The women are hot in gay old Tel Aviv and their party scene is even hotter.

Sheri Granite, 22, a photography student at Tel Aviv University, described the queer women's scene as a "women's paradise."

"[The] best looking girls are here," Granite said.

Ten years ago, there was virtually no gay women's scene when Alona Daum, a 37-year-old lesbian, left Israel to live in New York. But six years later she returned to a dramatically different Israel. Today a diverse queer women's scene is flourishing with parties, bars, and restaurants.

"Tel Aviv is in good competition with New York," said Daum. "We do party a lot."

Michal Enbari and her partner, Mor Halevi, both 25, agreed with Daum that Israel has the "best parties."

Be't Ha'Shoeva, a popular lesbian bar, throbbed with a mixture of American and European music spun by a DJ as women danced closely together in the small but chic space. The bar could have been any Western lesbian pub, down to being nearly smoke free (a designated smoking room was off to the left of the main entrance) as a way to draw American and European lesbian travelers.

"It is how Israel sells itself," said one of the pub's bartenders in between serving drinks to customers who packed the club for Tel Aviv's Pride week earlier this month. She was too busy to provide her name.

Popular lesbian-owned and -operated Juz and Loz is a bar and restaurant that reportedly always has a line out the door; it was closed when the Bay Area Reporter attempted to see this legendary eatery.

One of the most gay-friendly cities in the world, Tel Aviv is often described as a bubble that attracts artists, commerce, and LGBTs to the garden city on the Mediterranean. Residents live openly, much like San Francisco, but without a designated gayborhood.

Students from Tel Aviv University's iPride organization hosted LGBT American and European visitors for the city's 11th Pride festivities that took place June 10-14. This year's pride drew an estimated 20,000 individuals who celebrated on the shore of the Mediterranean June 12 and enjoyed a sundown group wedding of five couples, three sets of brides and two sets of grooms.

Israel has liberal policies toward same-sex couples, granting many of the same rights as their married straight counterparts, but the catch is none of the policies are codified into law, said LGBT rights leaders and activists. Many of the policies are simply court mandated and therefore can easily be taken away, according to experts. An ultra-conservative faction in Israel has made attempts to roll back LGBT rights, according to Israeli LGBT leaders.

There are issues within Israel's diverse LGBT community, especially sexism and marginalization of bisexual, genderqueer, and LGBT Arab and Palestinian communities. The transgender and bisexual communities are small but becoming more vocal.

Just beneath Tel Aviv's glittering surface butch/femme and genderqueer life is bustling with political activity and roaming parties that remain underground but nonetheless just as vibrant as Tel Aviv's glossy gay and lesbian mainstream.

"The gay community is not a united voice," said Anat Nir, a partner in LesBizNess, a collective of lesbians that produce events from the lesbian film festival to the after-Pride women's party, which drew 830 women who danced the night away under the stars June 14.

But Nir, a community leader, pointed out the absence of many LGBT voices, including transgender and Arab Palestinian gays and lesbians, within the community.

Nir was one of only two lesbian panelists who participated in the iPride conference organized by nearly 20 StandWithUs fellows at the Tel Aviv University. The first conference of its kind brought 30 LGBT journalists, activists, academics, and tourism representatives from around the globe to Israel to gain a deeper understanding of the country, to celebrate LGBT Pride, and to attract tourism. StandWithUs, a Los Angeles-based pro-Israeli student organization, sponsored the event.

Queer women in the movement

"There are not enough women in power that are out and that's a problem here," said Daum, who echoed many queer women's observations about the male-dominated Israeli society.

Sarit Michaeli, a 37-year-old lesbian who works for a human rights organization, agreed with Daum and other queer women about their disempowerment.

"Lesbians are central to the LGBT movement," said Michaeli.

Gay men serve in the Knesset: Uzi Even, sworn in 2001, and Nitzan Horowitz, sworn in earlier this year.

In spite of the deeply dividing issues within the community, many queer women expressed a profound passionate love for Israel and their LGBT community.

"There are a lot of issues in Israel, but we love Israel," said Enbari while holding her girlfriend, Halevi, with pride. "It is our country and we will never go anywhere else."

For a listing of some of the hotspots in Tel Aviv for gay women, see "Quick guide to Tel Aviv" online.