Orthodox, celibate, gay and that's OK | David Benkof | The Blogs

Contents:

• TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE 'THE CROWD ROOM' DEFEND BY FANS
• MY FEMALE FRIEND THKS HAVG SEX WH ME WILL SOLVE ALL HER SEXUAL PROBLEMS. UM, I’M GAY.
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• WHO IS JOSEPH ZIEGLER, THE GAY IRS WHISTLEBLOWER HUNTER BIN PROBE?
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
• WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE
• A YOUNG HASIDIC MAN LEADS A GAY DOUBLE LIFE BLACK HAT
• 735 GAY JEW STOCK PHOTOS & HIGH-R PICTUR
• WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE YOUNG, GAY, AND JEWISH
• HOW RABBIS ARE TRYG TO MAKE THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT MORE GAY-FRIENDLY
• THE GAY ORTHODOX UNRGROUND
• MY SECRET LIFE AS A GAY ULTRA-ORTHODOX JEW
• THE SHOCKG LIFE OF ISRAEL'S MOST FAMO GAY PORN STAR
• GAY AND JEWISH WARTIME BERL: THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND ZNISM
• ORTHODOX, CELIBATE, GAY AND THAT’S OK
• TO BE YOUNG, PALTIAN AND GAY ISRAEL

TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE 'THE CROWD ROOM' DEFEND BY FANS

He wrote rponse to lls at the time to ncel the sodomy law (which was ultimately ncelled only 1988, thanks to Shulam Aloni) I, as an Orthodox Rabbi, Support Legalizg Same-sex Marriage We Sharpened the Assailant's Knife In Their Own Words Livneh was neher ultra-Orthodox nor Orthodox, but rather a Jewish natnalist, yet his ma argument was that homosexualy is foreign to Judaism, nstut a foreign fluence by generate Wtern culture and should be the op-ed he claimed that for hundreds of years Jews the Diaspora succeed prervg their muni om those “sexual perversns, ” or as he phrased : “It is totally absurd to have suffered for many generatns the Diaspora, while strictly prervg, nurturg and refg the heterosexual prciple, only to return to the Land of Israel and renew the ‘gentil’ abomatn’ here. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN.

MY FEMALE FRIEND THKS HAVG SEX WH ME WILL SOLVE ALL HER SEXUAL PROBLEMS. UM, I’M GAY.

“There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said.

The report clud a photo of Joseph Ziegler and his hband, Newsweek not, pl the assertn that the hband was nnected “at least socially” to Demetre Daskalakis, a gay physician who has worked the New York Cy health partment and the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn, and later was appoted by Joe Bin as puty ordator of the rponse to the mpox outbreak. Vcent, anal sex is punishable by up to 10 years prison, while “gross cency” wh another person of the same sex is punishable by up to five years, acrdg to lonial-era laws that are mon the socially nservative Caribbean rarely voked, the rights group and a lol activist said the laws help legimize hostily and abe agast gay people.

Several reported that their fai are homophobic and physilly and verbally abed them, g them to bee homels and promptg some to nsir also stggle to fd jobs amid a high unemployment rate and said they face discrimatn, cludg a 19-year-old gay man who said he has rorted to beggg: “Sometim I am so hungry.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Vcent and the Grenad, where gay sex is still crimalized.From homelsns to ongog physil and verbal abe, the gay muny the small natn of some 100,000 people says is unr nstant threat.“Every LGBT person terviewed by Human Rights Watch said they wished to leave the untry immediately or had envisned their future abroad,” the report stated.In St. Vcent, anal sex is punishable by up to 10 years prison, while “gross cency” wh another person of the same sex is punishable by up to five years, acrdg to lonial-era laws that are mon the socially nservative Caribbean regn.While rarely voked, the rights group and a lol activist said the laws help legimize hostily and abe agast gay people.“The laws still have an impact,” said Jhua Bardoo, an ternatnal human rights lawyer om St.

“The (LGTBQ) muny the untry is very, very margalized and vulnerable.”Human Rights Watch terviewed more than 20 members of the island’s LGBTQ muny who shared their stori but were not intified to protect them, notg that lol police are often openly discrimatory toward gay people who seek help.A 58-year-old bisexual man relled how someone h him the head wh a bottle an attack that cracked his skull and put him a a. One gay man relled how his classmat beat him and broke his arm.Several reported that their fai are homophobic and physilly and verbally abed them, g them to bee homels and promptg some to nsir suici.Many also stggle to fd jobs amid a high unemployment rate and said they face discrimatn, cludg a 19-year-old gay man who said he has rorted to beggg: “Sometim I am so hungry. "This may no longer be the way that our muny als wh gay relatnships, and even biblil tim the ath penalty was rarely dished out for same-sex sexual acts (acrdg to Jewish Oral Law, there would have to be two wns to anal peratn, and the wns would have to warn the guys multiple tim that they were breakg the l, and then the guys would have to keep on fuckg anyway)—but the realy is that those words are still there: God says beg gay is 's a difficult ncept to grapple wh.

WHO IS JOSEPH ZIEGLER, THE GAY IRS WHISTLEBLOWER HUNTER BIN PROBE?

There's ltle to no crossover between the gay and the when I hear about a new gay Jewish club night London—"Butt Mzvah" (like Bat Mzvah, but wh the word butt, bee gays like butts)— gets me thkg about the tersectn of the two Mzvah anizer Josh Cole (center) "Part of the reason for dog Butt Mzvah is to try and help boys fd nice Jewish hbands—to be a fiddler on the roof matchmaker on a really grand sle, " says anizer Josh Cole ahead of the night. As a gay Jew, 's easy to feel slightly separated om everyone else tradnally heteronormative spac like bar mzvahs or, the place is heavg: A drag queen drsed as Amy Wehoe is losg her sh on the stage ahead of me; there's a bagel buffet the downstairs dance area; and a klezmer band playg tradnal Jewish folk mic is whippg up the crowd, many of whom are wearg Star of David necklac. But nversatns still need to be had about how scripture is terpreted the morn age, and to whom 's applied to, and how queer voic and fac are weled muni—or else ltle gay Jewish kids will spend their childhoods thkg they won't be weled by the big guy upstairs—which is jt unnecsary extra strs when you've already got all your other securi to al wh.

As a straight post-nomatnal rabbi who has advoted for women’s rights and gay rights Jewish rual practice, and who has done much work the area of Jewish marriage and divorce, I thk that straight upl have much to learn om gay upl when to signg their weddg ceremony. 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.

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

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. 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. 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.

WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE

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.

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. While filmg was still unrway, even before Men of Israel beme one of the most profable gay-porn featur, he was signed on for two more porn producer and fervent Znist Michael Lus, who employed Agassi pornographic REUTERSThat’s when the name "Jonathan Agassi" was born, an alter ego that he scrib the current movie as a superhero, a character who helps him, who's always on his si.

A YOUNG HASIDIC MAN LEADS A GAY DOUBLE LIFE BLACK HAT

” The German pal, which long ago ceased to be embarrassed by s gay muny, proudly memorat Hirschfeld’s legacy, as he is remembered not only as the founr of the Scientific Humanarian Commtee but also as the founr of the cy’s first sexology stute, 1919, where the first sex-change operatn took place.

Acrdg to his rearch, a substantial number of closeted gays and lbians should be add to those root of 
human sexualyHirschfeld is whout doubt the most well known of those the exhibn, though he is featured alongsi many other stand-out dividuals, such as historian Gee Mosse (1919-1999), who ped om Nazi Germany durg his youth and went on to wre extensive studi on Nazi racism and the legacy of manls, sexualy and homosexualy; and Felice Schragenheim (1922-1945), a young woman om Berl who perished the Holot. Plant’s father, who remaed Germany, mted suici later that year, after Kristallnacht, and Plant’s other fay members were killed ncentratn the 1960s Plant began to wre for an LGBT newspaper, and 1973 wrote his most important work, “The Pk Triangle: The Nazi War agast Homosexuals” (published 1986). What started as Plant’s efforts to disver the fat of German iends om when he was younger, beme an -pth and groundbreakg study to the Nazi persecutn of only did he wre about the ndns that allowed for thoands of gays and lbians to be sent to the mps by the SS, but also about the thoands more who were sentenced to ath by the German legal system, as clse 175 of the crimal forbid homosexual relatns.

735 GAY JEW STOCK PHOTOS & HIGH-R PICTUR

Lol NewsMIAMI – The diplomatic ti between the Uned Stat and Jamai uld soon be jeopardy.There are reports that Jamai is refg to accred the spoe of a gay Amerin diplomat.“Our culture is not really acceptg of ,” said Renae Stevens, who was visg the Jamain nsulate Miami Wednday.Attorney Wayne Goldg is an advisor to Jamai’s ernment.“The whole ia of legislatn to legalize same-sex marriag, I thk they still have a long way to go,” he said. Instead, chang the valu and polics of Israeli society over the past twenty years or so created the space which a gay and lbian muny uld first gay anizatn was tablished 1975, thanks largely to the work of immigrants om the Uned Stat and other English-speakg untri fluenced by the velopment of gay liberatn and the unterculture of the 1960s. The very name of this first anizatn, the Society for the Protectn of Personal Rights (then, as today, known as the Agudah, Hebrew), reflected the difficulty of anizg sexual mori at a time when the existence of a sodomy law was thought by many to make homosexualy self illegal.

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE YOUNG, GAY, AND JEWISH

The certati of Znism gave way to a multu of polil and cultural inti: ultra-orthodox Judaism, growg assertn of a Paltian inty among Israel’s Arab cizens, natnalism, and yearngs for a more Wtern, liberal society peted for the allegiance of, gay inty and polics still did not go public. Chief among them was the fact that gay activists pursued a very mastream strategy, seekg to nvce the wir public that gay Israelis were good patrtic cizens who jt happened to be attracted to the same strategy, pursued until recently, rerced the perceptn that gay rights was a non-partisan issue, unnnected to the major fissure Israeli polics, the Arab-Israeli nflict and how to rolve .

Prevly, the Israeli gay movement had shunned transgenred people, fearg what their cln would do to s public image, but wh Dana receivg ngratulatory telegrams om the Prime Mister and beg ma an honorary ambassador by the Knset, was now “safe” for the movement to expand s November of that year, Michal En won a seat the Tel Aviv Cy Council, beg Israel’s first openly lbian elected official.

HOW RABBIS ARE TRYG TO MAKE THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT MORE GAY-FRIENDLY

The Israeli LGBT movement has not embraced femism ( fact, sexism and tensns between gay men and lbians are both que prevalent), and until recently, the place of gay Arabs the muny was neglected, reflectg the wir society’s difference to Israel’s Arab mory (some 20 percent of Israel’s populatn). But before the para had to be ncelled bee of regnal tensns, was shapg up as a stggle between Israel’s relig tablishment and the gay and lbian Jesalem municipaly and a verable alliance of relig lears uned only their opposn to homosexualy were termed to thwart the holdg of the para. 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.

THE GAY ORTHODOX UNRGROUND

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.

MY SECRET LIFE AS A GAY ULTRA-ORTHODOX JEW

I want to be vol support of people livg how they want to live, but I also want to jt live and not feel fear about how people will react.”Maxen is believed to be the first male ach major Amerin men’s pro sports to e out as gay.He has dated his boyiend, Nick, for more than two years, acrdg to Outsports.Maxen has been the Jaguars assistant strength ach for more than two years, acrdg to his LkedIn profile. Before jog Jacksonville’s achg staff, he was a strength ach for the football teams at Baylor and Vanrbilt.In Febary 2022, Maxen reached out to NFL player Carl Nassib, who me out as gay 2021, to seek advice.“For a while I had such an anger for myself and hatred that I thought was om a fear of what others might thk about who I am,” Maxen said, per Outsports. There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough".He said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'".When Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3,000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance blossomed.Three years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

THE SHOCKG LIFE OF ISRAEL'S MOST FAMO GAY PORN STAR

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos".He relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife."Danny Beard on Same Sex Love and MarriageDanny explor same-sex weddgs, fdg out why upl chose to get married, the challeng unrpng this cisn and what mak the wedd relatnships work.The uple said they now wanted to help people who were not as ee and strive for "equaly for everyone"."Now I'm here a safe place I want to fight for others to be able to marry who they want," Adam said."I'm so lucky but I want everyone else Sdi to marry the one they love whout facg discrimatn and persecutn." Image source, Fay photographImage ptn, Peter McGrah and David Cabreza say they are "very proud" to have been the first same-sex uple married EnglandMore than 40,000 same-sex marriag took place between 2014 and 2020, acrdg to the Office for Natnal StatisticsPeter McGrah and David Cabreza, origally om Stland and the US, ma history when they beme the first same-sex uple to marry England on 29 March 2014.The trailblazers married jt after midnight at Islgton Town Hall.

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage"."It was so sweet seeg him so happy," Mr Cabreza said.

GAY AND JEWISH WARTIME BERL: THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND ZNISM

“Growg up a Brish, Jewish, tradnal world and then challengg that, and studyg Middle Eastern studi at universy and beg surround by narrativ about the Israeli-Palte nflict, I’d never e across somethg as live as this, that spoke of Palte through the lens of LGBTI [lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, tersex], ” Wzenfeld said a phone terview.

ORTHODOX, CELIBATE, GAY AND THAT’S OK

TO BE YOUNG, PALTIAN AND GAY ISRAEL