The coming-out moments that reshaped Israel’s LGBTQ public life

As Pride Month arrives, the article looks back at celebrity coming-out moments in Israel that did more than reveal private lives, they helped change public attitudes. It argues that while LGBTQ rights are still contested, the country has moved from an era when coming out could feel career-ending to one where some younger performers simply live openly from the start.

Among the landmark cases is Yehuda Poliker, who will turn 76 this year and publicly said in a 2010 interview with "7 Lilaot" that he loved men. He said, "I don't think I can fall in love with a woman," and explained that he had fallen in love twice, both times with men. He also said he wanted to come out on his own terms, and claimed he had been pressured and partly "outed" by gay filmmaker Eitan Fox, who denied it. The piece also recalls how Yudit Ravitz came out in 2010 at age 53 in "Giborei Tarbut," while the late Corinne Allal came out in 2001 ahead of her album "Tanin'ang," in what was then seen as a groundbreaking interview.

Other major milestones included Dana International, who has never hidden her identity, won Eurovision 1998, was named among Gay Times' 30 most influential gay cultural figures in 2014, and became Israel’s first transgender woman to light a torch. Orna Banai came out in 2011 at 45 in an interview with Itay Segal, later saying she had identified as lesbian since youth but hid it because her parents did not accept it. Ran Danker came out as bisexual in 2015, said he had already been in a relationship for three years with director Itai Weizman, and later became a vocal advocate for equal rights.

The article notes that later celebrities used more direct channels. Assi Azar came out in 2005 in "Yedioth Ahronoth" after, he said, journalists had pressured him to do so, and Harel Skaat came out in a 2010 documentary and later said the experience was uncomfortable but also "the most beautiful and best" thing he had done. Ivee Lider, who was 27 when he came out in 2001, was one of the first two openly gay Israeli singers of that era. More recent examples include Sarit Hadad, who came out in 2021 through the song "Ahava Kmo Shelanu" and revealed then-partner Tamar Yahalomi, Eden Hason, who came out two years ago on Instagram and named partner Yotam Gavriel, and judge Sapir Berman, who announced her gender transition in 2021 and became Israel’s first transgender referee while continuing to officiate in the Premier League.

The piece ends by stressing that for Gen Z artists such as Shahar Tavoch, Talia Bartfeld, Lehi Tolidano and Ela-Lee Leav, there is often no single public coming-out date at all. Even so, the article says the struggle is far from over, citing recent discrimination, including model Stav Strashko’s claim that a marketing executive told her a trans woman could not be a spokesperson in Israel, and ongoing assaults on LGBTQ people. Its conclusion is that Israel has changed, but not enough, and that full acceptance is still ahead.