The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH) is the only LGBTQ community center in Jerusalem and the greater Jerusalem region. We are a non-profit organization, founded in 1997, serving people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. While reaching out with our message of equality and acceptance to all people in Jerusalem, Israel and abroad, our main focuses are community building, providing humanitarian services and promoting social change. We work to create a safe, pluralistic, and egalitarian Jerusalem that is welcoming for all of its residents, communities, and visitors, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
What kind of services are available at the Jerusalem Open House?
The Open Clinic
Since 2005, the Open Clinic serves both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ individuals, in four languages (Arabic, English, Hebrew and Russian) providing free and anonymous HIV testing, syphilis tests and safe-sex counseling in a friendly and non-judgmental environment. An LGBTQ-health specialist is also available on a weekly basis, to see patients who might otherwise not seek out health services in traditional medical facilities.
During the year, the Open Clinic conducts dozens of campaigns and events to raise awareness for a safe and healthy sexual life, and holds seminars for medical and professional teams on the topics of health and LGBTQ issues.
Open Counseling
The Open Counseling is a psycho-social service unit with a team of 12 therapists and social workers who offer individual, family, and group treatments at subsidized prices and in a safe, accepting environment. A JOH social worker provides guidance and supports LGBTQ at-risk youth and teenagers day-to-day and in emergency situations. The Open Counseling professional staff provides training, workshops and seminars on LGBTQ and therapy related issues and works to improve the wellbeing of Jerusalem’s LGBTQ community.
Building the community in Jerusalem!
The JOH is the only LGBTQ community center in the city! We are open daily from 12-4PM for anyone seeking out a safe space. Visitors can enjoy sitting areas, a kitchen and a library. The JOH staff is ready to guide and to assist if needed. During the afternoons and the evenings, meetings of the social groups are held; teen and youth groups, various adult groups, and senior groups. In total there are more than 20 different social groups at JOH, each coordinated by a trained volunteer. Community members also gather in the JOH for special events, joint holidays, activities, workshops, poetry nights and lectures.
The JOH promotes social change and educate for tolerance!
The Jerusalem Open House runs the program "More le Haim" which was founded in the memory of Shira Banki, after the hate crimes at the annual Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance in 2015, which resulted in her death. Our education team and volunteers conduct educational seminars around the city, reaching thousands of school pupils, teachers and counsellors, soldiers and civic organizations in Jerusalem. The mission of the program is to educate and to create a more tolerant, welcoming and aware environment for LGBTQ youth. The program includes 170 presentations annually and is rooted in the concept of engendering empathy through personal narratives and conversation about LGBTQ related issues.
The Annual Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance
The Jerusalem Open House organized the first Pride March in Jerusalem in 2002 and holds the March for Pride and Tolerance annually ever since, despite threats, violence and challenges from conservative parties and aggressors. As the city’s largest human rights event, involving many thousands of marchers, the Pride March enables participants to shape the contemporary face of Jerusalem and publicly support LGBTQ people’s struggle for full rights, and life without prejudice in their city. Prior to the Pride March, the month of July is filled with daily events, lectures, workshops and parties celebrating Pride and Tolerance in Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Open House was established by community members and acts on behalf of the LGBTQ community in Jerusalem. Most of the activity of the JOH is supported and done by devoted volunteers and supporters. Together with our supporters in Israel and abroad, we will continue to work to make Jerusalem a city where everyone is treated with respect and can enjoy equality and freedom regardless of gender identity and or sexual orientation.
Please support the work of the Jerusalem Open House and donate today!
Photo: Tal Bedrack
