Israel’s education minister Shai Piron issued a formal apology for his comments against the LGBT community earlier in June. This is his second apology and it came after a severe backlash from political figures and LGBT community members for Piron saying in an interview that it was the right of the Jewish state, perhaps an obligation even, to tell same-sex couples that ‘this is not a family.’ This was Piron’s response to a journalist enquiring about his party’s secular agenda.
“I am convinced with great pain that my statements were unfortunate… The task of deciding who is a family and who is not does not fall on me,” he said.
While apologizing for his comments, Piron, who is an Orthodox rabbi, asserted that he has worked hard to promote the rights of the LGBT community during his stint as education minister, saying he has often acted as a bridge between the LGBT community and different religious communities.
“Take for example civil marriage bill… Perhaps we should change the name to ‘civil partnership’ or to some other term that would not connote [traditional] couples or families. I think that every person needs to receive full economic rights and to build their life according to their worldview,” said Piron, while clarifying that he made the previous remarks in an attempt to bring the religious sector on board with the civil-marriage bill but they had been taken out of context.
Despite his apology, leaders of the LGBT community in Israel said his gesture was too little too late.
“The feeble apology of Shai Piron is inadequate in every way. Piron is the education minister and his comments affect the entire system… Students in the education system, children of gay families, gay teachers, and gay parents, all were hurt by the statement of the man who is in charge of education in Israel,” said MK Nitzan Horowitz, chairman of the Knesset Gay Pride Lobby.
Horowitz refused to accept Piron’s apology and said that his actions in support of the LGBT community would speak louder than his words, something that he has failed to do so far. He said if Piron really means his apology, he should promote the legal recognition of all kinds of families and ensure civil marriages are allowed in Israel.
A Facebook page that demanded an apology and resignation from Piron, received 800 likes. Another group of 250 people registered for an event that included protesting outside the Knesset. The Israel Gay Youth Organization too wrote an open letter to the minister saying his comments were hateful, violent and brutal. Piron initially apologized for his comments on Facebook though he did not take back any of what he had said.
“I gave an interview to Besheva over the issue of the tensions that exist between religion and state relating to the rights of the gay community. One may certainly disagree with how I phrased my remarks. Nonetheless, my statements reflect the reality in Israel and the difficulties of the religious community in coping with the changes to family structure… I believe wholeheartedly that everyone should be allowed recognition as a couple. I apologize for my statements if they were misinterpreted and if they caused pain,” read his initial apology.
