The mainstream media likes to push this narrative that Israel is a wholly welcoming place for queer and trans people, and that is a lie.

Just like America, big cities tend to be safer, but they're not by any means perfect.

Before I left for Israel, I was told that if I wanted the truth, a non-glossy version of what it means to be queer in Israel,

I had to talk to Hen Ariely. She is a lifelong activist who just became the deputy

mayor of Tel Aviv. You'll hear some really amazing, in the weeds, stories about her

activism and working behind the scenes to affect change in her country. She also talks about

what it looks like now that she's technically a government employee.

Now this is episode three of our four-part series on Queerness and Jewish Life.

If you missed the first two, go check out my interviews with Rabbi Dismiss Eger and Uzi

Evan.

Uzi Evan is 78 years old.

He's older than the nation of Israel itself, so he has a really cool perspective to share.

All right, on to my interview with Hen.

From Luminary Media, I'm Jeffrey Masters, and this is LGBTQ and A.

You are the new deputy mayor of Tel Aviv.

That's right.

That seems like a really big deal for a major metropolitan city in the Middle East to have a lesbian deputy mayor.

Does it feel like that to you?

Yes and no.

Because Tel Aviv is kind of, we probably talk about it more later, but Tel Aviv, it's a pioneer metropolitan in the terms of LGBT rights.

And we always had, like 20 years ago, we had the first openly lesbian council member, Michal Eden, and she was the first in Israel in general.

And after that, many other came, and every round we had council members.

...