Three months after the shooting of the youth group at the gay and lesbian center in Tel Aviv, leaders of that group will travel to the United States to discuss safety for LGBT youth.
In the shooting incident, two were killed — a group facilitator and a straight teen ally — and 15 were injured.
The Israeli delegation will meet with LGBT and Jewish leaders in San Francisco to learn about Gay Straight Alliances and discuss ways to implement them in Israel.
Among those expected at next week’s meeting is Avner Dafni, leader of Israel Gay Youth, which operates 36 support and social groups in 20 towns across Israel and serves 1,500 LGBT youth.
After the shootings occurred, San Francisco and Dallas leaders discussed a response to the incident and planned the first vigils. Other cities, including Washington, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires followed their lead.
The next week, Tel Aviv held its own vigil attended by President Shimon Peres, Labor leader Tzipi Livni and 100,000 people who turned out in support of the LGBT community.
— David Taffet