Two lesbian Londoners have won a landmark high court ruling in Israel, after a wedding hall refused to host their wedding party.
The Times of Israel reported that Israeli couple Yael Biran and Tal Yakobovitch, who live in south London, wanted to hold a party in Israel in Yad Hashmona, near Jerusalem in 2008 after getting married in a civil ceremony in London.
The couple were awarded NIS 60,000 (about £9,400) last week and the wedding venue owners also had to pay NIS 20,000 (£3,000) in legal and court fees.
The women were denied permission to hold their wedding in a hall near Jerusalem
The wedding venue, Yad Hashmona Hall, was owned not owned by Orthodox Jews, but by Messianic Jews, who believe in Jesus.
Their legal defence was that homosexuality was "against the will of God. This is our very strict and committed belief."
Yakobovitch, a theatre director and Biran, an animator, were urged to take action by Biran's brother.
Judge Dorit Feinstein at Jerusalem's Magistrate Court ruled that the wedding hall was not a religious building but a public business, and could not reject their custom, according to a 2000 law which forbids discrimination in entry to public places, entertainment venues and services.
The couple told TOI that they will be putting their compensation money in two saving accounts: one for their two-year-old son, and one for the child that Yakobovitch is currently expecting.