Every marginalized group has certain stereotypes attached to them, be it Jews or queer people,

and you know, many of them can be harmful or unproductive, but also many of them exist for

a reason. One that I'm guilty of is being thrifty. Some might call it cheap,

but I think thrifty is a bit nicer. And I'm telling you this because when I was in Tel Aviv last

month, I had to get to Tel Aviv University, which is outside the city, and I didn't want to pay

for an expensive taxi. So I decided that I would just take the bus. I checked the route,

where to get on, where to get off,

but what I didn't factor in was that everything would be in Hebrew,

every sign, every announcement.

And when I got on, I realized that I couldn't buy a bus ticket with a card,

just cash, which I didn't have,

but somehow the bus driver just said,

don't worry about it. Hop on. He asked where I was going,

and he said he'd let me know when to get off. It was a mitzvah, a small act of kindness. Now from there,

I found my way to the campus, through security, and wandered around until I found the interdisciplinary

research building where I met and talked to

Uzi Evan.

Uzi is 78.

He is older than Israel itself, and he was the first openly gay person to serve in the Israeli parliament.

He helped to transform the public image of what it means to be gay.

And in his personal life with his adoption and other things, he helped to set

legal precedents that affects every single queer person in Israel today. Now, Uzi has some

...