A record breaking number of 130,000 people are expected to attend the Gay Pride events in Tel Aviv, with an estimated number of 30,000 out-of-country tourists arriving to take part in the celebrations this year with events across the city. June is Pride Month in Tel Aviv; during this month the city holds cultural events, lectures, exhibitions, festivals and special attractions. Other events beginning June 1st include, Pride Village, Pride Beach, Gay Expo, and an LGBT International Film Festival.

The Pride Parade happens on Friday, June 13th departing from Meir Park at 1pm, with remarks from Mayor Ron Huldai, who has been quoted as saying,”The City of Tel Aviv-Yafo stands for equality, believes in equality and marches for equality. This year, as every year, we are blessed with our city being the Israeli center of equality, pluralism and a beacon of freedom to other cities.”

The Parade has a new route this year, passing through Bugrashov Ben-Yehuda and Frishman Streets and the Tel Aviv promenade, ending in a huge party at a new location: Charles Clore Park. The party will include the 2014 Tolerance Award, and will also feature for the first time a stage for children, to reflect the increase in young LGBT families in the Tel Aviv community.

The first official Pride Parade took place in 1998 and has since become a major annual municipal event, with tens of thousands of people, both from Israel and abroad, attending every year. Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality has invested more than $600,000 including yearly support of the Gay Community Center and the Pride Week events. In the last few years Tel Aviv has significantly deepened its investments to promote gay tourism to the city. The LGBT community in Tel Aviv is the largest in Israel and consist of 15% of Tel Aviv’s residences.

Jerusalem played host to WorldPride celebrations in 2006, which will be happening here in Toronto June 20th to 30th, 2014.

Further information and a full schedule of events can be found here: