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(JTA) — On her first visit to Israel and its main gay pride parade, \u201cOrange is the New Black\u201d star Lea DeLaria said the Jewish state seems to have no unattractive women.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are apparently no ugly women in Israel,\u201d DeLaria, a lesbian who plays the character of a masculine lesbian prison inmate on the hit television comedy series, told Ynet in jest during an interview Tuesday upon her arrival in Israel for the first time as a guest of the Israeli Tourism Ministry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve not seen one ugly woman yet,\u201d DeLaria continued, \u201cbut I can\u2019t figure it out because I\u2019ve seen, I\u2019ve definitely seen ugly men here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2013 debut of \u201cOrange Is the New Black\u201d garnered 16 Emmy Award nominations, winning four awards, and set viewership records, according to Netflix, the online streaming television giant that produced the series. Netflix does not publish the specifics of its viewership statistics, but DeLaria told Ynet the series had reached more than 80 million viewers worldwide.<\/p>\n
The series follows an upper-class woman\u2019s trials in federal prison, including the strains it places on her Jewish life partner. Lesbian sex is a constant theme in the series, including in the life of the protagonist.<\/p>\n
DeLaria, who is also a gay rights activist, also said she \u201cnever in a million years\u201d thought that homosexuality would feature so prominently in a mainstream series like \u201cOrange Is the New Black.\u201d She also didn\u2019t believe the United States would legalize same-sex marriage as the Supreme Court did last year in a ruling striking down state bans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve been fighting for,\u201d DeLaria said. She added that she had been assaulted and hospitalized for being gay.<\/p>\n
She also told Ynet she never thought she would \u201cbe in Israel, in the Old City, standing at the Western Wall and have an man in your army, with his gun, there to protect people, come up” and ask her to pose with him for a picture.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Tourism Ministry invited DeLaria to attend the events in the framework of the country\u2019s Gay Pride week, which will culminate on June 3 with the gay pride parade in Tel Aviv. The city\u2019s first gay pride event took place in 1993. This week, tens of thousands of locals and tourists are expected to participate in the parade, which features floats with dancers and ends at a beach party that usually continues until well into the following morning.<\/p>\n
Tel Aviv is widely considered one of the world\u2019s leading tourist destinations for gays and lesbians, with several gay community publications crowning it the world\u2019s best travel destination.<\/p>\n