LGBTQ+ youth are at the heart of democratic renewal in Israel
by Yoni Avitan
I often say that the story of IGY is the story of believing that change can – and must – begin from the margins.
When Israel Gay Youth (IGY) was founded more than 20 years ago, it wasn’t designed as an institution or a service provider. It was born as a lifeline. A handful of young LGBTQ+ people – many of them isolated, closeted and afraid – finally had somewhere to go. A space where they didn’t need to justify who they were. A room where being different didn’t mean being alone. In the early 2000s, LGBTQ+ youth in Israel were almost entirely absent from the public conversation. Schools maintained silence, families often responded with shame, and broader society treated queer adolescence as either a threat or an impossibility. IGY emerged as a radical alternative – built by youth, for youth, on the belief that visibility is power, and that young queer people are not a problem to be solved but a force for change.
Since then, IGY has grown into a nationwide movement. We operate in more than 50 cities, towns and local councils across Israel. Every year, thousands of LGBTQ+ teens – from every ethnic, religious and geographic background – walk through our doors. They come from Eilat and Kiryat Shmona, from Jewish and Arab communities, from religious households and secular ones, from the heart of Tel Aviv and from its distant peripheries. And yet, despite our expansion, our core belief remains the same: that democratic renewal begins where young people feel safe, heard, and equipped to shape their lives and communities.
At IGY, we don’t ask young people to adapt to the world as it is. We invite them to
Imagine – and build – the world as it should be. Our programmes are designed not just to support, but to transform. Each weekly group session, each dialogue circle, each leadership seminar is a small act of civic education. We teach not only confidence and pride, but how to live alongside difference. We nurture the understanding that identity is not a barrier to solidarity, but a bridge between people with radically different life experiences. We work to ensure that LGBTQ+ youth learn to speak up, to listen deeply, and to take responsibility for the shared spaces they inhabit.
This is our theory of change: that democracy is not only defended through laws or elections, but through relationships: through the quiet, persistent work of showing young people that their stories matter, that their voices count, and that they belong. When youth are met with dignity and recognition – especially in a society as divided and anxious as ours – they begin to act not only for themselves, but for others. And that is how social transformation begins.
Our commitment to youth stems from a deep understanding of how identity is formed. Adolescence is when the stories we tell about ourselves take root. If those stories are shaped by shame, erasure or rejection, the consequences last a lifetime. But if young people are welcomed into communities that affirm who they are –without conditions – they begin to write new narratives; narratives of courage, agency and belonging. In this sense, IGY is not simply about LGBTQ+ rights. It is about creating a new model of citizenship: one grounded in empathy, equity and inclusion.
This work is increasingly urgent. Over the past year, the political climate in Israel has grown more volatile. We are witnessing coordinated attacks on the judiciary, civil society, academic freedom and minority rights. The LGBTQ+ community has become a visible target – vilified in parliament, silenced in curricula, and treated by some as a threat to the so-called traditional order. But this is not only an attack on one community. It is an assault on the very idea of pluralism.
In such a moment, our work takes on new meaning. Every time we open a new group in an underserved town, or train a new cohort of youth leaders, or connect a transgender teen with resources they were previously denied, we are not only offering support – we are building an infrastructure for resilience. We are modelling a society where dignity is non-negotiable and where coexistence is not a slogan but a lived practice.
These moments happen daily. A 17-year-old from a religious background finds the courage to attend a group meeting in Jerusalem, and for the first time in his life, hears the words “you’re not alone.” A young Arab woman from the Galilee joins a leadership programme and decides to start a local LGBTQ+ youth group in her town. A transgender teen from the south, recently pushed out of her home, finds safety, mentorship, and the beginning of a new path. These stories are not isolated: they are part of the deep, steady work of building a democratic culture from the bottom up.
Our newest initiative, Marsha College, offers vocational training to young transgender adults – especially those from vulnerable communities – who are often shut out of the workforce. Through practical, dignified education in fields like culinary arts, design and bookkeeping, we are creating new routes toward economic independence.
And yet, we know we cannot do this alone. Social change is never the work of one
organisation. It requires alliances – across sectors, borders and generations. That is why we are so grateful for this platform. We believe that our partners in the UK –especially those committed to Labour values – understand that the fight for LGBTQ+ inclusion is inseparable from the fight for democracy itself. You understand what it means to struggle for justice when it is no longer fashionable, and to believe in young people even when politics tries to write them off.
IGY is proud to be part of Israel’s liberal democratic camp. We know that LGBTQ+ rights are not a fringe issue: they are a mirror held up to society’s soul. When we protect the dignity of those pushed to the margins, we strengthen the whole. When we invest in the agency of young people, we plant the seeds of a future no government can repress. That is why we do what we do. Not only for queer youth – but for a society we still believe is possible. And we’re not giving up.
Yoni Avitan is co-executive director of IGY, Israel Gay Youth
