Creating an art exhibit that captures the complexity of changes in how gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people are viewed is no small challenge. Especially when it is displayed at a rabbinical seminary, where there is a stricter definition of what is considered appropriate than there would be at, say, a Cheslea gallery….
When the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission was founded in 1990, sodomy laws were prevalent. Amnesty International’s platform didn’t include LGBT rights. The United States wouldn’t grant asylum to refugees on the basis of sexual orientation. The world’s changed since then, and so has IGLHRC. Since earning consultative status at the United Nations…
A new survey of Jewish communal organizations found that 50 percent of them have taken significant steps to welcome gays and lesbians and their families. The Jewish Organization Equality Index provides benchmarks for gauging and improving policies regarding gay, lesbian bisexual and transgendered persons at North American Jewish communal organizations. The index was released Sunday…
I came out when I was 28, old by “normal” standards. I’d been dating the woman I’m with currently for about six months at the time and while I’d never been in a relationship with a woman prior to this her, I knew that it was serious. I knew it wasn’t a phase and I…
Let me start with my bona fides. For several years, and at significant personal cost, I have spoken out about Israeli policies in the West Bank, in particular the settlements and the route of the separation barrier, which I deem to be generally illegal, immoral and harmful to both Israelis and Palestinians. I am also…
Israeli lawmaker Anastassia Michaeli (Yisrael Beiteinu) continued her onslaught on homosexuals in an interview for the Israeli daily Maariv that will be published on Thursday. “Young girls become pregnant and have abortions that hurt their chances to get pregnant in the future, and in the end they become lesbians,” Michaeli said in an interview. “Relationships…
‘Reparative therapy” for gays and lesbians, which attempts to “change” sexual orientation and is neither reparative nor therapy, is the last gasp of bad theology. It exists to solve a theological crisis. On the one hand, Jews are told that God loves us and that “it is not good… to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18) On…
Not a month goes by without a young person just out of the closet — or sometimes that person’s shocked parents — contacting me in search of Orthodox leaders to respond credibly to their questions. It was this reality that was on my mind as I confronted the backlash to a same-sex commitment ceremony I…
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