Marcia Freedman

Marcia Freedman
Date of birth	17 May 1938
Place of birth	Newark, United States
Year of aliyah	1967
Knessets	8
Faction represented in Knesset
1974–1975	Ratz
1975–1976	Ya'ad – Civil Rights Movement
1976–1977	Independent Socialist Faction

Marcia Freedman (Hebrew: מרשה פרידמן‎‎, born 17 May 1938) is an American-Israeli activist on behalf of peace, women's rights, and gay rights. In the early 1970s she helped create and lead the feminist movement in Israel. Freedman was the founding president of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom and a past president of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

Born in Newark in the United States, Freedman was active in the American Civil Rights Movement between 1960 and 1967. In 1967 she immigrated to Israel, and soon became involved in activism and politics. She became famous from her desire to improve abortion laws and raise awareness to the civil rights movement. She helped found the Israeli feminist movement in 1971.

In 1973, the feminist movement decided to support Shulamit Aloni's Ratz (the Civil Rights Movement), and Freedman was given third place on the Ratz slate. She caught Shulamit Aloni's attention based on her passion, commitment, and enthusiasm for the movement. Aloni asked Freedman to be the third seat on the party. The party won three seats, and Freedman was elected to the Knesset. Ratz soon merged into Ya'ad – Civil Rights Movement, but Freedman and Aryeh Eliav broke away to form the Social-Democratic Faction (later renamed the Independent Socialist Faction). Freedman served in the Knesset from 1974 to 1977. She became a large advocate for Gay Rights movements because she came out as a lesbian to her daughter and her daughter started to isolate from her.

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