What It's Like to Be Young, Gay, and Jewish

Contents:

• HOW N YOU BE GAY AND JEWISH?
• WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE YOUNG, GAY, AND JEWISH
• LGBT-DOX: IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE GAY AND ORTHODOX JEWISH?/ BY TALIA
• “ARE THERE GAY JEWS?”

HOW N YOU BE GAY AND JEWISH?

Two vers Levic (Levic 18:23 and Levic 20:13) exprs unequivol nmnatn of male homosexual sex (although is not clear whether what is referred to is terurse or all sexual acts between men). ”READ: Puttg The Prohibn Agast Homosexualy ContextAs evint by s language, the biblil prohibn do not extend to female homosexual acts, though later mentators disapproved of lbianism. Several tradnal sourc temper the harshns of the “abomatn” by cg the lack of procreative potential as the reason for the abomable nature of the homosexual act.

Nohels, the tradnal Jewish posn on homosexualy is still difficult for many liberal-md Jews, and the liberal nomatns have bated the extent to which gays and lbians n be fully tegrated to relig Conservative Halakhah and HomosexualyThe first and least ntroversial step taken by the Conservative, Renstctnist, and Reform movements was to endorse civil equaly for gays and lbians. In 1977 drafted a ll to crimalize homosexual sex and to end all discrimatn based on sexual how do one get around the apparently unambiguo biblil prohibn agast homosexualy? Th some Jewish thori have argued that sce homosexualy is not chosen, s exprsn nnot be, the Reform movement do not nmn homosexual sex, and openly gay people are eligible for admtance to Reform rabbil schools.

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

In addn, the Reform movement approv of rabbic officiatn at same-sex marriag and mment Denomatnal Approach on Ordag Openly Gay and Lbian RabbisDaniel Siegel, the Rabbic Director of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, has endorsed same-sex marriage specifilly bee he believ that hols should not be limed only to certa people and certa relatnships. Usg this as her startg pot, Rebec Alpert, a Renstctnist rabbi, has argued that the ernment’s refal to regnize same-sex marriage vlat relig rabbis wh the Conservative movement also ce the ncept of on ( which an dividual has no real choice) permtg homosexual sex.

LGBT-DOX: IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE GAY AND ORTHODOX JEWISH?/ BY TALIA

In December 2006 the Conservative Movement’s Law Commtee voted to accept two ntradictory thuvot (posns) on homosexualy halakhah — one reaffirmg the stat quo, and one affirmg change. The rult of the vote is that rabbis, synagogu, and other Conservative stutns may choose to ntue to not perm mment ceremoni and not hire openly gay or lbian rabbis and ntors, or may choose to do so.

The cisn also paved the way for the movement to orda openly gay recent years, there has been an creased awarens of the prence of gays and lbians more tradnal Jewish muni as well. Steven Greenberg, a gay Jewish tor who was ordaed as an Orthodox rabbi, wr and lectur on the possibili for gays and lbians the Orthodox muny. Fally, Tremblg Before G-d, a crilly acclaimed 2009 documentary about gay Orthodox Jews, has ma a signifint impact raisg nscns about homosexualy the Orthodox world.

“ARE THERE GAY JEWS?”

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. A later, the Conservative movement reversed s longstandg ban on gay sexual activy and reversed s policy of not ordag gay and lbian rabbis. 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.

While there is ltle ditn that this posn is severely ntted wh that muny, let alone likely to change the near future, there have been iativ to make Orthodox muni more welg of gay Jews. A statement thored 2010 and signed by over 200 Orthodox rabbis exprsly weled gay Jews fully to synagogue life even as reerated tradnal Orthodox opposn to gay sex and same-sex marriage. And a number of grassroots groups for gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr Orthodox Jews and their fai have emerged, cludg JQY and about gay marriage?