Haifa Pride (; ) is an annual event which takes place in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, 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 metropolitan area i ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, in celebration of the

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

community, was first hold in 2007. The main event is the

Pride Parade A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

which was attended by 3,000 people in 2016, including the city's mayor, Yona Yahav. The 3 kilometer long parade route culminates in Gan HaEm Park in Haifa's Merkaz HaCarmel neighborhood on

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

History

2003-2009

In 2003, the Haifa LGBT Forum organized the city's first motorized pride parade. Days prior to the event, Israeli attorney, politician and columnist

Yosef Paritzky Yosef Yitzhak Paritzky (; 14 September 1955 – 5 October 2021) was an Israeli attorney, politician and columnist. Background Born and raised in the Beit HaKerem neighbourhood of Jerusalem, he attended high school in the Hebrew University Sec ...

delivered remarks at the opening of Haifa's pride festivities. Since 2007, an annual pride march has been held, traversing the streets of central Carmel and culminating in a rally at Gan HaEm Park. Starting in 2008, the parade has been organized in cooperation with the Haifa Municipality. The parades have been heavily secured by police and faced relatively mild protests from segments of the city's religious community.

2010

In 2010, about a thousand people marched in the Haifa parade, and Mayor Yona Yahav gave a speech from the podium at the closing rally, which was met with boos and protests from a number of activists in the audience. He was the second mayor in Israel's history to speak at a Pride parade.

2011

In 2011, the parade was the first to take place along President Boulevard, a route of approximately 800 metres that offered greater visibility than the Yefe Nof Promenade used in previous years.

2014

The 2014, Haifa Pride Parade moved to the

Hadar HaCarmel Hadar HaCarmel ( lit. "''Splendor of the Carmel''"; or simply known as the neighbourhood of Hadar , الهدار in Arabic language, Arabic) is a district of Haifa, Israel. Located on the northern slope of Mount Carmel between the upper and lower c ...

neighbourhood, proceeding along HaNevi’im and Herzl Streets before concluding at the Haifa Municipality building, where a large public festival of performances was held.

2021

The 2021 Haifa Pride Parade, also referred to as "We Are All Haifa" march, took place on 18 June 2021 and was formally launched by Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem.

2023

The 2023 Haifa Pride Parade took place on 15 June 2023 as part of the 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests. With an estimated attendance of over 6,000 people, it was the largest pride march ever held in the city. The event opened with a minute’s silence in memory of Sarit Ahmed, who had been murdered the previous week because of her sexual orientation. The parade was headed by Israeli pop singer

Dana International Sharon Cohen (; born 2 February 1969), professionally known as Dana International (), is an Israeli Pop music, pop singer. She has released eight albums and three additional compilation albums. She was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest ...

. During the march, Israeli police arrested three transgender participants. One arrestee had been carrying a Palestinian flag. Police reported that the individual had assaulted an officer, whereas multiple eyewitnesses disputed that claim. In its official statement, the police misgendered the detainees. the detainees later alleged that officers used misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic slurs during the arrest.

References

{{Pride parades Haifa Pride parades in Israel Annual events in Israel