LGBT Rights in Israel - Military Service

Military Service

See also: Sexual orientation and military service

Openly gay soldiers serve without hindrance in all branches of the military. Discrimination against gay and lesbian soldiers in recruitment, placement and promotion is prohibited in Israel. Harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation is also prohibited in the Israeli military. The military recognizes same-sex couples, including widows and widowers of the same-sex. Soldiers are also allowed to participate in Gay Pride Parades.

Since 1993, homosexuals have been allowed to serve openly in the military, including special units. This is change in the initial policy, which tended to view homosexuality as a mental illness.

In 1956, two male soldiers were put on military trial on charges of homosexual sexual intercourse, then defined as sexual conduct "against nature" and were convicted to a military prison sentence of one year, but the punishment was reduced on the grounds that homosexuality should be defined as a mental illness and not a crime. At the time, many mental health professionals did view homosexuality to be an illness and, at the time, it was considered to be liberal to treat homosexuality as disability rather than as a crime.

In the 1960s, legal opinions by the Israeli Attorney General and the Supreme Court limited the application of the criminal laws against homosexuality, but the prevailing notion that homosexuality was a disease remained. In the 1960s – 1993, gays, lesbians and bisexuals were not formally exempt or banned from military service, but the anti-gay criminal laws remained on the books, their sexual orientation was still classified as a mental illness, which limited their role within the military, and there was no protection from anti-gay discrimination or harassment in the military.

Until the 1980s, the commanders still had to report to the military psychiatric department about homosexual soldiers, despite the fact that psychological and psychiatric organizations in Israel and worldwide had, since the 1970s, stopped viewing homosexuality as a mental illness.

In 1993, the Israeli Parliament revised the military rules so that gay, lesbian and bisexual Israelis can serve openly and on an equal footing with their heterosexual counterparts.

Today, Israeli youth who are exempt from military service can volunteer for national service. Since June 2006, The Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgenders in Israel (Agudah) qualifies for such service. However, a steadily increasing number of gay recruits do full military service, often in combat units. Unit 8200, one of the largest units in the Israeli army, is well known for the large number of uncloseted LGBT soldiers serving in it.