Anti-LGBT campaign in Israel brands same-sex love as ‘poison’

A religious group in Israel has launched a new anti-LGBT+ campaign which brands same-sex love as “poison” and advocates for conversion therapy.

The campaign – which has been launched by the Movement for Strengthening Family Values – is spreading information that says gay people should not be allowed to be parents.

The materials also say that sexual orientation “can change,” according to Israeli news website YNetNews.com.

The group has run an “awareness week” and had a rally in Tel Aviv, and some of their materials were handed out in synagogues, outside schools and in youth centres.

In preparation for their campaign, the group also printed a question and answer sheet about same-sex attraction, which included a series of bizarre claims about LGBT+ people.

Claims in the question and answer sheet

The sheet claims that society is “under fierce attack and victim to brainwashing from the LGBTQ community” and also says that queer people engage in “media terror” against those who don’t agree with their lifestyles.

They also claim that the struggle for LGBT+ rights has been “aggressive” and that they have forced “their whole world of values, language and behaviour on all of society.”

“Because of the gay struggle, conversion therapy has been labelled as wrong, and therapists who perform these treatments feel threatened.”

– The Movement for Strengthening Family Values

In a particularly shocking claim, the Movement for Strengthening Family Values also argues that lesbians and gay men can change their sexual preferences.

The group used a bizarre analogy to explain how queer people can overcome their tendencies.

“When a man is really hungry and is shown something tasty, he has a strong passion to eat. But, once this man is made clear that there’s poison in his food, that will cause his immediate death, the passion and hunger goes away and is replaced with repulse [sic].”

They continue: “From a therapeutic point of view, it’s clear that in many cases, a person’s tendencies can be influenced. Unfortunately, because of the gay struggle, conversion therapy has been labelled as wrong, and therapists who perform these treatments feel threatened.

“There is an atmosphere of silencing, and only research portraying one side is addressed.”

The pamphlet also said that LGBT+ people should not be parents, and said that queer people raising children is “immoral, supports human trafficking and detaches men and women from their responsibilities as parents.”

LGBT+ rights in Israel

Just last week, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of a gay couple who alleged discrimination when they tried to register both of their names on their child’s birth certificate.

Under the current adoption practices, straight couples can put both of their names on adoption certificates – but for gay couples, the name of only one parent goes on the birth certificate.

Meanwhile, in October, somebody graffitied the words “Death to LGBT” at a Holocaust memorial in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

The Mayor, Ron Huldai, ordered its removal, and condemned the hate speech on Facebook.

Despite this, LGBT+ rights in Israel are considered to be among the most tolerant in the Middle East.

Same-sex sexual activity was legalised in 1988 in Israel, however the law against sodomy had not been enforced since 1963.

Same-sex marriage is not yet legal in Israel, however the state recognises marriages performed outside of Israel.