In Israel, the «rainbow» lobby is threatening to destroy the hard-won centrist Zionist coalition government. The coalition was already on the verge of collapse after the centrist liberal party «Kahol Lavan» supported a scandalous bill proposed by the opposition left-wing party «Meretz».
If this law is passed, any medical therapy, including psychological therapy, aimed at curing a person of homosexual, transvestite or transgender inclinations and tendencies will be banned in Israel. In other words, the «blue» inclination will be given full «green» light, and any obstacle, not only «red» but «yellow,» will be prohibited.
42 members of the Knesset voted for this bill, while 36 voted against it. In other words, part of the ruling coalition conspired with the opposition to support this project, leaving the minority within the ruling coalition who voted against it.
It is not surprising that this has caused an uproar, not only because of the content of this bill, but also because of the blatant political maneuvering by coalition allies. Leaders of religious parties in the coalition, such as Shas and United Torah Judaism, have issued sharp statements. Acting Government Minister Yaakov Litzman called the behavior of the «Kahol Lavan» MKs a provocation against the political partnership.
The leader of the ruling coalition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also came under fire, with allies accusing him of being unable to maintain political discipline within the coalition.
Whether the ruling Zionist coalition will stumble on this «blue» or, as it is now commonly called, «rainbow» issue, only time will tell. However, it is remarkable to witness the growing political power of this community and its lobbyists, not in terms of fighting for their own rights, but in terms of encroaching on the rights of those who disagree with them.
In this case, we are not talking about compulsory therapy, but about the voluntary seeking of help from professionals for those who consider their own homosexual inclinations to be a problem. Then why not prohibit people from voluntarily seeking treatment for alcohol, drug, and other addictions that they consider a problem for themselves, based on the same principles? It is also interesting, according to this logic, will doctors be prohibited from providing services to an LGBT representative if they suddenly start feeling heterosexual and decide to seek help to eliminate this desire? Or will only LGBT orientation and inclinations be protected from doubt?