Israel

In Israel, some legal protections exist for LGBTIQ people. The country’s Criminal Code has not contained any provision criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual acts between adults since the 1988 penal code amendment repealing Article 351, which penalized “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature.” The country offers protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation across different statutes, such as the Prohibition of Discrimination in Products, Services, and Entry into Places of Entertainment and Public Places Law (2000), the Patient Rights Law (as amended in 2004), and the Student Rights Law (as amended in 2014), which also outlaws discrimination on grounds of gender identity. Medical professionals are prohibited from carrying out conversion practices. While same-sex marriage is not legal in the country, since 2006, couples have been able to register their same-sex marriages celebrated abroad before the Israeli Population Registry. In 2018, the High Court of Justice affirmed the right to joint adoption of same-sex couples.  

Social stigma against LGBTIQ people remains, and LGBTIQ people still face family rejection, violence, and discrimination. For example, there have been reports of transgender people facing discrimination in health care settings. Advocacy groups reported a spike in anti-LGBTIQ violence and hate speech in Israel in 2022. Despite these developments, the government cut funding in 2024 for LGBTIQ tolerance programming in schools. In 2019, following the refusal of two billboard companies to show an ad, which was designed by a far-right party that linked gay people with child trafficking, an Israeli court ruled that billboard companies are not allowed to reject homophobic political advertisements.  

Palestinian organizations and researchers have condemned Israel for engaging in “pinkwashing,” which they define as a strategy seeking to project an LGBTIQ-inclusive image internationally as a means to obscure the systematic oppression of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In late 2022, the coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who allied himself with religious and anti-LGBTIQ far-right parties, won the elections. While Amir Ohana became the first openly gay Parliament speaker, certain members of the government are known for extreme anti-LGBTIQ rhetoric, which could jeopardize the status and rights acquired by LGBTIQ people in the country.  

*Outright research indicates bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected.