It’s a relig imperative that Orthodox Jews to fully embrace gay Jews and LGBTQ+ people, wr Rabbi Jonathan Leener.
Contents:
- THE GAY ORTHODOX UNRGROUND
- FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM
- MY SECRET LIFE AS A GAY ULTRA-ORTHODOX JEW
- WE ORTHODOX JEWS SPERATELY NEED GAY RABBIS
- MORN ORTHODOX JEWS ARE MOSTLY OBSERVANT, WEALTHY AND GAY-FRIENDLY
- IN THE US, GAY NVERSN THERAPY NTU SOME ORTHODOX MUNI
THE GAY ORTHODOX UNRGROUND
There is no official membership, and only a handful of people are willg to put their nam on support-group Ashkazy, a gay-rights activist and Orthodox Jew who liv New York Cy, says he has spoken wh over 200 gay Orthodox Jews over the past few years. Filmmaker Sandi DuBowski, who produced and directed Tremblg Before G-d, terviewed hundreds of gay um (observant) Jews over the past few years for his movie. Open and Secret Support Groups In the New York area, home to the largt ncentratn of gay Orthodox Jews, at least four support groups have spng up to meet their needs.
’" The three founrs of the Gay and Lbian Yhiva Day School Alumni Associatn chose that name specifilly to attract a gay group wh an Orthodox background. The first Wt Coast support group was found Los Angel by "Jab, " a 54-year-old Orthodox gay Jew who had been married and livg a New York suburb until ten years ago, when he nfsed to his wife that he was gay.
He started attendg an Orthodox synagogue, but was treated as a send-class member (he did not receive aliyot [he was not lled up to the Torah], for example) bee he was gay. Richard Isay, a gay New York-based psychoanalyst, timat that 15 to 20 percent of gay men marry women–bee they want to ny or "cure" their gayns, or want children, or to please their parents. 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.
FIRST OPENLY GAY ORTHODOX RABBI ORDAED JESALEM
Consired s totaly, Orthodox Jewish tradn down firmly favor of heterosexualy as God’s tentn for humany, which has turn severely limed the acceptance of homosexualy wh the Orthodox muny. Diversy Orthodox ApproachWhile virtually no Orthodox rabbi explicly sanctns homosexual relatnships, there is some diversy of opn how the Orthodox muny ought to rpond to gay Jews.
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.
”In 2011, a group of mostly ultra-Orthodox rabbis, along wh some Morn Orthodox on and a number of mental health profsnals, released “The Declaratn On The Torah Approach to Homosexualy. However, rejected the notn that homosexualy is an sentially unchangeable orientatn as a theologil impossibily and sisted that “healg” gay urg is the only religly acceptable approach. Conversn TherapyConversn therapy — sometim also lled reparative or change therapy — refers to the effort to “cure” gays of same-sex attractn and enable them to lead heterosexual liv.
MY SECRET LIFE AS A GAY ULTRA-ORTHODOX JEW
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.
WE ORTHODOX JEWS SPERATELY NEED GAY RABBIS
The ultra-Orthodox claratn on homosexualy sists that homosexual impuls n be modified and that therapy n help wh “healg” the “emotnal wounds” that lead to homosexual sir. The claratn is featured on a webse that clus extensive rourc aimed at unterg the “misrmatn” that homosexualy is blogilly termed and atttg to the possibily of Orthodox rabbis have e to renounce their support for nversn therapy.
MORN ORTHODOX JEWS ARE MOSTLY OBSERVANT, WEALTHY AND GAY-FRIENDLY
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. ”Incln and OrthodoxyA number of anizatns have spng up the Uned Stat and Israel an effort to promote acceptance and clivy for gays and lbians wh Orthodox muni. 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.
In 2004, Greenberg published Wrtlg wh God and Men: Homosexualy the Jewish Tradn, which sought to rest the tradnal biblil prohibn on gay sex as a ban on exploative sex that aims to exercise power or to mean.
IN THE US, GAY NVERSN THERAPY NTU SOME ORTHODOX MUNI
Ias about LGBTQ clivy have been rapidly evolvg and diversifyg sce the turn of the 21st century, as I document “Queer Judaism, ” my forthg book about homosexualy and Orthodox Judaism Israel.