British Immigrant Runs English-Speaking LGBT Olim Social Group in Israel Since 2013

Roy Freeman, a 52-year-old British-born immigrant living in the Tel Aviv area, founded LGBT Olim in April 2013 to connect English-speaking LGBT newcomers across Israel. Freeman grew up in Luton, north of London, spent a month in Israel at age 18, and returned a few years later to work on a kibbutz in the North.

He planned to make aliyah in the late 1990s but postponed the move after a pilot trip, noting that the LGBT community in Israel felt different before Dana International won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998.

By 1999 Freeman was out to most of his friends and had entered his first long-term relationship at age 25. He and his partner moved to Sydney, where he lived for 11 years, managed the website of the London-based Jewish Gay and Lesbian Group, and served as president and Mardi Gras Parade float organizer of Sydney’s Dayenu.

After meeting an Israeli man who wanted to return home, Freeman made aliyah in 2011 so the couple could stay together and settled in the Tel Aviv area.

He joined a group for LGBT English-speakers, attended his first Tel Aviv Pride in June 2012, and found most attempts to join existing LGBT organizations ignored. Freeman launched LGBT Olim’s Facebook page in April 2013, bought a banner, and organized a group of LGBT olim to march together at Tel Aviv Pride in June 2013.

He later started a monthly newsletter and organized meet-ups in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beersheba.

Freeman organizes regular Shabbat potluck dinners, brunches, LGBT-themed movie nights, karaoke events, board games sessions, trivia quizzes, picnics, Passover Seders, and parties at Shavuot, Sukkot, Purim, and Hanukkah. Most events are free. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, LGBT Olim began running online events that continue for participants outside major cities.