In Tel Aviv’s Meir Garden גן מאיר, the new Gay Center has emerged as a vibrant cultural hub since opening in 2024, bringing together the different voices and stories of Israel’s LGBTQ+ community under one roof. At its heart is The Triangle Theater תאטרון המשולש, founded in 2021 by three young queer creators: Rom, Yuval, and Nimrod, who looked around the Israeli theater world and found it almost empty of authentic LGBTQ+ content.
What started as frustration, became purpose: to create Israel’s first explicitly queer theater. A space for new language, new ideas, and stories that aren’t just about struggle, but are also about joy, absurdity, friendship, and love.
The Triangle began at “Tzavta” Theater and now performs even at “Habima”, Israel’s National Theater. Its founders call it “a home for LGBTQ+ culture in the city. A home for creators, for community, and for audiences” (and yes, straight people are welcome too).
Beyond the center’s walls, other vital organizations contribute to Tel Aviv’s LGBTQ+ landscape, including IGY איגי — Israel’s Proud Youth Organization. Since 2002, IGY has created life-changing spaces for queer teens across the country. With over 400 volunteers and more than 4,000 youth participants each year, IGY bridges a painful gap: while Tel Aviv serves as the heart of Israel’s adult gay community, young LGBTQ+ people growing up in smaller cities and towns often feel isolated, with few role models and no safe space to be themselves.
Through youth clubs, school programs, and dedicated groups for trans teens, IGY offers connection, support, and belonging.
“I started my connection with IGY in 2013, a 19-year-old just before the army, trying to figure out life,” says Or Gold.
“I went to a youth club where you could meet other people your age and talk with counselors. That was my first real community experience, the first time I felt like I belonged. Until then, my sexual identity was something that existed only in my head. Suddenly, it had a place in the world.”
For Or, that first encounter with IGY marked the beginning of his most transformative decade.
“Two years later, I joined their young adult group in Tel Aviv. We met once a week, like a youth movement. I built a circle of close friends there, and a decade later — we’re still connected.”
“Three years ago, I came back to IGY as a volunteer. I’ve mentored high schoolers in Hod Hasharon, helped guide young adult groups in the Central District, and now mentor new youth counselors. It’s an amazing feeling to give back to the organization that helped shape me. I’m proud to support today’s LGBTQ+ youth, who are growing up in realities just as complex as mine once was.”
Israel still has a long way to go in terms of LGBTQ+ visibility and safety, especially outside the city. But what’s happening in Tel Aviv offers a glimpse of what’s possible. The Triangle Theater’s commitment to honest storytelling, IGY’s patient work across the country, and the many grassroots initiatives coming to life, together form a growing ecosystem of support and pride.
And through it all, the Gay Center holds space for both the extraordinary and the everyday: alongside performances and exhibitions, you’ll find a cozy café, a view of the trees in Meir Garden, and maybe a spontaneous conversation with someone new. Sometimes the most radical act is creating a place where people can be themselves.
