Sweeping Israeli Gay Rights Bills Proposed

Tzipi Livni, a member of Israel's Parliament, has introduced the "Shira Banki bills," which could establish numerous protections for the nation's LGB citizens.

If passed, Livni's package of legislation would establish civil unions for the first time and offer same-sex couples the same rights as marriage. The bills would also add tolerance teachings to school curriculums, ban so-called conversion therapy, ease surrogacy rules for gay parents, and keep better track of people who have committed hate crimes.

The extremist who stabbed six people July 30 at Jerusalem Pride -- including 16-year-old Shira Banki, who later died -- committed a similar crime 10 years earlier and had just been released from prison.

Livni wants the "Shira Banki bills" brought to vote at the opening of the Parliament's winter session in October.

"The Shira bills are meant to be a deterrent and make it clear to anyone planning a hate crime and thinks that violence and racism are the way that their actions will be met with the advancement of equality and tolerance in Israeli society," Livni said, according to The Jerusalem Post.