US embassy boycotts Tel Aviv Pride Parade under second Trump administration

The American Embassy in Israel is boycotting both of the nation's pride parades this month, having skipped last week’s event in Jerusalem and confirming it will not take part in the parade in Tel Aviv on Friday.

According to reports, the embassy will not host nor participate in any pride-related events taking place in June.

The Israeli news site Haaretz said it obtained a letter sent by the U.S. Embassy to the Israeli Foreign Ministry notifying it that it had no plans to participate in the events, in line with changes in the Trump administration’s policies. 

Haaretz said the letter referred to the “LGB community,” without the 'T' for Trans which would appear to align with the Trump administration’s shift away from support for transsexual involvement in the military or in the sports world. 

The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv is located on Hayarkon Street, close to the gay pride parade route. In past years, embassy staff frequently took part in the march, and the building was decorated with the rainbow flag – a symbol of the LGBTQ+ movement. 

During U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, the embassy hosted Pride events, which even included the participation of Orthodox Ambassador David Friedman.

The Israel association for LGBT Rights expressed its “disappointment” in an official statement. 

“We are disappointed for the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Israel, who will be forced to stand by this year instead of marching with us, as they have done with pride and fearlessness for years. What starts with the harassment of trans men and women, quickly turns into the exclusion of an entire community,” the statement read. 

Last month, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reaffirmed an order requiring active-duty transgender soldiers to self-identify and opt for voluntary early retirement by June 6. National Guard and Reserve troops were given until July 7 to do the same.

The new embassy policy may also have been influenced by Ambassador Mike Huckabee, a conservative Evangelical Christian and vocal critic of the gay rights movement. In 2015, addressing efforts to compel Christians to accept same-sex marriage, Huckabee said that it was “like asking someone Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli.”