Israeli ‘Big Brother’ celebrity visits UMD, discusses gay culture in Israel

Israeli TV host Assi Azar answers questions from students in Hoff Theater on Nov. 3, 2015.

Assi Azar, an openly gay Israeli television personality and co-host of Big Brother Israel, came out six months after he landed his first gig on television.

“My agent told me to wait five years to come out, but I was hosting a children’s show, and to do it right I needed to come out,” Azar said.

Azar spoke to about 60 students about his personal stories and the LGBTQ community in Israel in Stamp Student Union’s Hoff Theater. Maryland Hillel and the Jewish Student Union hosted the event.

“It’s a very cool event, as it attracts a lot of students — anyone interested in LGBT culture, anyone interested in showbusiness and anyone interested in Israel, or anyone interested in a combination of those three different facets,” said Jewish Student Union President Julia Ring, a senior English and secondary education major. She noted that Azar has been called the “Ryan Seacrest of Israel.”

Azar said he preferred to play with girls and Barbies when he was young, rather than play soccer with the boys.

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“I knew that I was gay at a very young age — about 6 years old,” Azar said. “I could feel there was something different with me, that I was not like the other boys my age.”

Growing up, it was his dream to move to America, find a boyfriend and disappear from his family, he said. At 22, Azar came to America after four years in the Israeli military police.

He eventually went back to Israel, came out to his family and is now engaged, Azar said.

“In Israel, it’s really easy to be gay, especially if you’re in the center of Tel Aviv, but we have an issue with those that are religious,” Azar said.

May Dar, who grew up in Israel, met Azar a couple of years ago at an event in New York and said she did not realize he was gay. 

“Especially in Tel Aviv, [gay culture] is very open and very secular,” said the senior criminology and criminal justice and government and politics and major, who attended Azar’s talk. “It was very interesting to hear his personal stories.”

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There are many differences between being gay in America and being gay in Israel, Azar said, as “Israel is not as advanced as America.” 

“Here, gay people can get married, but in Israel they can’t,” he said. “But if you get married in another country, Israel will respect it.” 

Israel also does not allow gay couples to have surrogate children in Israel, although they can bring surrogate children in from another country, Azar said. He noted while lesbians do not have much of a presence, the transgender community is popular at the moment.

The hope for Azar’s talk is students will “understand a little bit better what the situation is regarding the LGBTQ community in Israel, as it is very different across the board,” said Ally Turkheimer, Hillel’s Birthright Israel engagement coordinator.

Azar said being openly gay isn’t as complicated as people might make it out to be.

“People think that being gay is tough, but it’s not tough,” Azar said. “It’s fun because you are who you want to be; you are normal. Being in the closet is hard because you can’t be yourself, because you’re always lying.”