Gay pride parade in Tel Aviv. Photo: wiki commons.

As the Palestinian territories have no specific civil rights legislation protecting LGBT people from discrimination or harassment, a group called the Palestinian Queer Party has held monthly parties in Tel Aviv for the last decade, according to an April 20 report in the Times of Israel.

“In our world it’s still very hard to be gay, and men do a lot of things to hide it,” an Arab man named Tamer said. In Tel Aviv, however, LGBT Palestinians can be anonymous and safe.

Hundreds of LGBT Palestinian men and women travel from East Jerusalem, Arab villages in northern Israel, Yafo and elsewhere to attend the parties. Some even come from Ramallah and Gaza, without official travel permits.