Bat Kol

"Ever since my parents alienated me, Bat Kol has been my only family…" (Adi, 29, Jerusalem) Bat Kol organization serves as a home for over 700 LBTQ women of various religious backgrounds. It provides them a home, a supportive social community, and year-round events. Alongside the internal activities, Bat Kol promotes tolerance and acceptance for LGBTQ mostly within the religious community. We believe queer women of all ages, who come from religious communities, deal with family alienation, or other issues which emphasize their need to live their lives surrounded by a supportive and accepting community. Some of Bat Kol women are orthodox, some raise their families excluded from their original family, some have no place to go to for the holidays, some are still married to a man… LGBTQ suicide rates are unfortunately rising, especially within religious LGBTQ, the highest rates in trans religious people. Bat Kol has been an oasis for all those women who felt secluded, despite having practically zero resources, Bat Kol has managed to provide a safe home for various women since 2005. We are the only proud women organization in Israel, and with a loyal group of volunteers we manage to operate in two major fields: 1. Internal – working within the Bat Kol community providing activities, group meetings, Shabbat retreat, and social support. All internal activities take place under extreme discretion to avoid life-threatening situations for women who are still in the closet. 2. External – Bat Kol advocates an educational, social, and political change for LGBTQ rights and equality in the Israeli society alongside the LGBTQ guild of organizations and we put great efforts in being the pioneers for advocating tolerance for LGBTQ within the religious community through public appearance and awareness, media campaigns, parliament conferences and more. We do this together with our partners from the religious gay community. Bat Kol has a remarkable resume of aiding women, couples and families change their views towards the LGBTQ community.