Following U.S. President Barack Obama's dramatic announcement Wednesday that he supports gay marriage, MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) said he plans to introduce a freedom of choice in marriage bill next week, Israel's Channel 2 reported on Thursday. The proposed law would allow civil marriages for those who choose them or for those whose unions would not be recognized by the rabbinate. One type of civil marriage the law would allow is marriage between two people of the same sex. Same-sex marriage already exists in dozens of other countries. The proposed law will be submitted for a vote in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia. "Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are not able to realize their basic right to marry in their own country and are forced to marry abroad at great expense, all because of blatant religious coercion," Horowitz said in a statement. "Thus, for instance, a significant portion of immigrants from the Soviet Union are not recognized as Jews by the rabbinate and are not permitted to marry. Tens of thousands of same-sex couples also have no redress in Israel." "It is not acceptable for the State of Israel to deny its citizens a basic right like the right to marry and start a family. This is insufferable and unacceptable discrimination that has to be ended," the statement continued. Until now Netanyahu has used the religious parties and the false status quo as a tool to block legislation for equal rights and the struggle against religious coercion. With the inauguration of the huge coalition, this excuse no longer applies and now the prime minister and his new partners from Kadima will face the real test." On Thursday evening Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told a gathering of the Likud GLBT caucus (a group of gay registered Likud members) that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans communities are an integral part of the Jewish people and state of Israel. "The very fact that I came here demonstrates that the Likud welcomes the gay caucus and its integration into the Likud. This is in keeping with the Likud's character as a national-liberal party. I am proud to be here with the gay community." When asked whether Kadima's entry into the coalition would make it easier to seek gay rights Steinitz said, "I don't know if it would make it easier for us to work toward equality. We have all kinds of coalition partners. At the same time I think that every citizen should feel important, legitimate and like they have a contribution to make. No one needs to feel pushed aside, persecuted or oppressed, certainly not the gay community." When asked about his position on gay marriage. Steinitz replied, "Fifteen years ago I felt it was not right to allow gay marriage. Now I understand the point much better from both a moral and rational point of view, and I believe we should consider it. But I don't think it is feasible that gay marriage will be allowed in Israel in the near future." Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich also weighed in on the issue, writing on her Facebook page on Thursday: "I admit I was rather stunned by the firestorm and the huge interest roused by President Obama when he came out in support of same-sex marriage. It seemed obvious to me that this would be his position. To clear up any doubts, I support introducing civil marriage in Israel and absolute freedom of choice between civil and religious marriages, with civil marriage of course including same-sex marriage." "I was happy to hear the announcement of the U.S. president saying he supported same-sex marriage," said MK Nino Abesadze (Kadima), the chairwoman of the Lobby Against Homophobia. "Now that we have joined the coalition, we need to see whether our partnership with Likud, which recently started a Likud LGBT group supported by most ministers, is real and based on our being a liberal country, or whether we will continue to live in the shadow of the religious establishment." Abesadze added that at the Kadima convention to take place at the end of the month, a motion would be introduced to recognize same-sex marriages as part of the Kadima platform. Obama's historic declaration on Wednesday saying he supports same-sex marriage continues to reverberate around the world. During the remarks, which were broadcast Thursday morning in an interview with ABC, the U.S. president admitted he would have preferred to declare his support "in my own way on my own terms, but alls well that ends well. His announcement also received widespread support among U.S. celebrities, who filled their Twitter accounts with praise.