Today, a quarter of a million people from around the world gathered in Tel Aviv today to march in the largest ever pride parade in the Middle East where Bravo’s Andy Cohen served as this year’s International Ambassador.
At a press conference for Pride Week, the television personality was effusive about the energy of the people attending the Pride celebrations.
"I live in New York City and this is my first but definitely not my last time in Tel Aviv," Cohen told the media. "I am a proud gay Jewish man and the only gay host in late night TV. I have been struck by how incredible it is, not only to be here, but as a proud gay Jewish man surrounded by my people."
"It's also an amazing thing seeing gay pride flags flying everywhere next to the flag of Israel," he added.
"Celebrating Pride in Tel Aviv is a beautiful celebration of gay rights and visibility in a region where many of the neighbors cannot live as their true selves or be who they were born to be, which makes it all the more special for this massive coming together in support of equality to be taking place in Tel Aviv."
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the City’s first pride events, and the parade paid tribute to the pioneering activists who played a key-role in promoting LGBT rights and visibility in Israel.
From The Jerusalem Post:
The theme of this year’s event is “the community makes history” as the LGBTQ community celebrates three historic milestones: 10 years to the founding of the Gay Center in Tel Aviv, 20 years to Tel Aviv’s first Pride and 70 Years of Israeli Independence.
In keeping with the growing number of participants in the parade every year, the Tel Aviv municipality is expecting record numbers this weekend – more than then 200,000 that attended last year.
