Who said there is no justice for lesbians and gays in the Middle East? At least in Israel, yes, there is.
According to the website The Times of Israel, Yael Biran e Tal Yakobovitch (photo), a lesbian couple living in London, won compensation of 60.000 shekels (just over R$31) in the "Promised Land" for having their wedding reception refused by a salon due to sexual orientation.
The decision was given by Judge Dorit Feinstein, of the Jerusalem Magistrates Court, who ruled that the wedding hall in Yad Hashmona, a location close to the "Holy City", could not refuse to hold the party for the girls. The owners were also ordered to pay the costs of the process.
"The law is really progressive," said one of the brides, Yael Biran. "It says that no business or service provider in a location that is open to the public can discriminate on the basis of sex, religion, color, race or sexual orientation – but it is the first time the law has been put into practice for gays and lesbians ".
Yael, 38, and Tal, 34, who were born in Israel, met in 2005, when Tal, now a theater director, traveled to London on business. Yael had lived in the UK since 1994, first as a student and then as an animator.
In 2008, the couple held a civil union ceremony in London, which was attended by their Israeli families – however, they also decided to have a party in Israel and chose the hall in Yad Hashmona.
At first, says Yael, the owners were helpful, but when they found out that it was a party for two women, they said they didn't do "things like that". In their defense, the owners, who were Messianic Jews (that is, they believe in Jesus Christ), argued that the salon's closure to gay and lesbian couples was a religious issue – the salon's website, however, did not indicate that it was of religious people.
"Homosexual and lesbian relationships are against the will of God [...]. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament treat this phenomenon as an abomination [...]. This is our strict belief and one to which we are committed," the owners wrote in his defense, arguing that it was a matter of faith, not finance.
Judge Feinstein accepted the argument that there was a clash between freedom of worship and the right to equality. However, she ruled that the wedding hall was not a religious place, but a public business, so it could not discriminate, according to the law passed in 2000 in Israel. The judge also considered that certain expressions directed at the lesbian couple constituted sexual harassment.
