Contents:
- A YOUNG GAY ORTHODOX MAN DIED BY SUICI. WE MT NONT HOW JEWISH TEACHGS HARMED HIM
- GAY IN LLIE JORDAN HAS DIED AT THE AGE OF 67
- COLORADO MOM SAYS 9-YEAR-OLD SON WHO CAME OUT AS GAY DIED BY SUICI AFTER SCHOOL BULLYG
- LTLE RICHARD WAS ANTI-GAY WHEN HE DIED, BUT HIS QUEER CULTURAL FLUENCE OVERSHADOWS ALL
A YOUNG GAY ORTHODOX MAN DIED BY SUICI. WE MT NONT HOW JEWISH TEACHGS HARMED HIM
As we mourn Herschel Siegel, we nnot fet the difficulty he faced as a gay Orthodox Jew. It is pecially paful that, even when victims were openly gay themselv, the Orthodox muny too often ref to acknowledge or value this part of who they were.
And Orthodox Jews should all have the right to raise children le wh the plited beliefs whout beg labeled as bigoted, homophobic or evil. He was a lovg son, a rg iend, a supportive siblg, a gifted actor, a person who grappled wh mental illns and a urageo young gay man growg up the Orthodox Jewish muny. RelatedYhiva Universy is left mourng after a beloved gay alum di by suici.
GAY IN LLIE JORDAN HAS DIED AT THE AGE OF 67
He wrote: “My very EXISTENCE as a gay, Jewish, Male was an abomatn … and even s later, that fear-based thought pattern epts to my nscns, at the most unexpected of tim … ‘abomatn’… is the only fg aspect of my ‘herent self-worth.
COLORADO MOM SAYS 9-YEAR-OLD SON WHO CAME OUT AS GAY DIED BY SUICI AFTER SCHOOL BULLYG
Instead, was quotg what most Orthodox Jews unrstand to be the leral words prted last week’s Torah portn, wrten by God, which ll homosexualy an “abomatn servg of ath. In a gratuo footnote acpanyg the verse Levic 18:22, the Stone Chumash reads: “The harshns wh which the Torah scrib homosexualy ttifi to the repugnance which God holds those who engage the unnatural practic.
LTLE RICHARD WAS ANTI-GAY WHEN HE DIED, BUT HIS QUEER CULTURAL FLUENCE OVERSHADOWS ALL
Policizg his ath don’t help gay Jews. Rearch nsistently shows an elevated risk for suici among queer youth om muni that reject homosexualy. If we teach that beg gay is immoral, and fill our synagogu wh prayer books that nvey the msage that God fds gay people repugnant, then there will be vulnerable young people the muny who take that msage serly.
In the rabbi’s logy, “mental illns” (while an important aspect of Herschel’s story) was ed to hi, distract, disunt and ultimately erase Herschel’s gay inty.
It seemed like any suggtn that there were lsons to be learned about makg life easier for gay men like Herschel, was seen as ak to blamg the fay and muny for Herschel’s ath.