Gila Goldstein ( he, גילה גולדשטיין; 18 December 1947– 5 February 2017) was an Israeli sex worker, actress, singer and transgender rights activist. She was one of the first activists of the Aguda, the oldest and largest

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

organization in Israel. She is considered Israel's second openly

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

woman (after

Rina Natan Rina Natan ( he, רינה נתן; September 8, 1923 – August 13, 1979) was the first known Israeli transgender woman. Biography Natan was born male on September 8, 1923, in the town of Siegen in Germany, to a wealthy Jewish family. As a child s ...

) and is one of the most prominent icons of the LGBTQIA+ movement in Israel.

Biography

Gila Goldstein was born in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

and

assigned male at birth Sex assignment (sometimes known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex at or before birth. A relative, midwife, nurse or physician inspects the external genitalia when the baby is delivered and, in more than 99.95% of birt ...

. After immigrating to Israel, she lived in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

. Goldstein realized she was transgender in 1960 and changed her name to Gila. She engaged in survival sex in Haifa before having gender affirming surgery in Belgium in 1965 – the first officially documented gender affirming surgery for an Israeli. In the early 1970s, Goldstein lived in Europe and worked as a dancer and striptease performer. When she returned to Israel, she performed in nightclubs and bars, including Bar 51. She served as the prototype of one of the characters in the film ''

Bar 51 ''Bar 51'' (Hebrew: בר 51) is an Israeli independent underground dramatic art film directed by Amos Guttman and cowritten with and . Plot The film deals with Thomas's incestuous love for his sister, Mariana: After they arrive together in Tel ...

'' directed by

Amos Guttman Amos Guttman ( he, עמוס גוטמן; May 10, 1954 – February 16, 1993) was an Israeli film director, born in Romania. He directed the first ever Israeli LGBT-themed film and most of his films were based on events that happened in his own pers ...

. Goldstein recorded several songs and performed them at Allenby 58 in the 1990s. In 1998, together with Nino Orsiano she had a music program on the local radio. She was awarded the Israeli LGBT community prize in 2003 and Miami LGBT Film Festival Award for the best supporting actress for her role in ''Good Boys'' in 2005. In 2010, a documentary film was made about her life. An organization that provides assistance to transgender people was named after her in 2011. In 2015, in recognition of her service to the community, she had the honor to go at the head of the Tel Aviv pride parade.

Death

Gila Goldstein died of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

on 5 February 2017. Her death was announced, in some places, as the death of a "male" named "Ilan Ronen", which was the name on Goldstein's ID card. Friends said Goldstein invented the name for bureaucratic reasons. In response, Goldstein's great-nephew said that no government record could change the fact that Goldstein was always a woman, and the family promised that her grave would display the name "Gila Goldstein". The funeral was attended by actors, politicians, and representatives of the LGBT community.

Filmography

* 2003 "Kulan" Hebrew. * 2005 "Good boys". Grace, mother of Manny. * 2008 "Fucking Different Tel Aviv" * 2010 "That's Gila, That's Me". Documentary. * 2010 "Hasamba, the third generation". TV Series

References

External links

Aguda

Interview with Gila Goldstein
at TLVFest * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldstein, Gila 1947 births 2017 deaths Israeli film actresses 20th-century Israeli women singers Jewish Israeli actresses Jewish Israeli musicians Israeli LGBT actors Israeli LGBT rights activists Israeli LGBT singers Israeli transgender people Transgender rights activists Transgender women musicians Transgender actresses Transgender singers Transgender Jews 20th-century Israeli Jews 21st-century Israeli Jews Burials at Yarkon Cemetery Italian emigrants to Israel Italian Jews Entertainers from Turin 20th-century Israeli LGBT people 21st-century Israeli LGBT people