TEL AVIV – Visiting Israel for the first time in in honor of Gay Pride Week, one of the stars of “Orange is the New Black,” the popular lesbian-centric television show, seems to be dumbfounded at the country’s lack of unattractive women.
“There are apparently no ugly women in Israel,” Lea DeLaria, a lesbian who plays a butch lesbian inmate in the Netflix series, told the Hebrew-language Ynet news site after arriving in the country as a guest of Israel’s Tourism Ministry.
“I’ve not seen one ugly woman yet, but I can’t figure it out because I’ve seen, I’ve definitely seen ugly men here.”
Watch the video below (interview in English begins at 0:29).
“It’s something I’ve been fighting for,” DeLaria said, adding that she had been hospitalized in the past by “gay-bashers.”
DeLaria said she “never in a million years” thought she would witness such dramatic developments for the gay community in her lifetime, including last year’s legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S. and homosexuality being a central theme in a mainstream TV series.
She also said it never entered her mind that one day she would “be in Israel, in the Old City, standing at the Western Wall and have a man in your army, with his gun, there to protect people, come up,” recognize her and ask her to pose with him for a picture.
Of her experience thus far in Israel, DeLaria said she was “loving it,” and the actress has already visited several landmark sites. She indicated on Instagram, however, that she was barred from entering the Temple Mount complex by Islamic Waqf authorities, writing: “The Muslims wouldn’t let me in because I am a woman with tattoos. Who knew? @televiv #telavivpride2016.”
You can see her response below:
A photo posted by Lea DeLaria (@realleadelaria) on May 30, 2016 at 5:32am PDT
Tel Aviv is known for being one of the leading tourist destinations for gays and Pride Week, attracts tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world. The festivities culminate with an enormous parade and beach party which will take place on Friday June 3 this year.