Likud's first openly gay Knesset member finds mixed reception

The swearing-in ceremony of the first openly homosexual Likud Knesset member, Amir Ohana, could have augured welcome progress toward full equality for the gay community. Ohana, who replaced newly resigned Knesset member Silvan Shalom on Dec. 28, was accorded a particularly warm personal welcome by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who went out of his way to ply him with compliments. In an unusual move, the prime minister even greeted Ohana from the Knesset podium, praising his work, stressing the unique responsibility he bears and taking pride in the ruling party choosing Ohana from among its ranks.

The new legislator was accorded a similar welcome by all the Likud's Knesset members and ministers, who crowded around to embrace him and slap his shoulders after he finished speaking. Leftist and centrist lawmakers also offered kind words, creating a sense of a momentous occasion in Israeli politics.

Ohana’s maiden Knesset speech was inspirational. He spoke about his parents, who had emigrated from Morocco to build the Jewish state. He also discussed his partner, Alon, “the love of my life,” and their recently born twins, Ella and David, the result of an expensive surrogacy procedure in the United States. Ohana described himself as “Jewish, Israeli, of Sephardi origin, a homosexual, a Likudnik, a defense hawk, a social liberal and a free market advocate.”

His family and dozens of friends from the gay community looked on with excitement from the visitors’ gallery at the 39-year-old Ohana, a lawyer, former military officer and one-time Shin Bet security agency operative. There are now two openly gay Knesset members, as Itzik Shmuli of the Zionist Camp came out in the summer; this is a reflection of the progress in public attitudes toward the gay community and of its political strength.