Gila Goldstein

Gil Goldstein was born in Turin as a male with name Abraham Goldstein. After immigrating to Israel she lived in Haifa. Goldstein realized she is a transgender in 1960 and became Gila. She worked as a prostitute in Haifa parks. She had the sex reassignment surgery in Belgium in 1960 - the first officially documented sex reassignment surgery for an Israeli. In the early 1970s, Goldstein lived in Europe and worked as a dancer and striptease performer. When she returned to Israel, she performed in nightclubs and bars, including Bar 51. She served as the prototype of one of the characters in Amos Gutman's film "Bar 51". Goldstein recorded several songs and performed them in "Allenby 58" club in 1990s. In 1998, together with Nino Orsiano she had music program on the local radio. She was awarded the Israeli LGBT community prize in 2003 and Miami LGBT Film Festival Award for the best supporting actress for her role in "Good boys" in 2005. In 2010 she starred in the TV series for children and in the same year, a documentary film was made about her life. The organization that provides assistance to transgender people was named after her in 2011. In 2015, in recognition of her service to the community, she had the honor to go at the head of the Tel Aviv pride parade. Gil Goldstein died of a stroke on February 5, 2017. She was buried a man by the name of Ilan Ronen. Originally it was reported as a request of her family, which was later declined by family representatives. The funeral was attended by actors, politicians and representatives of the LGBT community.