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Haaretz

Last update - 01:32 13/06/2009 Five gay couples wed in ceremony on Tel Aviv beach By Sara Miller, Haaretz Correspondent Five gay couples wed Friday in a ceremony held on the Tel Aviv beach at the end of the city's 11th annual Gay Pride Parade which saw thousands of people from all walks of life join in celebration on the city's streets.  The three lesbian couples and two male same-sex couples walked up to theChuppah, the Jewish wedding altar, while gay Israeli pop star Ivri Lider sang.  The ceremony was performed according to Jewish marriage rites, with each couple exchanging rings and Hebrew vows before breaking the glass as the crowd erupted in applause.  MK Nitzan Horovitz (Meretz), the Knesset's first openly gay parliamentarian attended the wedding, where he told Haaretz, "I hope that from this day weddings like this can happen in every place in Israel and not just in Tel Aviv. Weddings for everyone man and woman, man and man, and woman and woman, and this will be the end of the monopoly of the ultra-Orthodox over our lives in Israel."  Gay Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox, director of "Walk on Water" and "The Bubble," told Haaretz, "It's a very important and historic day. It's very exciting and in the end the good guys won."  An estimated 20,000 people took part in the parade, which was sponsored by the Tel Aviv municipality and began at Meir Park before winding its way down the city's boulevards to the beachfront.  A small group of right-wing and religious protesters demonstrated against the parade, holding up banners reading: "God hates debauchery."  Interior Minister Eli Yishai had called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai to cancel the parade.  Related articles:  First Israeli gay man gets 'maternity' leave  Court grants gay couple right to adopt 30-year-old foster son  High Court rejects petition asking to ban Jerusalem Gay Pride parade