Last week, the Israeli Knesset passed a law prohibiting discrimination against students based on gender identity or sexual orientation. The law is actually an amendment to laws pertaining to the rights of the student. Still, it is significant because it actually identifies gender identity as one of the ways in which one can be discriminated against.
What's especially gratifying, apart from the fact that it passed in a country that has laws based on religion, is that such a wide majority voted for it. Only two of the twenty-seven members of the Knesset opposed it; the other twenty-five said "yes".
And Dov Henin, who introduced the bill, said that its purpose is "to protect not only the students in the LGBT community--it is there to protect us all".
I know Israel is only the size of New Jersey and has half the population. Still, I have to ask: If Israel can do it, why can't this country?
What's especially gratifying, apart from the fact that it passed in a country that has laws based on religion, is that such a wide majority voted for it. Only two of the twenty-seven members of the Knesset opposed it; the other twenty-five said "yes".
And Dov Henin, who introduced the bill, said that its purpose is "to protect not only the students in the LGBT community--it is there to protect us all".
I know Israel is only the size of New Jersey and has half the population. Still, I have to ask: If Israel can do it, why can't this country?
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