In the ’70s and ’80s, our letter-wrers went to battle over gay rights

Contents:

• 100 YEARS AGO, GERMANY’S ‘ESTE OF SEX’ BEGAN THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• LGBTQ PRI MONTH: OY VEY, WHY ARE SO MANY JEWS GAY?
• FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM
• MEET THE RABBI WHO BRGS ORTHODOX LBIANS TOGETHER WH GAY MEN SO THEY N HAVE KIDS
• ORTHODOX, CELIBATE, GAY AND THAT’S OK
• ‘RACISM IS VERY PREVALENT THE JEWISH MUNY.’ A BLACK, JEWISH, GAY LEAR SPEAKS OUT.
• JEWISH EDIAN MODI ROSENFELD, A MASTAY FOR ORTHODOX DIENC, IS GAY. SO WHAT?
• IN THE ’70S AND ’80S, OUR LETTER-WRERS WENT TO BATTLE OVER GAY RIGHTS
• AT HOME WH ELIAD COHEN, ISRAEL’S TOP GAY IN
• TOP 13 COUNTRI WH BIGGT GAY POPULATNS
• POWERFUL TE STORY OF GAY JEWISH UPLE WHO ‘RISTED THE NAZIS THROUGH LOVE’

100 YEARS AGO, GERMANY’S ‘ESTE OF SEX’ BEGAN THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Views about homosexualyBelieve God; absolutely certaBelieve God; fairly certaBelieve God; not too/not at all certaBelieve God; don't knowDo not believe GodOther/don't know if they believe GodSample sizeShould be accepted27%30%17%1%20%5%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state.

Views about homosexualyVery importantSomewhat importantNot too importantNot at all importantDon't knowSample sizeShould be accepted27%40%22%11%< 1%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state. Views about homosexualyAt least once a weekOnce or twice a month/a few tim a yearSeldom/neverDon't knowSample sizeShould be accepted13%54%33%< 1%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state. Views about homosexualyAt least once a weekOnce or twice a monthSeveral tim a yearSeldom/neverDon't knowSample sizeShould be accepted11%9%12%69%< 1%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state.

Views about homosexualyAt least once a weekOnce or twice a monthSeveral tim a yearSeldom/neverDon't knowSample sizeShould be accepted27%9%6%57%1%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state.

LGBTQ PRI MONTH: OY VEY, WHY ARE SO MANY JEWS GAY?

Views about homosexualyAt least once a weekOnce or twice a monthSeveral tim a yearSeldom/neverDon't knowSample sizeShould be accepted34%20%14%31%1%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state. Views about homosexualyAt least once a weekOnce or twice a monthSeveral tim a yearSeldom/neverDon't knowSample sizeShould be accepted42%19%16%22%1%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state.

Views about homosexualyThere are clear standards for what is right and wrongRight or wrong pends on the suatnNeher/both equallyDon't knowSample sizeShould be accepted19%79%2%1%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state. Views about homosexualyAt least once a weekOnce or twice a monthSeveral tim a yearSeldom/neverDon't knowSample sizeShould be accepted10%7%10%73%< 1%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state.

Views about homosexualyWord of God; should be taken lerallyWord of God; not everythg taken lerallyWord of God; other/don't knowNot the word of GodOther/don't knowSample sizeShould be accepted4%22%< 1%66%7%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state. Views about homosexualyStricter environmental laws and regulatns st too many jobs and hurt the enomyStricter environmental laws and regulatns are worth the stNeher/both equallyDon't knowSample sizeShould be accepted19%78%2%1%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state. Views about homosexualyEvolved; due to natural procsEvolved; due to God's signEvolved; don't know howAlways existed prent formDon't knowSample sizeShould be accepted67%17%5%9%1%726Sample siz and margs of error vary om subgroup to subgroup, om year to year and om state to state.

FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM

As early as 1990, the Rabbil Assembly’s Commtee on Jewish Law and Standards, which sets halakhic (legal) policy for the Conservative Movement, stated their sire to “work for full and equal civil rights for gays and lbians our natnal life. In rponse to the Supreme Court’s lg favor of marriage equaly, the Unn of Orthodox Congregatns released a statement, sayg, “We reerate the historil posn of the Jewish fah, enunciated unequivolly our Bible, Talmud and Cos, which forbids homosexual relatnships and nmns the stutnalizatn of such relatnships as marriag. For their weddg, Greenberg and Cohen turned to Rabbi Steve Greenberg, the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, to velop a ceremony which bed bs partnership ntracts wh Jewish tradns of vow-takg and oaths to create a bdg agreement of obligatns unr Jewish law.

She wrote several books cludg a memoir, Survivg Madns, a Therapist’s Own Story, and Permanent Partners: Buildg Gay and Lbian Relatnships, which the LA Tim says has been referred to “as a how-to manual for same-sex upl tryg to stay together. As social attus toward lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer (LGBTQ) people have unrgone a sea change globally, stanc taken by Jewish lears and movements have changed along wh, same-sex marriag are regnized by the Reform, Conservative, Renewal and Renstctnist movements, and each movement’s rabbil semary ordas LGBTQ stunts.

MEET THE RABBI WHO BRGS ORTHODOX LBIANS TOGETHER WH GAY MEN SO THEY N HAVE KIDS

All the chang were preced by the Renstctnist movement, which began beme the first movement to accept gays and lbians as rabbil stunts 1984 and whose rabbis have long been ee to officiate at same-sex while the liberal Jewish muny has shifted markedly on this issue, homosexualy remas a vexg issue Orthodoxy, which ntu to hold fast to the Torah’s seemgly flexible rejectn of homosexual acts. ” Many thori nsir this prohibn to be one of Judaism’s rdal ss and believe mt not be transgrsed even at the threat of one’s Readg the Prohibn Agast Homosexualy ContextEven the most tradnally-md terpreters of the verse acknowledge that the Torah do not prohib homosexualy as such, but merely one specific sexual act — generally unrstood to be anal sex between two men. The biblil vers are also generally not unrstood as rejectg homosexuals as dividuals, but merely homosexual differ sharply along nomatnal The Reform movement was the first of the major nomatns to take a liberal posn toward homosexualy, adoptg the first of many rolutns on behalf of gays and lbians 1977.

Conservative: In 2006, the Conservative movement nclud a polarizg bate over homosexualy wh the endorsement of two ntradictory opns — one upholdg the movement’s prev rejectn of gay relatnships, and another retag the Torah prohibn on male anal sex but allowg for other forms of sexual timacy between members of the same sex.

The Reform movement now nsirs same-sex marriage to qualify as kiddh — the rabbic term for betrothal, a holy unn between two 2012, the same three Conservative rabbis who thored the more liberal opn on homosexualy noted above published a seri of ruals and documents pertag to same-sex marriage ceremoni and divorce.

ORTHODOX, CELIBATE, GAY AND THAT’S OK

Though the largt Orthodox rabbil group, the Rabbil Council of Ameri, had at one time mend JONAH’s work, publicly whdrew s endorsement 2012, cg evince that the therapy was effective and had potentially negative the Orthodox muny still support nversn therapy, however, part bee they believe is impossible that homosexual sir uld be both unchangeable and proscribed by the Torah. Israel has regularly touted s achievements on gay rights as a sign of s progrsive Wtern worldview, a practice some crics have rid as an attempt at “pkwashg” — that is, to distract om s treatment of the more on LGBTQ Jewish life, vis MyJewishLearng’s Khet blog.

Kameny’s Wiki b also stat that he was an Ashkenazi Jew, and this ma me wonr: Are Jews overreprented the gay muny jt as they areas of our society, such as publishg, televisn, news media, the film dtry, porn dtry, amia, the arts and bankg?

‘RACISM IS VERY PREVALENT THE JEWISH MUNY.’ A BLACK, JEWISH, GAY LEAR SPEAKS OUT.

The liberal Jewish movements have unrgone dramatic shifts their approach to gay, lbian and transgenr Jews the past two s, but among the Orthodox the chang have been far ls dramatic — and many quarters, virtually seemgly clear biblil nunciatns of homosexual sex, as well as the rp of rabbic mentari and legal s based on those vers, lim how far Orthodox Judaism, marked by s fily to tradnal unrstandgs of Jewish law, or halacha, n move on this several efforts have emerged recent years to lend more support to Orthodox Jews experiencg homosexual sir and make the muny more passnate and welg toward them, all the efforts stop short of sanctng gay relatnships. The two pol of this bate are fairly well leated by two petg statements on the first, entled “Statement of Prcipl on the Place of Jews wh a Homosexual Orientatn Our Communy, ” was drafted by a faculty member at the liberal Orthodox rabbil school Yhivat Chovevei Torah and released 2010. While acknowledgg the halachic (Jewish legal) ban on homosexual sex and rejectg any acceptance of same-sex marriage, the statement neverthels asserted that gays should be weled as full and equal members of Orthodox muni and should, most s, not be enuraged to marry someone of the oppose genr.

The Statement of Prcipl cled to weigh on the qutn of whether homosexual orientatn is geic and unchangeable, or if is a choice, as some people 2016, the Israeli Morn Orthodox rabbil group Be Hillel issued a siar statement, urgg that gays be allowed to serve “any munal pacy. It is regard as effective and potentially harmful by the Amerin Medil Associatn, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, the Amerin Psychologil Associatn and many the Orthodox muny, who for theologil reasons fd impossible to accept that a homosexual orientatn is unchangeable, ntue to advote for such therapi. The RCA had prevly endorsed JONAH’s work, but whdrawg s endorsement the uncil ced evince that the therapy was effective and had potentially negative 2010 Statement of Prcipl assertg that gays should be weled affirmed “the relig right of those wh a homosexual orientatn to reject theraptic approach they reasonably see as els or dangero.

Jewish Queer Youth, or JQY, was found 2001 and acts as a support group and advocy group for LGBTQ Jews, wh a particular emphasis on Orthodox Orthodox Parents Uned by Love of Torah…And Our LGBT ChildrenIn 2015, JQY helped anize a nference that brought together Orthodox rabbis and mental health profsnals to talk about homosexualy what is believed to have been the first public discsn of s Tremblg Before G-d EffectThe progrs of gays and lbians gag acceptance wh Orthodoxy, limed though may be, is often creded to the 2001 documentary Tremblg Before G-d, which thst the stggl of Orthodox gays and lbians to the public nscns as never before.

JEWISH EDIAN MODI ROSENFELD, A MASTAY FOR ORTHODOX DIENC, IS GAY. SO WHAT?

The film’s sympathetic portrayal of dividuals tryg to rencile their sexualy wh their relig mments earned high praise, but some the Orthodox muny saw as a shallow attempt to legimize viant sexual film promently featured Steven Greenberg, wily known as the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi. In the short story “A Letter to Harvey Milk” by Llea Newman, an old Jewish man, a Holot survivor, remembers the temporary homosexual relatnship he had Achwz and how his mate was put to ath for beg gay, and how that ath has hnted him for the rt of his life.

IN THE ’70S AND ’80S, OUR LETTER-WRERS WENT TO BATTLE OVER GAY RIGHTS

Rabbi Nathan Lop Cardozo, another proment rabbi who has ocsnally e to nflict wh the Orthodox mastream, agreed wh Lans, tellg JTA that while he didn’t have a rabbic source to back up, he believ that “the prohibn [on homosexual acts] only appli to those who are purely heterosexual. Lans said that the genis of his transformatn om the mastream Orthodox posn, which views homosexualy as a grave s, me several s ago after he explaed to members of his own ngregatn the Uned Stat why he had cled to attend a nference anized by the Central Conference of Amerin Rabbis after the Reform-affiliated group passed a rolutn on LGBT cln.

The Amerin Psychologil Associatn has clared no solid evince exists that such change is said his method is meant for those who n't change, yet want to rema observant and have began matchg lbians and gay men six years ago, he said, bee he regnized a "ep distrs" among people "facg a ad end road. Once they are married, they each pay around $400 for Harel's 's secular majory has largely embraced the Wtern gay rights movement that has led to six ci, among them New York, legalizg same-sex gay marriage IsraelThere is no gay marriage Israel primarily bee there is no civil marriage and all weddgs mt be done through the Jewish rabbate, which do not marry gays and nsirs homosexualy a s and a vlatn of Jewish adoptn is officially illegal but some upl get around the law and surrogacy is an optn for many same-sex upl.

AT HOME WH ELIAD COHEN, ISRAEL’S TOP GAY IN

There are mpaigns to allow for civil marriage which uld eventually pave the way for legalizg gay marriage but Israel is far om, Tel Aviv is nsired one of the most gay-iendly ci the world, wh annual pri paras fillg streets and rockg to late Orthodox Jews, homosexualy generally is nsired an abomatn. Only the more liberal streams of Judaism embrace gay upl and even gay recent years, a number of relig gay groups have emerged, jog pri paras and mandg to be accepted while not gog so far as to ask for relig regnn for their liberal relig gay group Havta oppos Harel's approach, sayg seeks to "erase" homosexuals om the Orthodox muny. Yonatan Gher, the head of the Jesalem Open Hoe, a gay muny center and advocy group, said he don't judge the liftyle choice Harel advot, but hop young relig homosexuals don't feel prsured to choosg have cricized Harel's method bee don't try to disurage gays and lbians om seekg to change their sexual orientatn.

In the 1990s, a wispread gay Jewish attu toward Levic 18:22 (ually translated as “you shall not lie down wh a male, as wh a woman: this is an abomatn”) was so pathetic seems funny today: liberal Rabbi Arthur Waskow terpreted the verse to mean, sentially: “Don’t have sex wh a man as wh a woman.

TOP 13 COUNTRI WH BIGGT GAY POPULATNS

Surely gays who try to be celibate uld learn om the experienc of people 12-step programs (and no, homosexualy is not an addictn) who have shared their experience, strength, and hope that people n bt overe nearly unntrollable cravgs by focg on one day at a time. Rabbi Lamm’s argument nsired the typil se of homosexualy to be a sickns, but Rabbi Farber stretched the same halachic tegory to expla why he’s not troubled by homosexually active um men, sce they “really have no choice” other than same-sex behavr.

Rabbi Chaim Rapoport (thor of the only good book I’ve read about this subject – Judaism and Homosexualy: An Authentic Orthodox View) poted out to me the irony that both Orthodox Jews who mand reparative therapy and totally permissive Reform Jews fd profound theologil challeng the ia that God allows gays no possible romantic life.

POWERFUL TE STORY OF GAY JEWISH UPLE WHO ‘RISTED THE NAZIS THROUGH LOVE’

Image, as jt one example, a morated, nfintial E-mail listserv for young men stgglg wh homosexualy – a safe, low-prsure environment for learng about Jewish law and ias and their practil applitns for people who need guidance makg good Jewish cisns about sexualy. By ntrast, Rabbi Greenberg says he tells young gay men lookg for halachic advice that “if you fd a mted monogamo partner and avoid anal terurse, you are better off halachilly speakg than all the Orthodox Jews you know who do not keep the niddah (menstal pury) laws.