Bureaucrats Make Room for True Love

For a long time the Department of Tourism in our state has been handing out bumper stickers that proclaim “VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS.” And no, I haven’t a clue as to why the pen pushers thought that was a catchy tourist slogan. However, it has led to some hilarious editorial comments on the stickers themselves. My favorite so far is “VIRGINIA IS FOR gun LOVERS”, mainly because I know it annoys the gun control folks.

Now we find that Israel is really the place for true love, via this story from ANSAmed:

A Palestinian gay man, residing in the refugee camp in Jenin (one of the most volatile areas of the West Bank), has been allowed by the Israeli military authorities to move to Tel Aviv to be able to remain close to his Israeli partner.

The special permit, which it seems has no precedent, was issued by General Yosef Mishlav, coordinator of the activities of the Israeli government in the Palestinian Authority “for humanitarian reasons”.

The man, 33, together with his partner, 40, said they had been submitting applications for a permit to reside in Israel for years but they never received it. In general, for the Palestinians residing in the West Bank it is very difficult to be granted an authorisation to enter Israeli land.

For this reason, the request was addressed directly to General Yosef Mishlav: the high-level officer decided to approve it in consideration “of the death threats that the Palestinian received in Jenin because of his homosexual relationship with an Israeli citizen”.

That’s not the issue exactly. Any Palestinian would be in as much jeopardy if he were in a homosexual relationship with a Muslim man. Double trouble.


Hat tip: insubria

[Love is eternal but the post ends here]