Yuval David, celebrated and award-winning actor, host, director, and filmmaker will host and speak at The Aguda’s Pride in the Living Room event, in Hebrew termed Gaava Basalon, currently scheduled for October 17. Yuval will also be keynote speaker at an additional virtual event shared on Instagram Live on October 6, at 1 p.m. DC/NY and 8 p.m. Israel time.
Yuval’s creative mantra to entertain, uplift, and inspire transcends into advocacy, especially for Jewish, LGBTQ, Israeli, American and human rights, as well as arts initiatives.
The Aguda is the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel, and Israel’s pioneering LGBTQ organization. At their Pride in the Living Room events, participants, communities, and organizations come together to create safe spaces for dialogue about Judaism and the Jewish LGBTQ community.
The October 6 event will specifically focus on the challenges of Israeli and LGBTQ advocacy, especially amidst this past year, during the pandemic and with the rise of antisemitism globally. The intersection of Jewish and LGBTQ identity is filled with pride, but also the challenges of double marginalization.
According to Yuval, “Pride in the Living Room is a way to authentically share stories, express identity, and create community through bringing people into our homes, even if virtually. This event also exposes those who don’t personally know LGBTQ+ individuals to have an opportunity to hear their story, as well as have an intimate discussion about LGBTQ+ and religious identity, and the intersection of both.”
According to Tomer Barash at The Aguda, “These events take place in Israel in living rooms in religious cities and the surrounding areas, Arab-Israeli villages, and more. These conversations lead to a growth of love and understanding in our society. For the second year, The Aguda is expanding the reach of this initiative not only in Israel, but globally through online forums, creating living rooms across the globe where the complexities of LGBTQ+ identity from all faiths are explored together, especially to promote understanding in all religious communities.”
Shira Banki, a 16-year-old who was murdered during the Jerusalem Pride March in 2015 by an extremist ultra-orthodox Jew, inspired the creation of Pride in the Living Room in 2016. The murder of Banki made it clear that there was a need for open dialogue between the LGBTQ+ community, the general public of Israel, and the rest of the world. Five years later, Pride in the Living Room continues to invite friends, family, neighbors, and the public to join in the conversation with LGBTQ+ speakers from their living rooms.
Yuval David finds it critically important to expand the reach of this initiative to people across the globe, including all religious groups. As the director of a feature length documentary exploring the intersection of LGBTQ+ and religious identity, Yuval has a great understanding of the positive impact that people of different faiths coming together can have on a community. The film, titled Wonderfully Made, focuses specifically on the aspirations and challenges of LGBTQ+ Catholics and their complicated relationship with the Church.
Beyond this initiative, Yuval advocates for marginalized communities through his creative work and social action, supporting the organizations below.
– Embassy of Israel to the United States: Keynote Speaker
– Consulate General of Israel in New York: Speaker, Panelist, and MC for events and initiatives.
– Shoah Foundation: Speaker and panelist for events and initiatives. Storytelling Fellow. Member of the Creative Council, creating new content incorporating testimonies filmed by The Shoah Foundation
– Jewish National Fund: Host & Director of Documentary Content, Speaker and MC
– Jewish Council for Public Affairs: Speaker and Event MC. Host of video content.
– Keren Kayemet: Speaker and panelist.
– Stand With Us: Narrator and Host of documentary videos and social media content. Speaker and Panelist.
– A Wider Bridge: Speaker, MC, and advocate for the organization, connecting Israeli and American LGBTQ communities. Member of the Leadership Council.
– The Aguda, the Israeli LGBTQ rights organization: speaker, panelist, and host of events, including advocating on joint initiatives.
– American Israel Cultural Foundation: Member, Performing Artist, and Speaker
– Chabad: Speaker and Panelist.
– The Jewish Learning Institute: Speaker and Panelist.
– End Jew Hatred: Keynote Speaker, Workshop Leader
– Zikaron BaSalon: Keynote speaker
– JewBelong: Speaker. Member of Board of Directors.
– National LGBTQ Task Force: Speaker and Workshop Leader at annual Creating Change Conference; Advocate and Speaker at numerous events, including advocating to elected officials about LGBTQ initiatives; National Leadership Council;
Host and Director of Documentary Video Content
– GLAAD: Partner for advocacy initiatives in press/media
– Lambda Legal: Speaker and workshop leader.
– Covenant House NY: Speaker at events for homeless youth
Beyond the roles mentioned here, Yuval is frequently a guest speaker, panelist, and workshop leader for Jewish organizations, LGBTQ Centers across the US and abroad, as well as LGBTQ organizations.
About The Aguda
The Aguda, the National Association for LGBTQ in Israel, is Israel’s pioneer lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organization. The Aguda is a national grassroots, volunteer-based, nonprofit human-rights organization representing the LGBTQ community. The Aguda promotes and advances new initiatives and cultivates leadership and partnership with all sectors and groups within the community. The Aguda strives for full equality for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people. The organization aspires to create a public and social climate of acceptance and respect for the LGBTQ community and its individuals.
About Yuval David
Yuval David is an innovative actor, host, and filmmaker with a creative mantra to entertain, uplift, and inspire. As an actor, Yuval plays major roles in short form and full-length feature films, television, theatre, web, digital media, and voice overs. These include What Would You Do (ABC), Madam Secretary, The Michael J Fox Show (NBC), Beauty and the Beast (Disney), in addition to productions with HBO, Comedy Central, DreamWorks, AFI, and theatres across the globe.
As a TV Host/Presenter, Yuval focuses on societal, humanitarian, and entertainment programming. As a filmmaker, Yuval produces, directs, and writes short and feature films, documentaries, web-series, digital and TV content, including the award-winning episodic series’: One Actor Short, Pranks of Kindness, Better World with Yuval David, What Makes You Beautiful, and numerous others.
Inspired by his Jewish and Israeli-American roots, Yuval advocates for all marginalized communities through his creative work and social action, including the Israeli Consulate, Shoah Foundation, the Jewish National Fund (JNF), Keren Kayemet, Stand With Us, A Wider Bridge, The Aguda, American Israel Cultural Foundation, Chabad, The Jewish Learning Institute, and #EndJewHate, among other organizations. Yuval is frequently invited to host, MC, and speak on behalf of cultural, humanitarian, philanthropic, social, and political initiatives and institutions.
