The 2016 parade was the largest Pride parade in the Middle East.
The European 2016 Pride season kicked off on Friday June 3 with the largest ever Tel Aviv Pride Parade taking place. Over 200,000 people from Israel and around the world, Tel Aviv’s 2016 parade was the largest in the Middle East.
This year, the parade spotlighted “Women for a Change” to highlight the role of women within the LGBTQ community.
Orange Is The New Black’s Lea DeLaria appeared as one of the Pride Ambassadors next to Alan Cumming. DeLaria says she was honored and “excited to be a Pride Ambassador for Tel Aviv Pride. Jewish girls are hot!”
Before the parade kicked off at Meir Park, the day started off with music, shows and speeches.
The Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo launched the parade by saying, “My friends, we have been marching for some years now, and we will keep on marching in pursuit of equality. We will keep marking these streets of Tel Aviv with the hope that the pluralism, tolerance and liberalism of this city will spread to the country, the Middle East and the world.”
The Tel Aviv Pride Parade is the only parade fully sponsored by the municipality. In fact, the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality allocates numerous resources into the promotion and support of the LGBTI community with a yearly investment of $1 million.
An estimated 35,000 tourists were estimated to Tel Aviv Pride events during May 29-June 4. More information: http://gaytelaviv.atraf.com