Religious heads join anti-gay parade move

JERUSALEM, March 24 (UPI) -- In a rare show of unity, leaders of Israel's three religious groups will joined a worldwide interfaith campaign to stop a gay pride parade in Jerusalem.

The cooperation among the leaders of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in Jerusalem comes on the heels of a joint Christian-Jewish campaign last week to prevent the 10-day international gay parade set for August from taking place in the Holy Land, the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.

More than 30 members of the Israeli parliament also have signed the international petition against the parade.

But the Post said Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, while adamantly opposed to the parade, has refused to sign the petition because he wants to keep his distance from Israel's growing ties with pro-Israel Evangelical Christian leaders around the world, the Post said.

"As the first-ever orthodox mayor of Jerusalem, Lupolianski has an obligation to step forward and take an active leadership position to vocally oppose this event from happening, and not to hide behind the skirts of others," said New York Rabbi Yehuda Levin, of the Orthodox Rabbinical Alliance of America.