Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn (Blue & White) announced on Sunday that several official forms issued by the Justice Ministry would be amended to accommodate the demands of the LGBT community. Last week, Nissenkorn responded to a legislative proposal from MK Yoray Lahav Hertzanu (of the center-left secularist Yesh Atid party), who demanded that government documents cease to specify the gender of the parents, saying that “I and ministers from my party will do whatever we can to amend official forms for the ‘pride’ community.” The Justice Ministry was reportedly busy last week making the stipulated changes, under the guidance of interim director-general Sigal Yakobi. On Sunday, Nissenkorn announced that the first forms would be ready “this week, and that instead of ‘mother’ and ‘father’ they would state ‘Parent 1’ and ‘Parent 2.’” The first forms to have their language amended are those related to inheritance, requests for civil union, requests for registering civil union, requests for deleting registration of civil union, requests regarding property belonging to absentee owners, and for registering a business or other form of association Aside from these forms, work is ongoing on other documents too, where legislation is not required in order to make changes, Nissenkorn said. On Sunday, Nissenkorn stated: “Amending government forms is an additional step toward equality for the LGBT community and all Israeli citizens. Such parents and their families are families in all respects and there is no reason why they should be made to feel embarrassed when it comes to bureaucratic matters and dealing with government ministries which are required to provide equal service to everyone, no matter who he may be.” He added that, “There is great significance in the fact that it is specifically the Justice Ministry that is the first of all government ministries to be amending the official language used in forms and regulations. I am confident that these important changes that I am spearheading at the Justice Ministry will provide impetus for other ministries to follow suit, and I call on all government ministers to make similar progress for the good of Israeli citizens of all streams.”
