Israel's First Gay MP Marries In Canada
by Jan Prout, 365Gay.com from the Web, November 14, 2004
Toronto, Ontario, Sept.12 -- Uzi Even, the first openly gay man elected to the Knesset, has married his longtime partner in Toronto.
Even, who served one term in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in 2002, wed Amit Kama in a brief ceremony at Toronto City Hall Friday afternoon.
Same-sex marriage is legal in Ontario, two other Canadian provinces, and the Yukon territory.
Though they've been a couple for 18 years, they had never discussed marriage because it appeared to be impossible, Even said.
Both men are university professors in Tel Aviv, and have an adopted son.
Even, a former Israeli military intelligence colonel spent 20 years working as a scientist on Israel's secret nuclear bomb until he was discovered to be living with a male lover.
He was then expelled from the military and began a legal battle that ended in a victory that saw the ban on gays in the armed services abolished.
He then mounted a battle with Tel Aviv University to win pension benefits for Kama, securing the country's first recognition of same-sex relationships.
In 2002 he ran for the Knesset as a member of the left of center Meretz Party and won.
After one term he returned to the classroom, but his activism is far from over.
"My plan is to use my name and past record to start a debate in the media and in government — and it will probably continue in the courts — for legal recognition of our marriage," Even, 63, told the Toronto Star newspaper.
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