Closeted cosmopolitans: Israeli gays between centre and periphery

Abstract In this article I present observations of gay life conducted in Tel Aviv in 1993 and 1998. Despite the invisibility of gay venues and the absence of gay political action, the men studied in 1993 (mostly professionals and artists) nevertheless did not express resentment or a wish to move to the Western havens of gay life with which they had been acquainted as frequent travellers. However, the gay scene in Tel Aviv seemed very different a few years later. A number of leading gay men made a successful claim for public recognition and a growing constituency of gay men and women came out to demonstrate for minority rights and a share of public space. Rather than relating the growth of gay empowerment solely to the idea of globalization or ‘postmodernism’, in this article I seek to consider the social context in which these worldwide influences take place. The introduction of two stages of observation displays the dynamic nature of social phenomena that ethnographers might often confront in their present-day research projects.