It gets better - Jewish and Gay
With thanks to Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz who pointed me to this; a very powerful piece exploring sexuality, Judaism, coming out, and bringing it all together... we'll be exploring more of these issues alongside the new Reform statement on same sex kiddushin at West Hampstead Yeshivah next Tuesday: click here for a very silly teaser...
Hi Debbie
ReplyDeleteNearly twenty years ago I studied at that campus with some of those teachers, and things were very different then. My year was the first that out lesbigay students were officially accepted. And we were not allowed to know who the closeted rabbis were until after our ordination.
It is good to see that the College-Institute is demonstrating its current diversity in such a public way. I worry, though, that the American Reform Jewish community has a giant reality gap between theory and practice. They talk the talk, but the separation of church and state means that there is still very little protection against prejudice in the synagogue workplace.
I hope that positive changes will continue to be made, despite the fact that my negative experiences in that field are still a source of pain for me.
kol tuv
aj.
Thanks for sharing aj... I think things are still uneven but are improving all the time, whether in regard to sexuality or gender. I think there is also often a gap between a movements ideals and the realities of people's comfort levels and ignorance on the ground. But change must come... and you helped to bring it.
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