The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH, HaBayit HaPatuach, "Open House"; Al-Beit Al-Maftoukh) is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1997, with a community center serving people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. While reaching out with its message of equality and acceptance to all people in Jerusalem and abroad, its main focuses are community building, providing humanitarian services and promoting social change. It works to create a safe, pluralistic and egalitarian Jerusalem that is welcoming to all of its inhabitants, communities and visitors, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Activities
The Jerusalem Open House was founded in 1997. Since then, it has been an essential pillar in the queer community of Jerusalem. JOH founded the first LGBT health clinic in Israel – the Open Clinic – and now also offers subsidized counseling through the Open Counseling. The open house includes many different group meetings, as well as a comprehensive youth. Additionally, the JOH annual Jerusalem Pride marches organized by the center have become the largest human-rights demonstrations in Jerusalem, and has been put on annually since 2002. In 2006, the JOH hosted WorldPride.
The Community Center
The Jerusalem Open House is the only LQBTQ community center in Jerusalem and its greater area. It is open daily from 12pm-4pm for anyone seeking out a safe space. There are sitting areas, a kitchen and a library. In this same space, many of the educational groups meet. In total, there are over 20 social groups at JOH, each coordinated by a trained volunteer. Community members also gather in the JOH for special events, joint holidays, activities, workshops, poetry nights and lectures.
The JOH offers ongoing community celebrations, mostly around holidays. The center also organizes meetings and events for people of all religious denominations, including a social group for Orthodox gay men. In addition, JOH supports exchanges with LGBT synagogues abroad.
JOH has also hosted family friendly gatherings for Purim.
Education
JOH offers services specifically for youth living in the area around Jerusalem, including doing outreach in schools. Beyond youth groups, there are adult groups including a group of English speakers, Arabic speakers, senior women, and senior men.
The Jerusalem Open House runs the program "More le Haim" which was founded in the memory of Shira Banki, after the hate crimes at the annual Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance in 2015, which resulted in her death. Our education team and volunteers conduct educational seminars around the city, reaching thousands of school pupils, teachers and counsellors, soldiers and civic organizations in Jerusalem. The mission of the program is to educate and to create a more tolerant, welcoming and aware environment for LGBTQ youth. The program includes 170 presentations annually and is rooted in the concept of engendering empathy through personal narratives and conversation about LGBTQ related issues.
Health services
In 2008, JOH opened a clinic which offers anonymous HIV testing and counseling to anyone. The clinic can also prescribe post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Additionally, the JOH provides low cost counseling through its Open Counseling Services. Open Counseling is a psycho-social service unit with a team of 12 therapists and social workers who offer individual, family, and group treatments at subsidized prices and in a safe, accepting environment. JOH also provides social workers who are able to guide and support LGBTQ at-risk youth and teenagers day-to-day and in emergency situations. The Open Counseling professional staff provides training, workshops and seminars on LGBTQ and therapy related issues and works to improve the wellbeing of Jerusalem's LGBTQ community.
Advocacy
The JOH takes action on a variety of issues concerning the LGBT community through campaigning and advocacy. Current campaigns include efforts to convince the Rabbinical School of the Conservative movement to accept LGBT people into its Rabbinical program in Israel; to achieve recognition for LGBT victims of the Holocaust and their inclusion in Israel's national Holocaust memorial ceremonies; and to protest against conversion therapy.
Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance
In 2002, JOH sued the city of Jerusalem for not allowing them to have a pride parade. The JOH won this case, and the city of Jerusalem paid the group the equivalent of 10,000 USD in settlement. Since, the JOH has organized the annual pride parades in Jerusalem under the name "Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance."