Efforts Against Jerusalem Gay Parade Include Plea to High Court*

by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky has asked the Supreme
Court to issue an injunction against the holding of a homosexual march
next Thursday in the Holy City.  He and city manager Yair Maayan
explained that the march "offends public sensibilities."

The two officials wrote to the Court that the parade "greatly offends,
deliberately and unnecessarily, the feelings of Jews, Muslims and
Christians who view its very existence, and the in-your-face manner in
which it is held, as a desecration of the holy city and the values on
which they were raised."

Based on the experience of similar petitions in the past, it is not
expected that the Supreme Court will cancel the parade.

Other Fronts

Other efforts against the parade include a petition by several Knesset
Members, ten demonstrations to be held at the same time as the parade,
and a letter to the police.

A group of MKs sent a petition to MK Menachem Ben-Sasson, Chairman of
the Knesset Law Committee, urging him to stop stalling progress on a
bill from last year to ban such parades in Jerusalem.  They called on
him to "rise above personal interests" and allow the bill to make its
way to the Knesset for a vote.

In addition, MKs Eli Yishai (Shas) and Uri Ariel (NU/NRP), together with
Jerusalem City Council members and Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yona
Metzger, wrote a letter on Thursday asking Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
and Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen to cancel the parade.  They proposed
that instead, the marchers hold an event in a closed space, such as a
stadium as occurred last year, or on the city's outskirts.  They also
asked that entry be limited to people over 18 years of age. "Freedom of
expression is not freedom of abomination," they wrote.

The letter was also sent to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, Minister of
Public Security Avi Dichter, Jerusalem Police Chief Aharon Franco, and
the Open House which is organizing the parade.

If all the above does not work, ten demonstrations will be held around
the city next Thursday against the gay pride parade.