Same-sex marriage cannot legally be performed in Israel. Under the confessional community system that operates in Israel, each of the recognized confessional communities regulates the personal status, including marriage and divorce, of its members. The state views marriage as a religious institution and as such does not issue marriage licences, regardless of sexual orientation. This secures separation of church and state and aims to prevent conflict between the various religions in the country. The religious authority for the Jewish majority marriages is the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and there are parallel authorities for Christians, Muslims, Druze and nine Christian authorities, with a total of 15 religious courts. These regulate all marriages and divorces for their own communities. Currently they all oppose same-sex marriages. If the views of one of these bodies were to change, however, it would be legal for members of that religious community to enter into same-sex marriages in Israel. However, progressive religious denominations have been refused recognition in the confessional community system.
Same-sex marriages performed abroad can be recorded at the Israeli Administration of Border Crossings, Population and Immigration, according to a 2006 High Court of Justice ruling which defined such records as strictly 'for statistical purposes', thereby avoiding official recognition of same-sex marriages by the state.[1]
Notwithstanding the nonavailability of same-sex marriage (or civil marriage, for that matter) in Israel, unmarried same-sex and heterosexual couples in Israel have equal access to nearly all of the rights of marriage in the form of unregistered cohabitation status, akin to common-law marriage. In 2013, the Yesh Atid party, a member of the governing coalition, introduced a bill that would provide for civil marriage for both heterosexual and same-sex couples. [2]
