהם סבלו.

לא נשתוק.

רצח של חפים מפשע לעולם אינו מוצדק. למרות שאנו מכירים בכך שאנשים בעלי רצון טוב עשויים לחלוק על ממשלת ישראל הנבחרת, איננו נקראים לפתור את סוגיית האוטונומיה – למרות שאנו תומכים בה הן עבור ישראלים והן עבור פלסטינים. זה הכרחי לחלוטין שכלהט”בים וכאמריקאים בעלי ברית, נגנה באופן חד משמעי את ההתקפות האכזריות של חמאס.

אנו מבקשים מכם להצטרף אל אבלנו על כל החיים התמימים שאבדו, ועל בני הערובה שעדיין מוחזקים. ומבקשים מכם להצטרף אלינו לקריאה כי למדינת ישראל יש זכות קיום וכי לעם היהודי מגיעה מולדת שבה יוכל לחיות בחופשיות; ושאין עוד לנצל את העם הפלסטיני ומגיע לו שלטון עצמי לגיטימי באומה שלו.

להטב”קים ובני בריתם האמריקאים יודעים שכל קבוצה המוקדשת לשנאה היא איום קיומי על כל האנשים המודחים לשוליים. עמדו איתנו בצד הנכון של ההיסטוריה היום. עמדו איתנו למען צדק, הוגנות ושוויון לכל האנשים”.

WASHINGTON — Gili Roman and his sister, Yarden Roman-Gat, have always been close.

“We are best friends,” Roman told the Washington Blade on Monday during an interview in Washington. “We understood each other without words, with words. We always stand for each other.”

Roman was 26 when he came out as gay to his parents. He told his sister several months later when they were on vacation in Vietnam. Roman said she was “very angry at me that I came out to our parents before I told her.” 

“She said, ‘I don’t believe you told me after our parents,'” recalled Roman. “With my parents it wasn’t easy, but with her it was super easy and she was super excited for me because she wanted me to have this open and happy life.”

Roman spoke with the Blade less than a month after Hamas militants kidnapped his sister.

Roman-Gat and her husband, Alon Gat, lived in Be’eri, a kibbutz that is near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, for four years. They and Gefen, their 3-year-old daughter, moved in September because of what Roman described as “all the safety issues, and the missile attacks.” 

“She wasn’t willing to tolerate that anymore,” said Roman.

‘For us it’s like a Holocaust story’

Roman-Gat, a physical therapist who works with elderly people and those with physical and mental health issues, and her family had just returned to Israel after a vacation in South Africa when they decided to spend the Simchat Torah holiday with Gat’s parents in Be’eri. They were in their home on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched its surprise attack.

Roman, 39, lives in Tel Aviv, which is roughly 50 miles north of Be’eri. He said air raid sirens woke him and his sister up at around 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7.

“When it happens, usually we send a text message to find out that they’re also fine because for them, the time to get to the shelter is much shorter.” said Roman, noting people who live around Gaza have seconds to take shelter when militants launch a rocket. People who live in Tel Aviv have 90 seconds to seek refuge. “After the second missile alarm, I turned on the TV and understood that this is not the regular routine.”  

“We started to see terrorists infiltrating different towns around the kibbutz,” he added.

Roman in a series of text messages to his sister asked her if she had locked the door to the safe room to which she and her family had gone and whether anyone had a weapon. Roman-Gat texted her brother every 30 minutes in order to keep their family updated about what was happening. 

“She would text me either a heart or a small conversation,” recalled Roman.

Roman said he last heard from his sister at around 10 a.m. He told the Blade the “terrorists entered the house and took them” about 20 minutes later.

“At first I just thought that they lost connection,” said Roman. “We didn’t know exactly what happened.”

Roman, a member of the Israel Defense Force’s reserves, said he was preparing to deploy to the country’s border with Lebanon with his unit when he and his family “started to understand that something really bad was happening in Be’eri.” Roman-Gat’s father-in-law later told Roman he had been “separated from the rest of the family.”

“He was still in the house, and he saw all of his family members taken separately,” said Roman.

Roman told the Blade he received a video a few hours later that showed his sister’s mother-in-law and three of her neighbors “being taken through the street next to their house with a few terrorists surrounding them.” He said Israeli media reports incorrectly suggested the militants took them to the kibbutz’ dining hall and planned to negotiate their release.

Roman said Gat called him at around 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 8 and told him what had happened the previous day.

Media reports indicate four militants placed Roman-Gat, Gat, their daughter and two other Be’eri residents into a car. One of them had reportedly been placed into the trunk.

Roman-Gat and Gat jumped out of the car with their daughter as it approached Gaza. Roman said the militants began to run after them. He told the Blade they were shooting at them when his sister handed her daughter to her husband because he was able to run faster. 

Gat hid with his daughter for 18 hours before they reached IDF soldiers at Be’eri. He told Roman he last saw his wife hiding behind a tree to protect herself from the militants who were shooting at her.

“For us it’s like a Holocaust story,” said Roman. “It’s a horror story, the worst horror story that you can imagine … the evil of it, of running, chasing an innocent family with a family.”

Roman told the Blade he put on his IDF uniform and drove to Be’eri on Oct. 8.

“Once you started to go to the South, it was like what you’ve seen in the movies: Battlefields, everything was on fire,” he recalled. “You saw bodies scattered along the along the road, and you saw the cars all scattered with bullets because people were killed while driving.”

Hamas militants were still around Be’eri when Roman arrived. He said two of them “tackled” them and “were shooting at us.”

“The officers had to get out of the car, kill them and get back,” said Roman. 

He said it took a couple of days for the IDF to clear the militants from the area. Search crews were then able to mount large scale searches for those who were killed or kidnapped.

Roman said his brother-in-law was able to find the tree behind which Roman-Gat had been hiding. He told the Blade the searchers determined the militants had once again captured her and brought her into Gaza because they found her bare footprint next to a shoe print. 

“They saw they didn’t go much farther from the tree,” said Roman. “They assume that somebody was carrying her.”

Roman said Hamas on Oct. 10 released a video that showed his sister’s mother-in-law and her three neighbors with whom she had been taken at the “end of the street in their own pool of blood.” Roman told the Blade that her husband and sons saw it on social media.

The militants also kidnapped Roman-Gat’s sister-in-law. Roman said the family believes that she too is now in Gaza.

Gat and his daughter are now living with Roman’s father at his home in Givatym, a city that is just outside of Tel Aviv.

Roman said his niece understands there were “bad people in front of their house, their safe place and took them and she was supposed to hide.” He also said she knows that he and his family are working to find her mother. 

“They were inseparable,” said Roman.

Roman’s mother passed away 10 months ago. He said his niece was “very close to both of” her grandmothers. 

Roman told the Blade his sister’s father-in-law is “doing his best.” He said he visits his family in Givatym every day.

“He’s a refuge in his own country,” said Roman. “He lost his wife, and his daughter is kidnapped and his daughter-in-law is kidnapped. It is very, very tough on him.”

Roman, 39, is a teacher who was previously the principal of the Eastern Mediterranean International School near Tel Aviv.

The school’s mission is to make “education a force for peace and sustainability in the Middle East.” Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs are among the students.

Roman has been a member of the Nemos LGBTQ+ Swimming Club for the last five years.

The Jewish Federations of North America brought Roman and his cousin to the U.S. They will travel to New York before returning to Israel next week.

CNN’s Jake Tapper is among the other reporters with whom Roman has spoken about his sister, who is also a German citizen. Roman noted he celebrated her 36th birthday last month when he spoke at a pro-Israel rally in Berlin that more than 20,000 people attended.

“It was very powerful, but also very evident that she was not there,” he said.

Roman when he spoke with the Blade was wearing a black baseball hat that read “Bring Yarden home now.” He also had a dog tag around his neck that had the Star of David on it and “bring them home now” engraved in Hebrew.

More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the war began. This figure includes at least 260 people who Hamas militants murdered at an all-night music festival in Re’im, a kibbutz that is a few miles away from Be’eri. Thousands of other Israelis have been injured and Roman-Gat is among the 240 people who militants from Hamas and other Muslim extremist groups kidnapped.

Hamas rockets have reached Beersheba, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ben Gurion Airport and other locations throughout central and southern Israel. Media reports indicate Hezbollah, which the U.S. and Israel have designated a terrorist organization alongside Hamas, has attacked IDF posts and launched rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 8,000 people and injured thousands of others in the enclave.

The Israeli government’s decision to cut electricity, water and food and fuel shipments to Gaza has made the humanitarian crisis in the territory even worse. The IDF’s ground incursion into the enclave began on Oct. 27.

Gazan authorities on Tuesday said an IDF airstrike in the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City left hundreds of people dead or injured. The Associated Press reported the IDF said it killed a Hamas commander and dozens of other militants.

Calls for a ceasefire continue to grow louder around the world. Acts of antisemitism and Islamophobia have also increased in the U.S. and in other countries since Oct. 7. 

Roman specifically applauded the Biden-Harris administration and the German government for their response to the war. 

He said he “understands” and “relates” to some of the criticisms against Israel. Roman also acknowledged the “liberal world” and the “progressive world” and the global LGBTQ+ community “is very divided” on the war.

“I understand why people are hurting because of the lives that are lost right now in Gaza,” he told the Blade. “It’s not easy for me as well. I probably know more Palestinians than the people here.”

Roman said Hamas has “done harm to the Palestinian cause.”

“What happened in the South is not a Palestinian story,” he told the Blade. “The Palestinian ambition for liberty and for self-independence is very legitimate, but the jihadistic ambition is completely illegitimate.”

“It’s not something that anyone should justify in any way,” added Roman. “It’s pure evil, the desire to murder anyone who is either not Muslim or supports the ambition to create a Muslim empire.”

Oct. 7 was ‘the biggest failure of the Israeli state’

Roman pointed out he did not vote for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and did not support the right-wing coalition government he formed late last year. Roman also noted he supported the protest movement against the proposed reforms to the country’s judicial system that activists said would harm LGBTQ+ Israelis.

He described Oct. 7 as “the biggest failure of the Israeli state.” Roman also reiterated the constant threats of rockets from Gaza is the reason that his sister and her family moved away from Be’eri. 

“My sister wasn’t willing to accept it and I wasn’t going to accept it, but what can we do,” he said. “We are not government officials, but for years the world has accepted, Israel has accepted that we are consistently under fire, and this is how it let it happen.”

Roman told the Blade it is going to “take a while to control Hamas” and for the IDF to have military and political control in Gaza. He also said Hamas has a lot of support in the West Bank.

“It’s not something that you are being done with like a month or two,” said Roman. “It’s very necessary, but it’s going to be extremely hard.”

Roman told the Blade he is most concerned about what will happen once the war ends. 

“There could be compromise with the Palestinians as a national entity, as a people, but there can be no compromise with the jihadists,” he said. “As long as they prevail and as long as they are in power and as long as they get so much support from the Palestinian people, you cannot even sit at the table and discuss. What can you discuss? They want you to be eliminated. There is no conversation.” 

“We need to get to the point where the Palestinians realize that those two missions cannot be together,” added Roman. “They cannot wish to eradicate us and also get independence alongside us.” 

He said Israelis also “need to get a lot of trust they didn’t have in the first place in the intentions and ambitions of the Palestinians and of the Arabs around us.”

NEW YORK — Five advocacy organizations on Friday launched a petition campaign that urges LGBTQ+ Americans to condemn Hamas’ attack against Israel on Oct. 7.

A Wider Bridge, One Community in Arizona, SAVE in South Florida, Equality California and Garden State Equality are behind the online “LGBTQ Americans Unite Against Hamas Terror” petition.

“We call for LGBTQ and allied Americans to stand with us on the right side of history: For justice, fairness and equality for all people,” reads a press release that announced the petition.

The petition text is below and a link to it is here:

On Oct. 7, 2023, the terrorist group Hamas launched an attack on the State of Israel and the Jewish people. This attack resulted in the brutal murders of over 1,400 Israelis — including Holocaust survivors and children — the kidnapping and hostage-taking of at least 200 more, and the tragic deaths of countless innocent Palestinians whose evacuation has been prevented by Hamas. 

Antisemitism, homophobia and transphobia travel together. As LGBTQ and Allied Americans, we know what it is like to have violent extremists attempt to target and kill us for who we are and who we love. Further, we know all too well what it is like to realize that people we had counted on to speak with a voice of moral courage are silent in the face of our destruction. We have searched our own hearts these last weeks when murmurs of, “it’s complicated,” have sounded an all too familiar alarm. Painfully, we have even seen some blame Jews for the violence they’ve suffered. 

We will not be silent.

The murder of any innocents is never justifiable. While we recognize that people of good will may disagree with the elected Israeli government, we are not called to solve the issue of sovereignty — although we support it for both Israelis and Palestinians. It is absolutely imperative that as LGBTQ and allied Americans, we unequivocally condemn the brutal attacks of Hamas. 

We ask you to join us now in our grief for all the innocent lives lost, and for the hostages still being held. We ask you to join us in our conviction that the State of Israel has a right to exist and reaffirm that the Jewish people deserve a homeland where they can live freely; and that the Palestinian people must no longer be exploited and deserve legitimate self-government in their own nation.  

LGBTQ and allied Americans know that any group dedicated to hate is an existential threat to all marginalized people. Stand with us on the right side of history today. Stand with us for justice, fairness, and equality for all people.

Hamas, which the U.S. and Israel have designated a terrorist organization, on Oct. 7 launched a surprise attack against communities in southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.

More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the war began. This figure includes at least 260 people who Hamas militants murdered at an all-night music festival in Re’im, a kibbutz that is near the border between Israel and Gaza. Thousands of other Israelis have been injured and militants from Hamas and other groups kidnapped more than 200 others.

Hamas rockets have reached Beersheba, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ben Gurion Airport and other locations throughout central and southern Israel. Media reports indicate Hezbollah, which the U.S. and Israel have designated a terrorist organization, has attacked IDF posts and launched rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 7,000 people and injured thousands of others in the enclave.

The Israeli government’s decision to cut electricity, water and food and fuel shipments to Gaza has made the humanitarian crisis in the territory even worse. The IDF has told the 1.1 million people who live in northern Gaza to evacuate to the southern part of the enclave ahead of an expected ground incursion.

JERUSALEM — Two Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance staffers on Thursday spoke about the war between Israel and Hamas and its impact on LGBTQ+ people.

The organization, among other things, organizes Jerusalem’s annual Pride parade.

A Wider Bridge — “a movement of LGBTQ people and allies with a strong interest in and commitment to supporting Israel and its LGBTQ communities” — hosted the virtual forum. Andy Austin, who chairs the group’s board of directors, moderated it.

BEERSHEBA, Israel — An activist in southern Israel on Thursday said she knows at least five people who have died during her country’s war with Hamas militants.

“It’s just horror and shock,” former Be’er Sheva Pride House Chair Ariella Menaker told the Washington Blade during an emotional WhatsApp interview. “They were fucking civilians.”

Beersheba, which is the largest city in southern Israel, is located roughly 25 miles southeast of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, which the U.S. and Israel have designated a terrorist organization, on Oct. 6 launched a surprise attack against communities in southern Israel from Gaza.

More than 1,300 Israelis have been killed since the war began. This figure includes at least 260 people who Hamas militants murdered at an all-night music festival in Re’im, a kibbutz that is near the border between Israel and Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces on its website also says more than 3,200 Israelis have been injured and Hamas militants kidnapped at least 150 others. 

Hamas rockets have reached Beersheba, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ben Gurion Airport and other locations throughout central and southern Israel.

The Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes have killed 1,537 people and injured 6,612 others in the enclave.

The Israeli government’s decision to cut electricity, water and food and fuel shipments to Gaza has made the humanitarian crisis in the territory even worse. Media reports indicate the IDF has told the U.N. the 1.1 million people who live in northern Gaza should evacuate to the southern part of the enclave within 24 hours.

Menaker said she received an invitation to attend one of the music festival’s parties.

“It’s a close-knit group,” she told the Blade. “Even people you don’t know by name; you’ve partied with them; you know them. You’ve known them for years from the dance floor.”

“I keep thinking about them, trying to escape,” added Menaker. 

Southern Israel ‘accustomed to sirens and bomb threats’

Menaker lived in Sderot, a town that is less than a mile from Gaza, until she and her family moved to Beersheba when she was 10.

She was at home in Beersheba on Oct. 7 when air raid sirens woke her up shortly after 6:30 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. PT on Oct. 6.) Menaker told the Blade she was in her pajamas when she grabbed her cats and took shelter near a set of stairs that are away from windows. She said the door to the bomb shelter near her home did not close because someone had previously broken into it.

“I just stayed at home with the cats in an enclosed area near the stairs, as safe as I can be,” said Menaker.

She told the Blade she had COVID-19 a couple of weeks ago and was worried that she would spread the virus to other people with whom she was sheltering. Menaker said this fear made her decide to stop going to the shelter.

“You’re literally under bombs and Hamas people are in the streets, so who’s thinking about a mask,” she recalled. “I was there with everybody, no masks, just thinking it’s another bombing and there will be another fucking operation they’ll call it instead of a war and that situation will continue.”

Menaker said people in southern Israel had “gotten accustomed to sirens and bomb threats.”

“We’ve gotten used to the so-called small assaults (against Hamas in Gaza), like every now and then we go to the shelter,” she told the Blade. “We’ve come to trust the Iron Dome, so we’re not as scared as we were before because there’s less direct hits, and we’re used to it and that’s horrific.”

Menaker also told the Blade she feels “sorry for the people living in Gaza.”

“I hate Hamas, don’t get me wrong,” she said. “Hamas hates me and wants everybody dead … but the people itself living in Gaza, I mean I feel sorry for them.”

Menaker said she and her family visited Gaza on weekends — and people who lived in the enclave traveled to Israel — before then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government withdrew Israeli forces from the territory in 2005. 

“There’s always been tension,” said Menaker. “What’s happening now has been my personal nightmare and fear since the separation since 2005.”

Menaker dog sitting IDF reservist’s dog

Advocacy groups across Israel have rallied to support those who the war has directly impacted. Hasan Kilani, a Jordanian Palestinian queer activist, and myriad others have urged Israel not to target Gazan civilians. 

“There’s no justification for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Menaker told the Blade, referring to the Hamas militants who murdered Israeli civilians. “There’s no way to justify going into a town and house by house killing everybody inside.”

She said “all of the people here in Israel” are “trying to help out with everything” that include offers to house those who have evacuated to Beersheba and other cities and collect food and toys for them. 

Menaker spoke to the Blade from the home of a friend who is in the IDF reserves. She was babysitting his dog and taking him out for walks.

“That’s a little something we can do,” said Menaker.

Doctors had prescribed Menaker medicinal marijuana in order to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. She began to smoke it a few minutes after she started to speak with the Blade.

“People are dealing with a lot,” said Menaker.

Editor’s note: Menaker sent the Blade this update on Friday at 7:43 a.m. (9:43 p.m. PT on Thursday)

“Last night there was a barrage of rockets to Beersheba just as we finished packing and sending off food packages for families that were rescued. Running to the bomb shelter and seeing rockets above, and than just continuing shutting down and going home to a community Zoom.

One or two people didn’t join because of anxiety, the rest just kept on. Which is good, to keep on, but I guess that’s what I mean when I say we got used to it.”

TEL AVIV, Israel — LGBTQ+ rights groups in Israel have rallied to support to those who have been impacted by their country’s war against Hamas that began Saturday.

Hila Peer, chair of the Aguda, the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel, on Monday said her organization and other Israeli LGBTQ+ rights groups have launched an “operation to take in people” who have been evacuated from communities in southern Israel that are near the Gaza Strip. The Aguda has also encouraged anyone to reach out if they want to donate food or equipment to members of the Israel Defense Forces or offer “a listening ear.”

“We are here for each other,” reads a post to the Aguda’s Facebook page. “Let’s not go through this alone.”

“We’re keeping safe, trying to do everything we can to help our friends in reserves right now and people in active service,” Peer told the Washington Blade.

Hoshen, an advocacy group that works in secular Israeli schools, on its website also encouraged its members to donate food and equipment and host evacuees from southern Israel. Hoshen, like the Aguda, has also pledged to help Israelis who the war has directly impacted.

“Our role as a community is to stand together, hand in hand and heart to heart, to help, assist, support and encourage them,” said Hoshen.

Maya Arbel, executive director of Ma’avarim, a Transgender rights group, on Tuesday said she and her colleagues are cooking meals for IDF soldiers and collecting donations. 

“[During] these times, it’s crucial for the Transgender community in Israel to be part of Israeli society and contribute to civic efforts, fostering a sense of unity with the hope and goal of coming together and improving our situation during this crisis,” Arbel told the Blade.

Arbel said Ma’avarim is also working to ensure Trans people continue to have access to health care and other basic needs during the war.

“The Transgender community in emergency situations are especially vulnerable, as not every space is accommodating to Transgender identities, and those who rely on medical resources may be marginalized due to the emergency situation,” said Arbel. “These days of chaos emphasize the importance of preparedness and know-how for aid and calmness.”

A Wider Bridge — a U.S.-based organization that seeks to build “a movement of LGBTQ people and allies with a strong interest in and commitment to supporting Israel and its LGBTQ communities” — is accepting donations on its website that it will send to Israeli advocacy groups. 

Hamas, which the U.S. and Israel have designated a terrorist organization, on Saturday launched a surprise attack against communities in southern Israel from Gaza.

The Israeli government has said more than 1,200 people have been killed, including at least 260 people who Hamas militants murdered at an all-night music festival in a kibbutz near the border between Israel and Gaza. The Israeli government also says more than 3,000 people have been injured in the country since the war began and Hamas militants kidnapped at least 150 others.

Hamas rockets have reached Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ben Gurion Airport and other locations in central and southern Israel. The AP reports IDF forces and Hezbollah, another militant group, have exchanged fire across the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The Palestinian Health Ministry on its website says Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed 1,055 people and injured 5,184 others. The Israeli government has cut electricity and water to the territory and has stopped food and fuel shipments.

“As a community, we stand with the people of Israel and condemn those who choose terror and torture over peace,” said Congregation Bet Mishpachah, an LGBTQ+ synagogue in D.C., on Tuesday in a statement sent to the Blade. “For many, Israel not only represents the homeland of the Jewish people, but also stands out as a beacon of freedom, hope and acceptance for LGBTQ+ Jews and non-Jews alike in the Middle East and around the world.”

Rabbi Jake Singer-Beilin joined D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Eliav Benjamin, the deputy chief of mission for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, among thousands of others, at a prayer vigil that took place at Adas Israel Congregation in Northwest Washington on Tuesday.

“We recognize the necessity for the people and State of Israel’s right to defend themselves against groups who wish to take away those freedoms and seek the total annihilation of the Jewish people,” said Bet Mishpachah in its statement. “Our hearts mourn the loss of innocent lives in Gaza as well.”

HRC president: ‘Loss of life unfolding in the Middle East is heartbreaking’

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson is among those outside of Israel who have publicly responded to the war.

“The loss of life unfolding in the Middle East is heartbreaking and the human rights violations are appalling,” she said on Monday in a thread on her X account.

“Hamas killed hundreds of Israeli civilians over the weekend in a terrorist attack,” added Robinson. “And now countless more Palestinian and Israeli people are dying as the violence escalates while Jewish, Arab and Muslim people in the U.S. and around the world fear backlash and hate-motivated crimes.”

West Hollywood Mayor Sepi Shyne, a lesbian woman who was born in Iran, on Saturday condemned “the attacks by Hamas and the terror groups from Gaza on Israel and her people” and stressed the U.S. “stands with the people of Israel as they once again bravely face horrific violence.”

“As someone who has experienced this kind of terror and violence, these actions never lead to peace and my heart goes out to both the Israeli and Palestinian civilians caught in this horrible conflict,” she added in her statement. “Israel has the right to defend itself and this violence must be universally condemned.”

Georges Azzi, co-founder of Helem, a Lebanese LGBTQ+ rights group, on Monday used the hashtag #IStandWithHumanity in his own tweet.

“You can support Palestinians and their right to end occupation and not support Hamas, you can advocate for Palestinian rights without endorsing Hezbollah,” said Azzi. “You can condemn terrorism and the killing of civilians and still believe in one’s right to resist. These stances are not mutually exclusive.” 

Hasan Kilani, a Jordanian Palestinian queer activist, on Wednesday expressed concern about LGBTQ+ people who cannot leave Gaza.

“There is no exit for LGBTQ individuals from Gaza to leave as Israel bombed all exits for Gazans,” Kilani told the Blade. “Israel must allow those who want to escape the bombing to do so. That’s the minimum we can ask.” 

TEL AVIV, Israel — A man whose boyfriend is an officer in the Israel Defense Forces said Hamas militants killed several of his friends who were attending a music festival in southern Israel on Saturday.

“I don’t know just one … I can’t even count right now,” Shmuel Hugi told the Washington Blade on Tuesday during a WhatsApp interview from his home in Tel Aviv.

Hugi, 29, spoke with the Blade three days after Hamas, which the U.S. and Israel have designated a terrorist organization, launched a surprise attack against communities in southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. 

He said upwards of 3,000 people were at the all-night Tribe of Nova music festival that was taking place near Re’im, a kibbutz that is three miles from the border between Israel and Gaza, when the attack began on Saturday at around 6:30 a.m. local time (11 p.m. ET on Friday.)

Israeli officials say Hamas militants killed at least 260 people at the festival. They kidnapped what the Associated Press has reported as “a still undetermined number” of others and brought them back to Gaza.

Hugi said he received an invitation to attend the festival.

“My friends went there, some of them,” he told the Blade.

“I just heard the stories from the families and the survivors,” added Hugi. “They are terrifying.”

Hugi said he does not know anyone who the militants kidnapped and brought into Gaza. Many of his friends, however, have relatives who remain missing.

“They’re assuming they’re over there (in Gaza) because of no signs of life or contact or what happened,” said Hugi.

Militants killed hundreds in Sderot, Nahal Oz and other Israeli communities along the Gaza border. Hamas rockets have reached Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ben Gurion Airport and other locations in central and southern Israel. The AP reports IDF forces and Hezbollah, another militant group, have exchanged fire across the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Israeli airstrikes have killed hundreds of people inside Gaza. The Israeli government has cut electricity and water to the territory and has stopped food and fuel shipments.

Hugi and his boyfriend, Dennis, met a year ago. They live together in Tel Aviv.

“From the moment I saw him I knew he was going to be my husband,” Hugi told the Blade.

 Dennis, 25, was on a weekend leave from IDF earlier this month when he and Hugi attended a “Pride festival party” for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Upwards of 20,000 people attended the event that Israeli DJ Offer Nissim headlined.

The party coincided with Dennis and Hugi’s birthdays, which are Oct. 2 and Oct. 3 respectively.

Hugi said the IDF was about to transfer his boyfriend to another assignment that would have allowed him to remain at home more often. Hugi told the Blade the commander who was going to replace him has been killed. 

“Now we don’t know how he’s going to continue and how it’s going to affect our relationship and our plans for the future, but this is the smallest problem now,” he said.

Two of Hugi’s brothers are also in the IDF and have been deployed.

“I can’t say it’s easy,” said Hugi. “It’s not.”

Terror ‘has no place in our world’

The Aguda, the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel, and other groups across the country are working to support those who the war has impacted.

Hugi told the Blade that diapers are among the items he has donated. He also said he visited a Tel Aviv collection center where thousands of people were volunteering.

“On one hand we are scared, we are sad, we are mourning,” said Hugi. “On the other hand, we are taking this on our hands and trying to see how we can help.”

Hugi stressed he and other Israelis “are ready for anything.”

“We want the forces to complete their mission,” he said. “We already have too many lost, and we can’t just let it end this way, so we’re patient.”

Hugi added terror “has no place in our world.” 

“They (the IDF) need to stop any ability of Hamas to do things like they just did,” he told the Blade. “Terror is a terror is a terror and I think the whole world should understand that we need to fight together as one fist against terror because today it’s in Israel.”

The Washington Blade will continue to cover the war between Israel and Hamas and its impact on the LGBTQ+ community.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A new PSA in Lebanon advocating for the decriminalization of homosexuality in the country is stirring up controversy in the Arab world. 

The ad first appeared on MTV Lebanon, a network owned by Lebanese politician and businessman Michel Gabriel El Murr, and was later shared on the network’s social media page. The campaign pushes for the repeal of Article 534 in the Lebanese Penal Code, a law first adopted in 1943 that is used to criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations with up to one year of imprisonment. 

In the clip, two men are seen standing side-by-side in an elevator when a third man joins them and pulls a gun from his jacket. The tension is palpable until he leaves. When he does, the first two men grasp each other’s hands when words flash across the screen: “There’s crime and there’s love.”

Screams and gunshots are heard from a distance as the scene fades. 

“Based on the words of Pope Francis, ‘Homosexuality is not a crime,’” the network’s X (formerly known as Twitter) caption says, “Yes to the abolition of Article 534 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes homosexuality.” 

Since premiering on Sept. 2, the powerful ad has generated an array of attacks from anti-gay figures, including from Culture Minister Mohammad Mouratda, who lambasted the network and accused it of incitement and division. He even went so far as to suggest that airing the ad itself was a criminal act. 

Meanwhile, a collective called the Muyul Project premiered a PSA of their own that spoofed the original ad with an alternate ending in which a little girl is seen crying and holding her family as opposing words appear on the screen: “There is a crime that kills a human being, and there is a crime that kills society. Yes to maintaining Article 534 and protecting societal and family values.” 

Despite the outcry, LGBTQ+ Arabs and allies insist the campaign is sparking much-needed dialogue about the law — which they say is long overdue.  

“This campaign does a lot to start conversations and challenge the status quo, especially within the context of Lebanese society,” Joe Kawly, the first openly gay Arab news anchor, told the Washington Blade. “While the backlash was predictable, the visibility and support that this campaign provides to the LGBTQ+ community are invaluable.”

Bertho Makso, the founder and executive director of Proud Lebanon, an LGBTQ+ and intersex rights organization, told the Blade the ad reinforces the work he and his team have been doing “since 2018” to engage various political parties and draft bills that would decriminalize homosexuality.

Nine MPs in July co-sponsored legislation that would have decriminalized homosexuality, but backlash was swift. One MP withdrew their name altogether because of harassment and threats.

While the ad campaign is a bold move, it is not exactly an isolated incident. The country was once considered an oasis of relative tolerance for LGBTQ+ and intersex rights in the Arab World, but has undergone an anti-LGBTQ+ tidal wave in recent years.

Members of the far-right Christian group Soldiers of God on Aug. 23 brutally attacked Madame Om, a popular gay-friendly bar in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael neighborhood, during a drag show. Reports indicate the police looked on as patrons were assaulted. This attack comes as Education Minister Abbas Al Halabi opened an investigation into rumors of pro-LGBTQ+ messaging in materials used in schools. And Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in July declared consensual same-sex sexual relations should be punishable by death. 

To further complicate matters, Article 534 doesn’t explicitly address homosexuality. Rather, it only points to sexual acts that are “contrary to the order of nature.” 

Even though several courts have tried to affirm consensual same-sex acts don’t qualify as being “against nature,” it hasn’t stopped multiple arrests continuing to persist, according to a recent Proud Lebanon report. Mouratda and MP Ashraf Rifi have introduced more stringent bills. 

Mourtada’s measure proposes up to three years’ imprisonment and hefty fines for promoting or engaging in “deviant sexual relations” and Rifi’s bill sought the explicit criminalization of homosexuality with heightened penalties.

As Lebanon continues its attacks against LGBTQ+ and intersex people, some suggest it’s all a ploy to distract from the country’s crumbling economy. Even more notably: Lebanon has lacked a president since October 2022, a clear reflection of its turbulent political landscape. 

Helem, the first LGBTQ+ and intersex organization in the Arab world established in 2001, said in a recent statement “the decision to suddenly and systematically target LGBTQ individuals is a very old tactic used by multiple failing autocratic regimes around the world.” 

As Kawly explains, MTV Lebanon’s campaign may herald a turning point for the nation, asserting LGBTQ+ and intersex people’s inherent role in Lebanon’s value as a whole. 

“Social change is often slow and painful, but the very fact that we’re seeing more visibility and conversation on LGBTQ+ issues signal a potential shift,” he said. “With every campaign, every story told, every law repealed, we’re inching closer to a more inclusive and accepting society.” 

“When it comes to Lebanon, for sure there is a bright future because we are working for it,” added Makso. “We believe in it, and we are fighting for it.”