Gay divorce approved for second time in Israel's history

[Jesus Malverde]

Court sidesteps issue of gay marriage since not clear Israeli law could recognize it.

Tel Aviv Family Court Judge Naftali Shilo handed down the second court decision in the country’s history approving the divorce of a homosexual couple, on Monday.

In December 2012, a three judge panel of Yehezkel Eliyahu, Amit Kama and Uzi Even, also of the Tel Aviv Family Court, handed down the first such decision.

Their decision set no binding precedent, and the issue had not been ruled on since.

“It is important because with no binding precedent, another decision in this spirit plus additional such decisions can start to create more of a clear trend,” said Professor Ruth Halperin- Kaddari, head of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women.

The names of the couples are under a gag order.

There was, however, a question that preceded the approval of a gay divorce: by doing so, one might acknowledge gay marriage. Shilo took a conservative legal route to arrive at his conclusion.

Halperin-Kaddari said that the court’s decision showed a somewhat greater “hesitation,” in that the court did not simultaneously recognize the couples’ gay marriage in order to approve their divorce.

Rather, the court said that it would sidestep the issue of gay marriage since it was not clear that Israeli law could recognize it, and that it was approving the divorce by merely ordering the Registrar to strike the couple’s married status from its list.

The court said that its main concern was that the law needed to provide a way for the couple to get divorced.

http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Gay-divorce-approved-for-second-time-in-Israels-history-334510