Precursor to a riot?

Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, Part I:

I should start by saying that Jerusalem is not like other cities. In other cities, gay pride parades happen and no one, this no longer being the 70s, takes them seriously. They're just sort of an even, and the only people who care are the participants and the most hardcore of homophobes. In Jerusalem...well, I'm sitting on the side of King David Street, waiting for my editor to email me back, and I can count, from here, about 25 uniformed, heavily armed policeman and soldiers with riot gear. They are setting up roadblocks.

Mind, the parade doesn't start for six hours. But gay pride parades in Jerusalem have a history of causing trouble. Two years ago, a haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, man stabbed three marchers; one died. Last year, bowing to combined pressure from Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders--it's good that bigotry can bring together people who agree on nothing else--the city cancelled it, citing 'safety concerns.' The 'parade' was held in the convention center. This year, though, it's back on the street.

And no one really knows what's going to happen. On Sunday, 10,000 haredim demonstrated peacefully against the parade, although, in this city, 'peacefully' includes 'burning trash cans.' Friends of mine were there, and at some point it got so out of hand that the police broke it up with firehoses. In Mea Sharim, the city's best known Hasidic/Orthodox neighborhood, people are blocking the roads and spreading trash so the marchers won't go there. On the other hand, the demonstration was supposed to bring out 100,000, and I have heard--this is purely anecdotal--that a lot of haredim are saying now that it creates more division and hurts the children more to make a big deal about the parade than it does to ignore it.

Me, I'm expecting it to be a riot.

So we'll see. Part of me hopes that peace, love, and understanding will triumph, and part of me--the part that kinda wishes it had been in Paris, circa August 2005--wants to see some rocks and burning cars. I think the latter part is stronger and, in this city, more likely.

It does all bring some interesting issues to the fore, though. In a sense, the parade is the failure of democracy, or more accurately, the defeat of a tyranny of the majority. Most people in Jerusalem--I don't have the actual statistic, but it's like 60%--oppose the parade, some violently. So I think it's a good thing that someone take a stand for individual liberties and against religious bigotry.

However--and this is a big however--it bothers me that the marchers insist on going through religious neighborhoods. True, you can't throw a stone in this city without it landing in a religious neighborhood, and true, the religious really ought to respect gays' rights to be gay--but the fact is, it isn't respectful to march through their neighborhoods. It will win no one over. And, for that matter, it isn't respectful. True, the religious don't respect gays either, but I must point out:

1. They have their lives too. They stay in their neighborhoods. Yes, they are obnoxiously homophobic but they--mostly--don't go to Tel Aviv to march against 'alternative lifestyles.' It sucks to have to respect someone's right to hate you and everything you stand for, but, folks, this is, more ore less, a democracy and, more importantly
   
2. Practically speaking, gays in Jerusalem live in Jerusalem, which means they have to live with the Muslims and haredim. Failing a Messianic Redemption, the best that they will ever be able to hope for is a cautious live-and-let-live attitude on the part of the city's religious--something that parading through their neighborhoods will not help. Yes, that's kowtowing to their prejudices, but this may not be the best place to abandon practicality for principle.
   

Anyhow, that's my two cents. We'll see how it goes. I'm excited. If I don't follow up on this post, assume the worst.