24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists
Lesbian Debut Fiction
The Girls Club, by Sally Bellerose, Bywater Books
Megume and the Trees, by Sarah Toshiko Hasu, Megami Press
My Sister Chaos, by Lara Fergus, Spinifex Press
Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation, by Christine Stark, Modern History Press
Zipper Mouth, by Laurie Weeks, The Feminist Press at CUNY
Lesbian General Fiction
The Dirt Chronicles, by Kristyn Dunnion, Arsenal Pulp Press
The Necessity of Certain Behaviors, by Shannon Cain, University of Pittsburgh Press
Six Metres of Pavement, by Farzana Doctor, Dundurn Press
When She Woke, by Hillary Jordan, Algonquin Books
Wingshooters, by Nina Revoyr, Akashic Books
Lesbian Memoir/Biography
How to Get a Girl Pregnant, by Karleen Pendleton Jimenez, Tightrope Books
Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet, by Catherine Friend, Da Capo Press/Lifelong Books
Small Fires: Essays, by Julie Marie Wade, Sarabande
Taking My Life, by Jane Rule, Talonbooks
When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love & Revolution, by Jeanne Córdova, Spinsters Ink
Lesbian Mystery
Dying to Live, by Kim Baldwin & Xenia Alexiou, Bold Strokes Books
Hostage Moon, by AJ Quinn, Bold Strokes Books
Rainey Nights: A Rainey Bell Thriller, by R.E. Bradshaw, R.E. Bradshaw Books
Retirement Plan, by Martha Miller, Bold Strokes Books
Trick of the Dark, by Val McDermid, Bywater Books
Lesbian Poetry
15 Ways to Stay Alive, by Daphne Gottlieb, Manic D Press
Discipline, by Dawn Lundy Martin, Nightboat Books
Love Cake, by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, TSAR Publications
Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry, edited by Julie R. Enszer, A Midsummer Night’s Press
The Stranger Dissolves, by Christina Hutchins, Sixteen Rivers Press
Lesbian Romance
For Me and My Gal, by Robbi McCoy, Bella Books
Ghosts of Winter, by Rebecca S. Buck, Bold Strokes Books
Rescue Me, by Julie Cannon, Bold Strokes Books
Storms, by Gerri Hill, Bella Books
Taken by Surprise, by Kenna White, Bella Books
Lesbian Erotica
The Collectors, by Anne Laughlin writing as Lesley Gowan, Bold Strokes Books
Lesbian Cops: Erotic Investigations, edited by Sacchi Green, Cleis Press
A Ride to Remember & Other Erotic Tales, by Sacchi Green, Lethe Press
Story of L, by Debra Hyde, Ravenous Romance
Gay Debut Fiction
98 Wounds, by Justin Chin, Manic D Press
Dirty One, by Michael Graves, Chelsea Station Editions
Have You Seen Me, by Katherine Scott Nelson, Chicago Center for Literature and Photography
Mitko, by Garth Greenwell, Miami University Press
Quarantine: Stories, by Rahul Mehta, Harper Perennial
Gay General Fiction
The Empty Family, by Colm Tóibín, Scribner
The Great Night, by Chris Adrian, Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Leche, by R. Zamora Linmark, Coffee House Press
The Stranger’s Child, by Alan Hollinghurst, Alfred A.Knopf
The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov, by Paul Russell, Cleis Press
Gay Memoir/Biography
Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo, by Michael Schiavi, University of Wisconsin Press
For the Ferryman: A Personal History, by Charles Silverstein, Chelsea Station Editions
Halsted Plays Himself, by William E. Jones, Semiotext(e)
If You Knew Then What I Know Now, by Ryan Van Meter, Sarabande Books
The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African Childhood, by Glen Retief, St. Martin’s Press
Gay Mystery
The Affair of the Porcelain Dog, by Jess Faraday, Bold Strokes Books
Blue’s Bayou, by David Lennon, Blue Spike Publishing
Boystown: Three Nick Nowak Mysteries, by Marshall Thornton, Torquere Press
Malabarista, by Garry Ryan, NeWest Press
Red White Black and Blue, by Richard Stevenson, MLR Press
Gay Poetry
Dear Prudence: New and Selected Poems, by David Trinidad, Turtle Point Press
Double Shadow: Poems, by Carl Phillips, Farrar, Straus & Giroux
A Fast Life: The Collected Poems of Tim Dlugos, edited by David Trinidad, Nightboat Books
Kintsugi, by Thomas Meyer, Flood Editions
The Other Poems, by Paul Legault, Fence Books
Gay Romance
Every Time I Think of You, by Jim Provenzano, CreateSpace/Myrmidude Press
Settling the Score, by Eden Winters, Torquere Press
Something Like Summer, by Jay Bell, Jay Bell Books
Split, by Mel Bossa, Bold Strokes Books
Tinseltown, by Barry Brennessel, MLR Press
Gay Erotica
All Together, by Dirk Vanden, loveyoudivine Alterotica
Backwoods, by Natty Soltesz, Rebel Satori Press
Best Gay Erotica 2012, edited by Richard Labonte, Cleis Press
George Platt Lynes: The Male Nudes, edited by Steven Haas, Rizzoli New York
History’s Passions: Stories of Sex Before Stonewall, edited by Richard Labonte, Bold Strokes Books
Transgender Fiction
The Book of Broken Hymns, by Rafe Posey, Flying Rabbit
The Butterfly and the Flame, by Dana De Young, iUniverse
I am J, by Cris Beam, Little, Brown Books for Children
Static, by L.A. Witt, Amber Allure/Amber Quill Press
Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica, edited by Tristan Taormino, Cleis Press
Transgender Nonfiction
Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex, edited by Eric A. Stanley and Nat Smith, AK Press
Letters For My Brothers: Transitional Wisdom in Retrospect, edited by Megan M. Rohrer and Zander Keig, Wilgefortis Press
Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law, by Dean Spade, South End Press
Re-Dressing America’s Frontier Past, by Peter Boag, University of California Press
Tango: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels, by Justin Vivian Bond, The Feminist Press at CUNY
Bisexual Fiction
Boyfriends With Girlfriends, by Alex Sanchez, Simon & Schuster
The Correspondence Artist, by Barbara Browning, Two Dollar Radio
Have You Seen Me, by Katherine Scott Nelson, Chicago Center for Literature and Photography
Triptych, by J.M. Frey, Dragon Moon Press
The Two Krishnas, by Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla, Magnus Books
Bisexual Nonfiction
Big Sex Little Death: A Memoir, by Susie Bright, Seal Press
Bisexuality and Queer Theory: Intersections, Connections and Challenges, edited by Jonathan Alexander & Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio, Routledge
The Horizontal Poet, by Jan Steckel, Zeitgeist Press
Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature, edited by Qwo-Li Driskill, Daniel Heath Justice, Deborah Miranda, and Lisa Tatonetti, University of Arizona Press
Surviving Steven: A True Story, by Ven Rey, Ven Rey
LGBT Anthology
Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing, edited by Lazaro Lima & Felice Picano, University of Wisconsin Press
The Fire in Moonlight: Stories from the Radical Faeries, edited by Mark Thompson, White Crane Books/Lethe Press
Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader, edited by Michael Hames-García and Ernesto Javier Martínez, Duke University Press
Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme, edited by Ivan E. Coyote & Zena Sharman, Arsenal Pulp Press
Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature, edited by Qwo-Li Driskill, Daniel Heath Justice, Deborah Miranda, and Lisa Tatonetti, University of Arizona Press
LGBT Children’s/Young Adult
Gemini Bites, by Patrick Ryan, Scholastic
Huntress, by Malinda Lo, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
I am J, by Cris Beam, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
PINK, by Lili Wilkinson, HarperCollins
Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy, by Bil Wright, Simon & Schuster
LGBT Drama
Letters to the End of the World, by Anton Dudley, Playscripts, Inc.
A Menopausal Gentleman: The Solo Performances of Peggy Shaw, by Peggy Shaw, University of Michigan Press
Secrets of the Trade, by Jonathan Tolins, Samuel French, Inc.
The Temperamentals, by Jon Marans, Chelsea Station Editions
The Zero Hour, by Madeleine George, Samuel French, Inc.
LGBT Nonfiction
Gay in America: Portraits by Scott Pasfield, by Scott Pasfield, Welcome Books
God vs. Gay?: The Religious Case for Equality, by Jay Michaelson, Beacon Press
The H.D. Book, by Robert Duncan, University of California Press
A Queer History of the United States, by Michael Bronski, Beacon Press
Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories, by Wanda M. Corn and Tirza True Latimer, University of California Press
LGBT SF/F/H
The German, by Lee Thomas, Lethe Press
Paradise Tales: and Other Stories, by Geoff Ryman, Small Beer Press
Static, by L.A. Witt, Amber Allure/Amber Quill Press
Steam-powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft, Torquere Press
Triptych, by J.M. Frey, Dragon Moon Press
LGBT Studies
Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex, edited by Eric A. Stanley and Nat Smith, AK Press
Freedom with Violence: Race, Sexuality, and the US State, by Chandan Reddy, Duke University Press
Sister Arts: The Erotics of Lesbian Landscapes, by Lisa L. Moore, University of Minnesota Press
Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality, by Margot Weiss, Duke University Press
¡Venceremos?: The Erotics of Black Self-making in Cuba, by Jafari S. Allen, Duke University Press
24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Host Committee
David McConnell – Co-Chair
Don Weise – Co-Chair
S. Chris Shirley – Co-Chair
Charles Rice-Gonzalez – Ceremony Director
Jamie Brickhouse – Publicity Chair
Brad Boles
J.Brooks
Mario Lopez-Cordero
David Gale
James Hannaham
Wayne Hoffman
Michele Karlsberg
Dean Klinger
Jay Moore
Dan Manjovi
Bill Miller
Heather O’Neill
Pauline Park
Lori Perkins
Jay Plum
Melanie La Rosa
Patrick Ryan
Eddie Sarfaty
Liz Scheier
Bob Smith
Linda Villarosa
Warren Wilson
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Tags: 24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced, 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, Lambda Award Finalist, Lambda Award Finalists, Lambda Literary Award
38 Responses to “24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced”
Richard Fumosa 11 June 2012 at 4:12 PM #
I’m really thrilled that The Two Krishnas, by Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla, which I acquired for Alyson Books, finally found a home and is a finalist for Best Bisiexual Fiction
Reply
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
1.Have You Seen Me Is a Lambda Literary Awards Finalist!!! – Katherine Scott Nelson - March 20, 2012
[...] http://www.lambdaliterary.org/foundation-updates/03/20/24th-annual-lambda-literary-award-finalists-a… [...]
2.TRIPTYCH Nominated for TWO Lambda Literary Awards - March 20, 2012
[...] And now, the official press release: [...]
3.Lambda Literary Finalists Announced | JL Merrow - March 20, 2012
[...] pleased to see Boystown by Marshall Thornton on the list – he’s an excellent writer whose books don’t get the attention they deserve. Like [...]
4.Lammy nomination! « blogwala - March 20, 2012
[...] thrilled to be on the Lambda Literary shortlist! Check it out here. Share this:ShareEmailFacebookTwitterStumbleUponLinkedInTumblrRedditLike this:LikeBe the first to [...]
5.Congrats to Lammy finalists Peggy Shaw and Jill Dolan, authors of ‘A Menopausal Gentleman’ - March 20, 2012
[...] edited and with an introduction by Nathan Award-winning critic Jill Dolan, is a finalist for the 24th Annual Lambda Literary Award in the category of LGBT Drama. The University of Michigan Press would like to congratulate our [...]
6.2012 Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced | PQ Monthly - March 20, 2012
[...] “For three consecutive years we have broken the records for both book nominees and publishers, which is extremely heartening in a time of uncertainty for the publishing industry as a whole, and LGBT publishing, in particular,” LLF Board of Trustees Co-Chair, David McConnell, says in a release. [...]
7.Eden Winters — Lambda Award Finalist! | P.D. Singer - March 20, 2012
[...] Congratulations to our Torquere authors, and to all who have been selected as finalists; see the entire list here. [...]
8.Novels « www.barrybrennessel.com - March 20, 2012
[...] Finalist, 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards [...]
9.Affirmation of faith…in myself… « Rebecca's Blog - March 20, 2012
[...] Andrea and Kev at States of IndependenceThen, today, to add to the excitement, the Lambda Literary Awards finalists were announced. And Ghosts of Winter is on the shortlist! Right there in the [...]
10.Lambda Literary Award Finalist « Flood Editions: The Latest News - March 20, 2012
[...] is a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for gay poetry! Details on the award can be found here. Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. « Before Review in Zoland Poetry [...]
11.Bringing ‘Something Like Summer’ Novel to the Screen « Blue Seraph Productions - March 21, 2012
[...] 24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced [...]
12.SF Tidbits for 3/21/12 - SF Signal – A Speculative Fiction Blog - March 21, 2012
[...] 24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced. [...]
13.That’s not erotic fiction; that’s a Google search term. « Amateur Professional - March 21, 2012
[...] DVDs – they’re the titles of two fiction anthologies shortlisted as finalists in the 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, and all I can say is why, God, [...]
14.Natty Soltesz » Awards Season, Darling - March 21, 2012
[...] = 'wpp-261'; var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":false};Backwoods has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award! This means I get to attend the awards ceremony in June in New York City and prepare my Oscar [...]
15.Lesbian Cops Could Cop An Award « The (Really) Naughty Corner - March 21, 2012
[...] full list of nominations in all categories can be found here – I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the judges find Lesbian Cops an arresting enough [...]
16.‘how to get a girl pregnant’ nominated for Lambda Literary Award! | Tightrope Books Blog - March 21, 2012
[...] Jiménez’s memoir ’how to get a girl pregnant’ has just been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in the ‘Lesbian Memoir/Biography’ category [...]
17.Locus Online News » 2012 Lambda Awards SF/F/H Shortlist - March 21, 2012
[...] Lambda Literary Foundation has announced the shortlist for the 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, celebrating excellence in LGBT literature in a wide variety of categories, including [...]
18.‘Something Like Summer’ Nominated for Lambda Literary Award « Blue Seraph Productions - March 22, 2012
[...] Like Summer, was named a finalist for Best Romance on Tuesday for the prestigious 2012 Lambda Literary Awards, due to be awarded in June in New York [...]
19.Thursday Catching up | Crazy QuiltEdi - March 22, 2012
[...] 24th Annual Lambda Literary Award finalists have been announced and the following are the nominees in the YA [...]
20.Up Next: Miseducation of Cameron Post | lesbian meets book nyc - March 22, 2012
[...] the Lambda Awards were announced this week. I have read nil on this list which is pretty pathetic so I’d love to [...]
21.Items about books I want to read, #29 « Alchemical Thoughts - March 23, 2012
[...] Lambda Literary, the announcement of the finalists for the 24th Annual Lambda Awards. I always like keeping track of this list to get ideas for LGBTQ reading. The list always feature [...]
22.New Mystery Novel Set In Boystown - The Boystown Blog - March 24, 2012
[...] Boystown 4: A Time For Secrets is the first full length novel in the Boystown mystery series from author Marshall Thornton. The mystery series is set in Boystown, Chicago in the early 1980s, and chronicles the exploits of private investigator Nick Nowak as he investigates tough cases (and seems to have spontaneous sex wherever he goes). One of Thornton’s previous installments, Boystown: Three Nick Nowak Mysteries, is a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. [...]
23.20 Lambda Literary Award Finalists! | The Daily Pretzel - March 26, 2012
[...] Our publishers have twenty–count them, TWENTY–books in the running for the Lambda Literary Awards! [...]
24.kt literary » Blog Archive » More Good News for PINK! - March 26, 2012
[...] are due once again to Lili Wilkinson, whose US debut novel Pink is officially a Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Children’s/Young Adult! The complete list of nominees in that category follows: [...]
25.The GLAAD Wrap: Bully Movie Opens, Matt Bomer On Glee, And Lambda Literary Awards Finalists Announced | LGBT Human Rights. Gay News, Entertainment, Travel - March 30, 2012
[...] The Lambda Literary Foundation has announced the nominees for the Lambda Literary Awards. The “Lammys,” now in their twenty-fourth year, [...]
26.In the news: Honors for Herrera, Tafolla, Brown, Sanchez | The Hispanic Reader - April 1, 2012
[...] Córdova’s When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love & Revolution received nominations from the Lambda Literary Awards, which honors gay-lesbian-bisexual-trangendered works. Other nominated books include Gay Latino [...]
27.April Ain’t Foolin’! » Jay Bell Books - April 1, 2012
[...] for some really exciting news. Something Like Summer is a finalist in 2012’s Lambda Literary Awards! If you’re not familiar with the Lammies, they’re sort of like the Oscars, but celebrating gay [...]
28.Megume and the Lammys | Sarah Toshiko Hasu - April 5, 2012
[...] news! Megume and the Trees has been named a Lambda Literary Awards (a.k.a. “Lammys”) finalist in the “Lesbian Debut Fiction” category! I am honored, and so proud of my novel! [...]
29.Love People, Forget the Plumbing - April 27, 2012
[...] I’ve recieved (Triptych is nominated for both the Bi and the SF/F categories in the Lambda Literary Awards), but I didn’t set out to write an award-winning issue book. I just wanted to write a book [...]
30.Thank you! - May 3, 2012
[...] Please keep your fingers crossed for me at the Lambda Awards! [...]
31.Interview with Katherine Scott Nelson, author of Have You Seen Me >> The Thang Blog - May 21, 2012
[...] recommend you check it out. In addition to getting consistently positive reviews, it’s a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Check out KSN’s website and, once again, download Have You seen Me. Hir bio is online [...]
32.The 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards - May 23, 2012
[...] The Lambda Literary Awards will be here in early June! The Lambda Literary Foundation began in 1989 as a way to honor the best in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender literature. Past recipients of the Lambda Literary Award have included bestselling horror writer Clive Barker, novelist Lee Lynch, and sci-fi/fantasy author Nicola Griffith. Nominees include a wide range of famous authors, including Anne Rice. Here are a few of our top 2012 picks for the 24th Annual Lambda Awards, which take place in New York on June 4th. For a complete list of the 2012 nominees, please go here. [...]
33.Tinseltown « www.barrybrennessel.com - May 26, 2012
[...] Finalist, 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards [...]
34.Importantes Eventos LGBT « "Nobody is gonna rain on my parade!" - June 19, 2012
[...] http://www.lambdaliterary.org/foundation-updates/03/20/24th-annual-lambda-literary-award-finalists-a… |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8| [...]
35.Importantes eventos LGBT « "Nobody is gonna rain on my parade!" - June 19, 2012
[...] http://www.lambdaliterary.org/foundation-updates/03/20/24th-annual-lambda-literary-award-finalists-a… Share this:CompartilharEmailImprimirFacebookGostar disso:GosteiSeja o primeiro a gostar disso. [...]
36.In the Booth with Ruth – Christine Stark, Child Trafficking Survivor, Award Winning Writer and Visual Artist « Ruth Jacobs - January 28, 2013
[...] incest, dissociation, and girls in athletics called Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation. Nickels was a Lambda Literary Award finalist and I was thrilled. Currently, I’m finishing my second novel and then I’m going to [...]
37.‘I Always Hated Injustice’ Activist Christine Stark Talks to Ruth Jacobs | After Nyne - March 8, 2013
[...] dissociation, and girls in athletics called Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation. Nickels was a Lambda Literary Award finalist and I was thrilled. Currently, I’m finishing my second novel and then I’m going to complete my [...]
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The irony of excluding gays is best expressed in a lyric by the Austin Lounge Lizards: "Jesus loves me, but he can't stand you."
The gays absolutely stand on the moral high-ground on this issue.
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Talk Covers Gay Rights, Bible
By Quinn D. Hatoff, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
March 30, 2012 1 comment
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Those who look to religious scripture for guidance should support the rights of the LGBTQ community not despite their religious convictions, but because of them, said author Jay Michaelson in his talk “God vs. Gay” on Thursday night at Hillel.
Michaelson is the author of the bestseller “God vs. Gay: The Religious Case for Equality” and the founder of Nehirim, a national organization of LGBT Jews and allies. Michaelson’s work focuses on religion, spirituality, sexuality, and law, according to his website. Michaelson argued that present understandings of the Bible’s views on homosexuality are based on an overly narrow reading.
“Only six verses out of 31,000 even talk about same-sex intimacy,” said Michaelson. “But even those are obscure and subject to interpretation.”
There is no definitive answer to how narrowly or broadly biblical passages should be interpreted, said Michaelson. He pointed to the sixth commandment–thou shalt not kill–as an example.
“Two chapters later there is a discussion about the death penalty,” he said. “The Bible is not an answer key, it’s a question key.”
In addressing Leviticus 18:22, the controversial passage that reads “thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination,” Michaelson again emphasized the applicability of range of approaches.
The Hebrew word “Toevah,” since translated into “abomination” in today’s Bible, originally meant “a culturally relevant taboo,” said Michaelson. The broad term was used to describe same-sex acts, but it was also used by Egyptians to describe the act of eating with Israelites, among other things.
“I am onboard with the Bible being literally true,” he said. “Yet the Bible still has to go on to define the scope. We have to determine what is the wrong part, and what is the right part of this passage.”
Michaelson ended his lecture with a scene from Huckleberry Finn in which Huck is concerned that he will go to hell if he does not turn in Jim, an escaped slave, but ultimately decides to protect his friend.
“This isn’t a moment Huck is going to hell. This is the moment Huck becomes an adult and overcomes his prejudices,” said Michaelson. “By defying the teaching of his church, he’s actually fulfilling the highest aspirations and intentions of the religious community of which he is a part.”
Nicholas J. Mendoza, a Harvard Divinity School student, said that Michaelson’s religious approach fills an important gap in the gay rights discussion.
“I think by arguing theologically instead of politically, Michaelson meets an important need,” said Mendoza. “It is absolutely an original approach, and it speaks entirely in terms of religious thought.”
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Letter of Introduction: An Unforgettable Weekend
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An Easter Treat: Our Religious Allies
BY Trudy Ring.
April 06 2012 1:12 PM ET
.
.
All too often, LGBT people experience religion as a cudgel
used against them. But many faith traditions are becoming more accepting and
inclusive. As Christians celebrate Easter and Jews observe Passover, we take a
moment to recognize some of the LGBT activists and straight allies who are
making a difference, and several of whom have new books out. These folks are a
diverse bunch — they include a former president, a onetime Pat Robertson
associate, the first out transgender professor at an Orthodox Jewish
university, a Bible code-cracker, and more.
Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter proudly embraces his “born-again Christian”
identity but has never been a member of the religious right. He has become more
popular in his post-presidential role as statesman, humanitarian, and author
than he was during his tenure in the White House. He’s won favor with us
through his outspokenness in support of gay equality. In March, while promoting
his book
of biblical studies, NIV Lessons From Life Bible: Personal Reflections With
Jimmy Carter, he told The
Huffington Post, “Homosexuality was well
known in the ancient world, well before Christ was born, and Jesus never said a
word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things, he
never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very
fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies.” As for religious
ceremonies, it should be up to the individual church, Carter said — a position
in keeping with the First Amendment.
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An Easter Treat: Our Religious Allies
BY Trudy Ring.
April 06 2012 1:12 PM ET
.
.
JIMMY CARTER AND BOOK 390x (GETTY) ADVOCATE.COMJames Alexander Langteaux
James Alexander Langteaux spent several years working with
noted homophobe Pat Robertson as a producer and host on the Christian
Broadcasting Network, then realized that “playing strip poker with the big wigs
in Christianity today while hiding the gay card up my sleeve is a game I no
longer wish to play,” he writes
in the memoir Gay Conversations With God: Straight Talk on Fanatics, Fags
and the God Who Loves Us All. He chronicles
his journey from the Christian right to a place of spiritual and sexual
self-acceptance in lively, often raunchy prose. It’s a 21st-century
journey on the path taken two decades ago by Mel White, who came out as a gay
Christian and founded the LGBT activist group Soulforce after having been a
ghostwriter for such antigay figures as Robertson and Jerry Falwell.
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An Easter Treat: Our Religious Allies
BY Trudy Ring.
April 06 2012 1:12 PM ET
.
.
JAMES ALEXANDER LANG 390x (COURTESY) ADVOCATE.COMJoy Ladin
Poet and literature professor Joy Ladin, born Jay, details her transition from
outwardly male to the woman she always knew herself to be in Through the
Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders. The transition nearly cost Ladin her job at Stern College for Women of
Yeshiva University in New York. Yeshiva, she notes, is “Orthodox Judaism’s
premier institution of higher learning, and Orthodox Judaism, like most
traditional forms of religion, considers the things transsexuals do to fit our
bodies to our souls to be sins.” In 2007, after she notified the dean of her
plan to transition, the school placed her on “involuntary research leave,” but
eventually, in what Ladin calls a “miracle,” Yeshiva agreed to her attorney’s
demand that she be allowed to return to teaching, making her the first openly
transgender faculty member at an Orthodox university. Ladin also chronicles her
divorce, her evolving relationship with her children, finding love with another
woman, and her discovery of support for her identity in the teachings of the
great Jewish scholar Hillel. Her prose is smooth and, one might say, poetic,
and her story is fascinating.
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An Easter Treat: Our Religious Allies
BY Trudy Ring.
April 06 2012 1:12 PM ET
.
.
JOY LADIN BOOK 390x (COURTESY) ADVOCATE.COMMichael Wood
For those of us who aren’t theologians, biblical scholarship
can make the head spin, but Michael Wood, a cryptographer and son of a Nazarene
minister, was drawn to it. He began by studying what scholars called the
“Pauline Paradox,” St. Paul’s contradictory statements on whether God judges
people by their faith or their deeds. That spurred him to delve into Paul’s
condemnations of homosexuality, which are among the “clobber passages” of the
Bible used against LGBT people. In his book Paul on Homosexuality, Wood asserts that Paul has been mistranslated and
misunderstood for two millennia. Paul, Wood writes, believed that Old Testament
prohibitions on same-sex relationships were no longer valid and that Jesus’
commandment to love one another superseded all. “I would like to see this
discovery used to bring full equality to the LGBT community,” Wood said in an
interview with The Advocate. “Evangelicals
will only change their minds when their current interpretations are shown to be
indefensible. The standard approach of showing viable alternatives to all the
clobber passages does nothing to undermine the viability of the evangelical
interpretation of each of them. We must do more than just give a viable
alternative, we must show them that their alternative isn’t even a possibility.”
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An Easter Treat: Our Religious Allies
BY Trudy Ring.
April 06 2012 1:12 PM ET
.
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MICHAEL WOOD BOOK 390x (COURTESY) ADVOCATE.COM
Jay Michaelson
Supporting LGBT equality isn’t just a good social value,
it’s a religious one, writes
Jay Michaelson in God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality. Michaelson, a gay man who was closeted for years as
a practicing Orthodox Jew, writes that his relationship with God improved after
he came out, and that his extensive research has found ample support in
Judeo-Christian and other faith traditions for gay equality. “I sincerely
believe that our shared religious values call upon us to support the equality,
dignity, and full inclusion of sexual and gender minorities — that is, of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people,” writes Michaelson, the founder
of Nehirim, an organization that provides community programming for LGBT Jews.
His book makes an eloquent case that “‘God versus Gay’ isn’t just a false
dichotomy. It’s a rebellion against the image of God itself.”
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An Easter Treat: Our Religious Allies
BY Trudy Ring.
April 06 2012 1:12 PM ET
.
.
JAY MICHAELSON BOOK 390x (COURTESY) ADVOCATE.COMF. Jay Deacon
Religious fundamentalists insist that their scriptures, their
beliefs, are unchanging. But beliefs are meant to evolve, writes F.
Jay Deacon in Magnificent Journey: Religion as a Lock on the Past or an
Engine of Evolution. Deacon has certainly
been through his own evolution: When he was “a teenager bored with the very
proper Presbyterian church,” he embraced the fundamentalist strain of
Christianity at a Billy Graham crusade, then attended an Assemblies of God
seminary. His recognition that he was gay eventually led him away from
fundamentalism to the largely gay Metropolitan Community Church and finally to
the liberal, inclusive Unitarian Universalist Church, where he has been
director of the Office of GLBT Concerns; he is now minister for a Unitarian
congregation in New Hampshire. His journey has led him to call for a new type
of spirituality, one that can help counter homophobia, sexism, war, bigotry,
class exploitation, and environmental destruction. “Regression to a primitive
past is not the answer,” he writes. “Religions must transform, must evolve,
now. They must become engines of evolution, not chains binding us to that
barbaric worst of what humanity is capable.”
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An Easter Treat: Our Religious Allies
BY Trudy Ring.
April 06 2012 1:12 PM ET
.
.
F JAY DEACON BOOK 390x (COURTESY) ADVOCATE.COM Mormon Stories
In addition to the books listed on previous pages, there are
many other sources of good news for LGBT people of various faiths. Mormon
Stories, a support community for LGBT Mormons, will hold a conference,
“Circling the Wagons,” in Washington, D.C., April 20-22. Keynote speakers will
be Carol Lynn Pearson, whose book No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons
Around Our Gay Loved Ones calls for Mormons
to become more welcoming to LGBT people, and Mitch Mayne, a gay man who serves
as executive secretary to his Mormon bishop.
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An Easter Treat: Our Religious Allies
BY Trudy Ring.
April 06 2012 1:12 PM ET
.
.
MORMONS CIRCLING THE WAGONS 390x (COURTESY) ADVOCATE.COMMuslims for Progressive Values; Catholics for Equality
Muslims for Progressive Values is spreading an egalitarian,
inclusive vision of Islam with women and gays in leadership positions. It will
hold its sixth annual retreat, with the
theme “A Theology of Mercy,” in New York City in July. Spreading the progressive gospel in another faith, Catholics for Equality,
founded in 2010, is mobilizing Catholics to lobby for LGBT rights, which it
calls part of “the rich tradition of Catholic social justice teachings.”
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An Easter Treat: Our Religious Allies
BY Trudy Ring.
April 06 2012 1:12 PM ET
.
.
MUSLIMS FOR PROGRESSIVE VALUES 390x (COURTESY) ADVOCATE.COMSoulforce and More
Participants in Soulforce’s Equality Ride are taking a message of acceptance to religious colleges and other institutions
around the nation this month and next. Add to that the work of Believe Out
Loud, Faith in America, Faithful America, and many other interfaith and
faith-specific groups advocating LGBT equality, and there’s much to celebrate
in this season of rebirth.
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43 comments
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Catholics for Equality
A VERY NICE EASTER EGG FOR CATHOLICS FOR EQUALITY!
The Advocate's review of religious people and groups advancing LGBT human rights includes Catholics for Equality. This is a very wonderful compliment to us and this recognition really gives us a sense of Resurrection even as we face the long struggle within our church, especially the aggressive politics of the hierarchy trying to defeat every LGBT rights measure in the U.S. and internationally! Thank you, Trudy Ring and The Advocate!
Reply · 16 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 10:49am
Joseph Palacios · Consultant at Hughes Research Laboratories
We are mentioned on page 9!
Reply ·
· April 6, 2012 at 10:51am
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Fred Martin Wolfe
Giving thanks today for you all, and praying for the day when your message is heard and accepted far and wide across the church of Rome.
Reply · 1 ·
· April 7, 2012 at 4:39am
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David Stevens · Top Commenter · IUPUI · 115 subscribers
Carter is the real deal. Thank you
Reply · 10 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 6:59am
Jeffrey Marks · Top Commenter · Cincinnati, Ohio
I agree. It always floors me that the evangelicals had a true born again in the WH and had no clue what to do with him!
Reply · 2 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 9:07am
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David Stevens · Top Commenter · IUPUI · 115 subscribers
Jeffrey Marks it shows the ignorance and stupidity that reighns. <sp?>
Reply · 2 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 9:09am
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Caitlyn Behnke · Top Commenter · Server at Emeritus · 260 subscribers
David Stevens Reigns* (:
Reply · 1 ·
· April 8, 2012 at 4:55am
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View 1 more.
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Jeffrey Nelson
Thank you for this story. As a priest and committed Christian, it always saddens me that religion and religious people are accused wholesale of homophobia and non-acceptance. Granted, all religion and perhaps the Christian Church especially has a long history of hate for which it is in desperate need of repentance. But not all of us are the Christian stereotype often portrayed in the media and who flock in droves to the likes of Rick Santorum and the Republican Party. Many of us see acceptance not merely as the politically correct thing to do, but as the issue of our faith in God who calls us, above all, to love God and love the neighbor. Hatred is not part of the way of God, and any who espouse hatred in the name of God, no matter their religious affiliation, are not of God. Thanks to all allies of faith!
Reply · 6 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 9:51am
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Blaine Andrew
Don't forget Axios either; the Eastern Orthodox Christian organization for LGBT equality.
Also, to everyone out there saying, "Forget about religion." "Religion's a joke." or "Religion is the root of all evil." Just remember that you are losing allies that way. I am a gay Orthodox Christian and my homosexuality has not caused my faith to falter, but rather to strengthen. I have many religious friends who are our allies. We cannot divide our community. We must be willing to accept the entire LGBT community and our allies or we will never be able to accomplish anything.
Reply · 4 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 2:08pm
Brian Durham
Agreed. As a gay Eastern Catholic, I have to agree that my faith has been strengthened as well. The only problem is that the LGBT community within the Eastern Churches is more or less unheard of.
Reply ·
· April 12, 2012 at 3:56pm
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Hadrian Pethig · Top Commenter · New York, New York
I suppose I can understand the need to continually pander to the religious element in this country, but isn't this pushing things a bit? Allies?
Look. The pious enjoy their own reality, where religion is only a force for good and never evil. Homophobia materialized seemingly at random. Gay people have only been accepted in recent years and what we know of Native Americans, ancient Greece and African Two-Spirits doesn't count for anything. The Pope may have said that marriage is under attack, but he didn't actually mean it. Gay teenagers kill themselves for no apparent reason. What? Leviticus? No. That's simply a matter of interpretation. Context. Proof texting. Phone banks. Some of my best friends.
It's a bit like 1984. We've always been at war with Eastasia. We've never been at war with Eastasia. Reality is twisted inside out and back again.
It's best to just move on. Our community is too precious to waste time on such frippery.
Reply · 2 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 8:57am
Ness PK · Top Commenter · Université de Sherbrooke
The constant need to "pander" for religious allies is, in my opinion, quite necessary. Not for self-approval, but for all of those LGBT christians, muslims, jews and so on who struggle with a big dilemma: I strongly believe in Him, but how come He wouldn't accept me. I am not one myself, but I can quite easily understand their need for a faith that accept them since they accept it. Therefore, let's not leave religion behind to those who manipulate it to exclude the piousest of the followers.
Reply · 5 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 10:51am
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Sam Molloy · Top Commenter
Hadrian, even Einstein came to realize things are too complicated to have just happened. Keep an open mind and don't let those pious a##holes
Reply · 1 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 10:46pm
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Sam Molloy · Top Commenter
cloud your vision.
Reply · 1 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 10:46pm
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Morgan Hoover · Top Commenter
David Walker,
If you had ever been to the marriage equality rallies and legislatives hearings as I have in Massachusetts and Maryland time and time again, you would know she is speaking the truth.
Gay and straight gay friendly clergy and people of faith have been in numbers and time and time again a visible and supportive part of these rallies in MA and testifying on the marriage equality side at the hearings in MD every time hearings were held by the MD legislature about MD marriage equality. I have personally seen and heard first hand them taking an active role for marriage equality at these events because I was right there.
I believe Trudy.
Reply · 2 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 8:54am
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Anthony Berardo · Top Commenter · Rutgers University
Organized religion is the root of all evil! It only exists because man is afraid of death. Many of the founding father's of this country were deists--the Age of Reason must prevail.
Reply · 2 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 9:47am
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Todd O'Dell · Chattanooga, Tennessee
Love President Carter, If any of you ever get the chance to attend his Sunday School Class in Plains Ga. do. I have been blessed to attend 4 of them he is a wondeful man and a world leader.
Reply · 2 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 10:47am
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Charlie Brydon · Seattle, Washington
Heartening to read the comments by President Carter. As a participant in the first White House meeting to present the concerns of gay people at that level, I have wondered for many years how the President responded. When Assistant to the President Midge Costanza, who organized the meeting, was sacked not long thereafter, many people were disappointed and wondered why that happened. Was it a signal to LGBT interests of the President's thinking? To my knowledge, Midge's sacking has never been explained. But that was then and this is now. Thank you President Carter.
Reply · 1 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 12:30pm
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Claude Summers · Top Commenter · General Editor at Glbtq.com
To go from Jimmy Carter to a fraud like James Alexander Langteaux who actively hurt glbt people is insulting.
Reply · 1 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 7:43am
Leah Paulsen-Austin
how about grace and forgiveness? One the right track now. Who are we to judge?
Reply ·
· April 6, 2012 at 4:37pm
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Claude Summers · Top Commenter · General Editor at Glbtq.com
Leah Austin James Alexander Langteaux has always been about himself. This is just a new career move for him. He'll probably join Fox News next week and declare himself an "ex-gay" if there is more money in it for him.
Reply ·
· April 6, 2012 at 6:03pm
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Andrea White · Promotions Producer at The Inspiration Networks
How did James Langteaux hurt LGBT people? I think you may be thinking of someone else! He has never advocated ex-gay minitries nor has he ever claimed to be an ex-gay. Also, this book is not a career move for him. He funded part of the books' publishing/promotion himself, was given no advance, quit his job in television and currently has no other income. If this is a career move for him, its a pretty risky wager as there are no certainties and no safety nets. I believe if we say anything negative about anyone, we should make sure we have our facts straight. People on both sides of the gay/God debate have had issues with him writing this book... So really don't see how anyone could say its a career move for him. He has everything to lose in writing this book.
Reply ·
· April 9, 2012 at 7:59am
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Claude Summers · Top Commenter · General Editor at Glbtq.com
Andrea White Anyone who has worked for Pat Robertson is no friend of mine. See this article on Queerty: http://www.queerty.com/self-serving-700-club-producer-repents-comes-out-and-writes-a-book-what-a-mensch-20120323/
Reply ·
· April 9, 2012 at 9:32am
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Andrea White · Promotions Producer at The Inspiration Networks
Claude Summers Pat Robertson is not my favorite person either... But he has always been known for saying crazy things so I don't take him very seriously. Back when James worked for him, he was not as vocal as he is today on the gay topic. Sad, but the Queerty article was written by a very hurting person, saying things about James that just aren't true. James has never claimed that anyone can be made straight and he has never claimed to be an ex-gay. James will be the first one to tell you he wishes it hadn't taken him a lifetime to become comfortable with his own sexuality and to fully accept God's love for him as a gay man. All of us have different stories and can only face our own truth when we are ready. I look at the next generation and see a much easier coming out story for them as the cultural mindset is shifting to more of inclusion and understanding. I'm sorry if you've experienced hate by anyone who calls themselves a Christian. You, as a people, have been misunderstood and mistreated by the church for far too long. Jesus would never had done or said any of the hateful things that have been done and said to your community. God forgive all of us for not showing more love and understanding.
Reply ·
· April 9, 2012 at 10:23am
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Claude Summers · Top Commenter · General Editor at Glbtq.com
Andrea White You must be a child (or think I am one) if you believe that Pat Robertson is more homophobic today than he was earlier in his career. Or that the 700 Club was not more homophobic when Langteaux produced it than it is now. I hope that Langteaux has repented the hurtful things he has done to gay people over the course of his career, and I hope that his book is helpful to closeted people. But I'm not quite ready to make a late convert a pope, nor do I think I am wrong to be suspicious of someone who sounds more like a huckster than an authentic voice of acceptance.
Reply ·
· April 9, 2012 at 11:24am
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Andrea White · Promotions Producer at The Inspiration Networks
Claude Summers You might be right about Pat Robertson. Maybe I am just paying more attention now than I used to. I know that James Langteaux never intended to hurt any gay people. Are you saying he hurt people through association? If someone is running from their own truth, how can they stand up for the truth of others? We all have our own way of making our lives small, not realizing how integrated our lives and communities are and the impact we have on others. If someone is drowning and just trying to survive in the circle of their own truth, how can they reach out to help pull others out? And how can they be held responsible for not saving others when until now, they couldn't even save themselves? Anyone who grows up in the church, loves God and also discovers they are gay has a really hard time reconciling these things. Most people either walk away from God or try denying their sexuality. When you try to live authentically in both worlds, you are blasted from both sides. What matters is that he is living authentically now. I understand your tenitiveness and you have a right to be cautious. I just don't want to see someone with such good intentions as James be badly spoken of before he even has the chance to live in the open and prove himself in this new landscape of freedom.
Reply ·
· April 9, 2012 at 1:04pm
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Claude Summers · Top Commenter · General Editor at Glbtq.com
Andrea White I hope you are right about James Langenteaux. My point in initially posting here is that it is outrageous to include someone like Langenteaux who has just acknowledged being a part of the gay community but has previously been associated with some of the most hateful homophobes in the country alongside someone like President Carter, who has lived his faith and has defended gay people.
Reply ·
· April 9, 2012 at 1:16pm
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Andrea White · Promotions Producer at The Inspiration Networks
Claude Summers I understand your perspective and where you were coming from with you post. I hope you and others give James Langteaux the chance to prove himself. I've actually enjoyed dialoguing with you today, it's been enlightening to hear your point of view. Thank you.
Reply ·
· April 9, 2012 at 1:24pm
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Andrea White · Promotions Producer at The Inspiration Networks
One last thought on comparing Jimmy Carter to James Langteaux... Jimmy Carter is not gay. James Langteaux is. I don't think you can compare their stories and say one has lived better than the other as they are markedly different.
Reply ·
· April 9, 2012 at 3:33pm
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Joseph Streich · Top Commenter · Works at Diversified Maintenance
Jesus Christ died for all peoples sins.
Reply · 1 ·
· April 9, 2012 at 6:36pm
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David Walker · Top Commenter
"xns on YOUR Side"? You're not gay, Trudy? Or your headline writer isn't? Why not "xns on OUR side"? Srsly.
Reply · 1 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 6:52am
Dick Strawser · Eastman School of Music
not to mention the convenient lumping of Jews and Muslims under the convenient if inaccurate classification as "Christian"...
Reply ·
· April 6, 2012 at 7:00am
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David Speakman · Top Commenter · Ball State
It have to do with website Click-Through studies. Readers respond to the words "you" and "your" with clicks. People reading "our" in print see it as the publication talking about the self at the exclusion on the reader.
Reply · 1 ·
· April 6, 2012 at 8:36am
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Andrea White · Promotions Producer at The Inspiration Networks
Claude Summers you talk as if you know James Alexander Langteaux yet what you say isn't true. This book is not a career move for him involving any money. He funded part of the book himself, got no advance, left his job in television to promote it and currently has no income. Wondering where you got this? I believe if we say anything negative about anyone, we better know it for certain.
Reply ·
· April 9, 2012 at 4:01am
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Michael Manion · Top Commenter · Licensed Massage Therapist at Michaelshands · 167 subscribers
In allrelsions I learned that GOD is love. So when any people any where love one another there GOD is present to say other wise is anti-Christain and not the GOD that all religions embrace!
Reply ·
· April 6, 2012 at 10:55pm
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Niels J. Plougmann
I mourn the death of my boyfriend JAE 1967-1998...
Reply ·
· April 7, 2012 at 1:46pm
Jeremy Greig · Massillon, Ohio
My condolences Niel. I lost my partner of 6 years, February 7th of last year. One. step. at. a. time.
Reply · 2 ·
· April 7, 2012 at 3:42pm
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Niels J. Plougmann
I am so sorry for your loss Jeremy - all myLove and hugs to you rememberiing and strength to you. PM me if?
Reply ·
· April 7, 2012 at 4:32pm
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Niels J. Plougmann
I thought this grief would eventually go away - that the mourning would be less. It has not. A friend posted this on my FB page yesterday - since I was out of myself with grief - like I am every anniversary of the day I learned he had shot himself. I was not aware that it would be seen by others.
Reply ·
· April 8, 2012 at 12:36pm
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Paul Smith · Baldwin–Wallace College
Who really cares?
Reply ·
· April 7, 2012 at 6:28am
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Peter Aria Ricio
Holy Easter to all, my the Blood of Christ be always a beacon for those who need to show more their love, I am Catholic and I believe we need to show more our love to one another, what kind of World do we want to live in?
Reply ·
· April 8, 2012 at 10:43am
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Faith, love and sexuality
Written by Veronica Everett | April 9, 2012
Are religions, regardless of how they are practiced, actively hostile toward homosexuality? Or do the Old and New Testaments contain messages that transcend this common perception?
Jay Michaelson seeks a more nuanced approach to discussing religion in the context of gay rights advocacy.
Jay Michaelson seeks a more nuanced approach to discussing religion in the context of gay rights advocacy.
This evening, Portland State’s Queer Resource Center and Judaic Studies program will host a lecture by Jay Michaelson, author of God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality (Beacon). Michaelson will discuss his personal journey as a gay Jew and why advocates for gay rights should include religious arguments.
But rather than rely on the conventional tit-for-tat strategy of using one Biblical verse to refute another, Michaelson appeals to the values of love and equality present in certain faith traditions. He believes that the dialogue in favor of gay rights should no longer seek to stereotype religions as anti-gay institutions.
Michaelson is the author of four books and 200 articles on the intersections of religion, spirituality, sexuality and law. God vs. Gay?, his latest book, has been nominated for a 2012 Lambda Literary Award. He is a contributing editor to the Forward newspaper, associate editor of Religion Dispatches magazine and the founding editor of Zeek magazine.
Book of love Michaelson’s latest tome turns a new page in the spiritual dialogue about marriage equality.
Book of love Michaelson’s latest tome turns a new page in the spiritual dialogue about marriage equality.
In addition, his work has appeared in Salon, Newsweek, Tikkun, The Huffington Post and other publications. His other books include Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism and Another Word for Sky: Poems.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Vanguard: What will your lecture at PSU focus on??
Jay Michaelson: It’s a part of my tour to support my book, which is called God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality. It’s been on tour now for a few months, and I have been talking to a lot of college campuses as well as churches, synagogues and other places like that. I am trying to question the false dichotomy that many people perceive between sexuality and religion. I will be telling a bit about my story and trying to tell all of us, regardless of whether we are religious or whether we are gay or straight, to play a role in trying to have a better conversation than the one we often have about homosexuality and religion.?
VG: Do you discuss specific Biblical passages or verses in your book, or is it about the overall message of such scriptures as the Bible??
JM: That is the message of the book. We can argue back and forth about two or three verses out of 31,000 in the Bible, and we don’t really get anywhere because the real question isn’t how to make sense of Leviticus but how do we interpret our religious scriptures in a way that is true to our values. I do talk about scriptural passages in the book…but I think it’s the least interesting part. It’s not hard to read it one way or the other: You can have a really conservative reading or a really liberal reading, and you don’t get anywhere.
The answer is that we don’t have to get stuck there. We have other clues about how to interpret those passages, and how—to put it more broadly—to be in a community together. Those are values, like: It’s not good to be alone; love is holy; we should pursue justice and equality; before judging another person, we should try to be in their shoes; love your neighbor as yourself, like you would want to be loved and not in a condescending way. That’s really what the book is about.?
VG: What kind of reaction have you gotten from the more secular side of the LGBT community??
JM: Some of the questions I often get are, “Why should we care about religion?” and so on. Let’s just get away from them completely. Let the Titanic sink, and get these people off our back. I am very receptive to that view, but I think it’s actually a privileged view to take. Activists often ask: “Who are we? Who is the community that we are a part of?” To me the “we” includes people and kids who aren’t so privileged and can’t just say, “I’m over religion.” They might be in very conservative homes, or living in places where public values are dictated by religion. All I really have to say is two words: Rick Santorum. It’s just to demonstrate that religion, unfortunately for some, is playing a central role in how our secular culture conceives this issue. If we ignore that part of our culture, we are really betraying the most vulnerable members of our community.?
VG: The liberal-secular group has been known as some of the biggest supporters of gay and lesbian rights. But it’s not the Constitution vs. the Bible; it’s more about bringing religion into the conversation instead of trying to exclude it, right??
JM: I went to law school, was trained as a lawyer and I worked in public policy for a little bit, so I do get the constitutional argument, but there is something deeper here. Those who are on the pro-equality team should try to understand that folks on the other side are not all heathens, homophobes and stupid people. Some are like that, but a lot of people are sincerely troubled by what they perceive to be a conflict in their internal religious values or philosophical values. On the one hand, they want to feel compassionate towards their family members or community members. But on the other hand, they have a sincere religious belief, and it is possible to engage with that. We don’t have to just leave it on the table or tell people you have to choose one or the other.?
I was active here in New York in the marriage equality battle that we won in June last year, and it was God vs. gay every night in the media. You would see an opponent of marriage equality wearing a clerical collar or in some way indicating that they were religious. And for the marriage equality side it would be someone not religious who would not be talking about the values and would only be talking about liberty and equality. That is an important conversation, but it’s only one of the many that need to have.?
VG: It seems that being anti-religion is hypocritical in an equality debate as religion is also a civil right. What are your views on this argument??
JM: The right wing is onto this. What we see is a new wave of anti-gay activism, and it’s couching itself in the language of religious freedom: “I’m entitled to have the freedom to discriminate.” That argument is really cynical, but it stems from the failure to have the values conversation that we need to have. It’s really striking what’s happening now. The bullies have their lobby in state legislatures to try to hurt and restrict anti-bulling laws. They are calling out religious exemptions. You can beat up a kid on the playground if you say God made you do it. ?Who would Jesus bully? That doesn’t seem to be the message of the gospel.
It points to the fact that this is not just a public legal debate; it is a values debate. We are missing the heart of the matter if we refuse to engage. There are a lot of religious queer people that are happy in their religious community. They aren’t the majority in the LGBT community, but there are a lot of us. ?
VG: How old were you when you came out??
JM: I was old! I came out to myself in my 20s and out to everyone else when I was close to 30. I lived “God vs. gay.” I really thought that coming out would be the end of my religious life, but after I did I found it was the most religious thing I’d ever done. I wish when I was in college I was “out and loud and proud.” But on the other hand, that experience reminds me about what the stakes really are. I was never physically in danger, so I had it relatively easy. But I did experience what it’s like “in the closet.” I have a firsthand experience about how antithetical it is to anything I would call spirituality.?
VG: It seems that people tend to pick and choose words and passages and use them for any particular agenda they want. What are your thoughts on how religion is used as a weapon??
JM: That’s in the traditions itself. There’s the adage that the Devil can quote the Bible for his own purpose. If we’re not guided by real values, being a community and really understanding other people, it’s just a game. You can twist the Bible and any other book for that matter to do whatever you want. There is directionality to how consciousness evolves with these kinds of questions. It’s really hard to maintain that when you open your eyes and your ears to the people in your community. That’s why I feel optimistic about this struggle. It can get kind of nasty sometimes, but I know I’m going to win. When you see, even in traditional religious communities, the sense of crisis they have around this issue you know you’re going to win.
PSU’s Queer Resource Center and Judaic Studies Program present
A lecture with Jay Michaelson
Tonight
4–5:30 p.m.
Native American Student and Community Center
Free and open to the public
Print Friendly
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© 2013 Portland State Vanguard
Gotta Give 'Em Hope
I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living.... And you, and you, and you gotta give 'em hope. —Harvey Milk.
Inspired by Milk, I offer this website to anyone who feels alone, confused, unwanted and unaccepted.
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Your Stories of Hope
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Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Passover, Freedom and Triumph
Between celebrating the new babies in my family, attending a delightful Nehirim retreat and preparing myself for Passover and lending a hand to my parents for Pesach, I haven’t had much time to sit at my computer. In meantime, Gotta Give ‘em Hope received over 30,000 views the Friday before last — in just under two months! I continue to be amazed and humbled by the response, and I am thankful to all the readers and supporters.
The weekend before last, I had the great pleasure of attending a retreat hosted by Nehirim. Nehirim is an organization that fosters environments that allow for LGBT Jewish people to enjoy and explore spiritual and social community. The retreat was in the very comfortable setting of the mountains of Connecticut at the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center. I spent a lot of time talking to the many interesting and beautiful souls who are part of the wonder LGBT Jewish community, and I also spent time on my own just relaxing and reflecting over my life.
When I was still deeply in the closet and undergoing “reparative therapy” to become straight, I attended a few weekend retreats that also involved meeting other gay people, but in a very different context. We weren’t celebrating our identities; we wanted to change who we are. Those weekends were 48 hours of non-stop, planned programing. While I won’t delve into those details of those weekends, which ripe for movies on their own, I will say here that they definitely left a traumatic impression on me of “weekends” and “retreats”. On any weekend retreat now, part of me is always a little nervous of being reminded me of those 48 hour periods of absolute hell and false hopes that I had desperately wanted to be true.
After the Nehirim retreat however, I am happy to remember those two blissful days full of hope and acceptance. I was left with a strong sense of peace, joy and contentment for having been able to meet such incredible people celebrating who we are as gay Jews and our beautiful and thriving community, which is growing stronger and more vibrant and radiant through the work of Nehirim. I feel absolutely blessed and proud to be a part of it.
The Nehirim retreat served as a great reminder to me of the importance of community and great preparation for Passover, the holiday that celebrates Jewish freedom and justice. For me, it’s also an opportunity to celebrate personal freedom. This Passover has been going really well. I had spent large parts of last week and the previous helping my parents with various tasks in hard work of preparing for this holiday. I think I had a lot more preparing to do while growing up as Orthodox in my parents’ home. Now the preparation is over, and I am able to celebrate freedom with my friends and family.
I have enjoyed the wonderful company of my growing family, as well as two wonderful seders with my dear friends, the Balkany Family. I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on the meaningful things I’ve done in the past few months, the cathartic experience they’ve taken me on and the wonderful, touching feedback, emails, facebook messages and acknowledgments I have received from many people. I could have never dreamed that I would get this far in such a short time.
While I feel grateful for many things, this Passover particularly I also feel free. I have enjoyed the freedom to tell the truth to those who will listen and to offer hope to those who may feel there is none and to live freely and contentedly with who I am — a feeling that many of us are lucky have and celebrate in our lives. Diversity is what makes this world vibrant and beautiful.
I hope that everyone reading this can embrace the freedom that is our right. It might be just one click away — a phone call, or a community or family event that can change your lives; wherever your freedom is, it is most certainly there waiting for you. And, when you find it, you will feel the sweetness of nothing but acceptance, appreciation and love.
Posted by Chaim Levin at 10:13 AM
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook
2 comments:
Gotta Give 'Em Hope
I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living.... And you, and you, and you gotta give 'em hope. —Harvey Milk.
Inspired by Milk, I offer this website to anyone who feels alone, confused, unwanted and unaccepted.
Blog
About Me
Press
Resources
Your Stories of Hope
Contact & Follow
Press Inquiries
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Passover, Freedom and Triumph
Between celebrating the new babies in my family, attending a delightful Nehirim retreat and preparing myself for Passover and lending a hand to my parents for Pesach, I haven’t had much time to sit at my computer. In meantime, Gotta Give ‘em Hope received over 30,000 views the Friday before last — in just under two months! I continue to be amazed and humbled by the response, and I am thankful to all the readers and supporters.
The weekend before last, I had the great pleasure of attending a retreat hosted by Nehirim. Nehirim is an organization that fosters environments that allow for LGBT Jewish people to enjoy and explore spiritual and social community. The retreat was in the very comfortable setting of the mountains of Connecticut at the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center. I spent a lot of time talking to the many interesting and beautiful souls who are part of the wonder LGBT Jewish community, and I also spent time on my own just relaxing and reflecting over my life.
When I was still deeply in the closet and undergoing “reparative therapy” to become straight, I attended a few weekend retreats that also involved meeting other gay people, but in a very different context. We weren’t celebrating our identities; we wanted to change who we are. Those weekends were 48 hours of non-stop, planned programing. While I won’t delve into those details of those weekends, which ripe for movies on their own, I will say here that they definitely left a traumatic impression on me of “weekends” and “retreats”. On any weekend retreat now, part of me is always a little nervous of being reminded me of those 48 hour periods of absolute hell and false hopes that I had desperately wanted to be true.
After the Nehirim retreat however, I am happy to remember those two blissful days full of hope and acceptance. I was left with a strong sense of peace, joy and contentment for having been able to meet such incredible people celebrating who we are as gay Jews and our beautiful and thriving community, which is growing stronger and more vibrant and radiant through the work of Nehirim. I feel absolutely blessed and proud to be a part of it.
The Nehirim retreat served as a great reminder to me of the importance of community and great preparation for Passover, the holiday that celebrates Jewish freedom and justice. For me, it’s also an opportunity to celebrate personal freedom. This Passover has been going really well. I had spent large parts of last week and the previous helping my parents with various tasks in hard work of preparing for this holiday. I think I had a lot more preparing to do while growing up as Orthodox in my parents’ home. Now the preparation is over, and I am able to celebrate freedom with my friends and family.
I have enjoyed the wonderful company of my growing family, as well as two wonderful seders with my dear friends, the Balkany Family. I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on the meaningful things I’ve done in the past few months, the cathartic experience they’ve taken me on and the wonderful, touching feedback, emails, facebook messages and acknowledgments I have received from many people. I could have never dreamed that I would get this far in such a short time.
While I feel grateful for many things, this Passover particularly I also feel free. I have enjoyed the freedom to tell the truth to those who will listen and to offer hope to those who may feel there is none and to live freely and contentedly with who I am — a feeling that many of us are lucky have and celebrate in our lives. Diversity is what makes this world vibrant and beautiful.
I hope that everyone reading this can embrace the freedom that is our right. It might be just one click away — a phone call, or a community or family event that can change your lives; wherever your freedom is, it is most certainly there waiting for you. And, when you find it, you will feel the sweetness of nothing but acceptance, appreciation and love.
Posted by Chaim Levin at 10:13 AM
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2 comments:
Frum, Gay and MarriedApril 10, 2012 at 11:45 AM
This post is beautiful. I almost feel like it was written specifically for me. I am sure others will feel the same. It truly resonates. Even though my recent blog post on "Freedom" has a markedly different perspective, you hav accomplished what your goal in "Gotta Give em Hope" is. You have given me hope this morning.
Thank you.
Reply
RockyApril 10, 2012 at 11:54 AM
My cousin sent me this video in honor of the Passover season:
http://americancomedynetwork.com/animation.html?bit_id=24646
"Matzo Man" is a parody of the disco tune "Macho Man" and first appeared on Saturday Night Live a few years ago. The original song was sung by the Village People in the late 1970's, along with their other popular tune "YMCA".
Lorne Michaels (born Lipowitz), the creator and producer of SNL, grew up in the heavily Jewish Forest Hill neighborhood of Toronto.
Sometimes laughing helps.
Reply
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‘Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey between Genders’ by Joy Ladin
Posted on 16. May, 2012 by Jay Michaelson in Nonfiction, Reviews
“It Gets Better” is an oversimplification. We queers know this; we know that sometimes it gets worse before it gets better, and that sometimes, it gets worse again, and that other times, some days you just have to get through one at a time. And yet, like our other metaphors – Coming Out, Transitioning – It Gets Better suggests a linearity that is at odds with LGBTQ experience, even as it also, helpfully, offers hope.
Joy Ladin’s lyrical and thoughtful new memoir, Through the Door of Life, adds another before-and-after metaphor to the mix, and yet its searing narrative undercuts any such simplifications. For Ladin, life didn’t get better when she began her gender transition in 2007. In many ways, it got worse: her wife and children rejected her, her suicidal ideation intensified, and for a time she lost everything.
And yet, even without the redemptive last chapter which gives the book its title, one can still say that even if life got harder when she transitioned, it also, at least, began. Ladin vividly describes forty years of gender dysphoria, of feeling disembodied, detached, dehumanized. She was, in a way that brings the cliché new meaning, a shell of a man. Yes, after her transition, “all of the things that constituted progress – family, love, career success, financial security – had receded beyond any foreseeable horizon.” Often (perhaps even too often) she mourns these losses. But nowhere does she regret taking them on.
By coincidence, I read Through the Door of Life at the same time as Kate Bornstein’s new memoir, A Queer and Pleasant Danger. Not to state the obvious, it was remarkable how two Jewish male-to-female transgender stories could be so different. Bornstein is radical; Ladin relatively conservative (in terms of lifestyle, not politics). Ladin’s lowest ebb – wanting to cut herself – was, for Bornstein, a passion for blood sports. And as their titles indicate, Bornstein is acerbic and witty, Ladin often melancholy and poetic. (Apart from this memoir, Ladin is best known as a poet; I reviewed a recent book of Ladin’s poetry for this publication.)
Most importantly, the two differ on the meaning of gender identity itself. In Ladin’s words, “Some people glory in gender mutability, gleefully remaking themselves according to mood and occasion. I, however, am old-fashioned – a garden-variety transsexual, rather than a post-modernist shape-shifter.” Bornstein, of course, is precisely a “post-modernist shape-shifter” whose gender workbook has provided inspiration to thousands of others.
Yet Ladin is not exactly a “garden-variety transsexual,” precisely because of the self-awareness she brings to her journey. She is aware that people like Bornstein exist, and is aware that she is not one of them. She knows that many feminists criticize transwomen like her for transitioning to an essentialized and even sexist version of femininity – and she responds to the critique brilliantly, while acknowledging both its validity and its hurtfulness. In painstakingly and painfully constructing her new self, Ladin is fully aware of the societal conventions and privileges of which she makes use. I don’t know of anyone else who has so articulately defended what some queers (mis-)take to be a conventional notion of gender, and Through the Door of Life, is, if nothing else, an important voice on the gender spectrum.
And then there’s “the God thing,” as Ladin puts it. Through the Door of Life is subtitled “A Jewish Journey Between Genders,” and Ladin’s sincere religiosity may be, for many readers, the most radical element of the book. Ladin’s Jewishness doesn’t pervade the book; it figures prominently in only a handful of the vignettes that make it up. But I know from my own experience – I’ve written a book about religion and sexual diversity, and I founded an LGBT Jewish organization at which Ladin and I briefly worked together – that even a dollop of religion can send some readers running for the secular hills. What’s probably most shocking about Ladin’s religious life is that she works – once again, after a year’s leave – at Stern College, the women’s school of Yeshiva University, an Orthodox Jewish institution. This is what made her famous, or infamous –a New York Post article outed her, and Yeshiva University, on page three. And admittedly, it can make one’s head spin.
But Ladin’s private religiosity, rather than her public persona, is what is so stirring here. Particularly in the last section of the book, she describes a deeply personal relationship with a silent God, not the deity familiar from conventional religion but an echo of her fears and, even in its silence, a kind of comfort as well. To me, the honesty and vulnerability which Ladin shows in these portions of the book is inspiring. They are never preachy, never seeking to convince. Still, I wonder if readers with little patience for religion may find them frustrating. It would be their loss if so, for they illuminate the complexity of Ladin’s spirit, and the courage of her writing.
Some of the most painful passages in Through the Door of Life concern Ladin’s family. Her wife and children seem cruel, even as Ladin understands the damage she has done to them and paints them sympathetically. Her kids are angry, sad, defiant. Her wife is uncompromising in her view of Ladin’s selfishness. And there is no real redemption here, only Ladin’s choice of life over death, reminiscent of one of Beckett’s characters, who says “You must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.”
Perhaps the most underwritten, if not outright baffling, part of the memoir concerns Ladin’s father who, for reasons we are never really told, simply stops speaking to her in 1983. This aspect of Ladin’s life seems to have less bearing on her gender identity, and perhaps discussing it too much would have taken her far astray from her central themes. It glares, though, especially as Ladin is able to become closer, post-transition, with her mother. I wanted more here, but perhaps the relationship is inexplicable even to Ladin herself.
Kate Bornstein is more of a gender outlaw than is Joy Ladin. Yet perhaps because her desires are so unexceptional – love, a career, a sense of wholeness – Ladin’s journey seems the more difficult one. Of course, it’s unfair to compare, and both of them have suffered plenty. But there seems to be a poignancy, of which Ladin is exquisitely aware, that precisely because what Ladin wants is so normal, her efforts to obtain it are so fraught with pain.
Through the Door of Life
By Joy Ladin
University of Wisconsin Press
Hardcover, 9780299287306, 270 pp.
March 2012
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About Jay Michaelson
Jay Michaelson is a columnist for The Forward, Huffington Post, Zeek, Tikkun, Hadassah, and Reality Sandwich. His books include God in Your Body, Another Word for Sky: Poems, and Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism. He is also the executive director of Nehirim, a leading national advocacy group for LGBT Jews.
Tags: Bio/Memoir, Jay Michaelson, Joy Ladin, Reviews, Through the Door of Life, Trans, Transgender, transwoman
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Jay Michaelson to Speak on The Religious Case for Same-Sex Marriage
by Chris Bargeron October 18, 2012
The conversation about same-sex marriage is continuing as Minnesotans go to the polls in three weeks to vote on an amendment to the state constitution that, if passed, would define marriage solely between two people of the opposite sex. Despite the fact that marriage between same-sex couples is already against the law in Minnesota, this has become a lightning-rod social issue across the state, with amendment proponents and opponents flooding the media with advertisements.
Organizations working to defeat the marriage amendment, including Minnesotans United for All Families, Project 515, OutFront Minnesota, and Jewish Community Action have centered their efforts on a primary strategy: civil, thoughtful conversations. The idea is very simple: people who oppose marriage between two people of the same sex often change their minds on the issue when they have a real conversation with someone who favors the option of marriage for same-sex couples.
Jewish writer, scholar and LGBT activist Jay Michaelson is coming to the Twin Cities on Saturday, October 20th to teach about how Jewish and Christian religious texts and values actually support the creation of loving, committed marriages between Jay Michaelson2 198x300 Jay Michaelson to Speak on The Religious Case for Same Sex Marriagetwo people of the same sex, and how amendment opponents can bring a religious perspective to conversations. Michaelson is the author of God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality, in which he makes the case that religious people should support equality for gay people because of their religion, not despite it. My review of this book can be found here.
I had the opportunity to interview Jay Michaelson about his upcoming visit to the Twin Cities. Here’s an excerpt:
Chris Bargeron: What have you learned about authentic dialogue and how can this be applied to the debate about freedom to marry for same-sex couples?
Jay Michaelson: Especially in our day and age, we’re used to talking in our own echo chambers, and not reaching across the figurative aisle (or dinner table) to those with whom we disagree. As a result, in the case of same-sex marriage, we often end up having the same tired arguments in which everyone talks past one another: religion on one side, civil rights on the other; traditional marriage versus gay rights. This is really unhelpful.
For example, when Dan Savage tells people to “ignore the bulls–t in the Bible,” that hurts the movement for equality. It sounds good to liberals and atheists, but it confirms the worst fears of a traditional religious person who does not believe the Bible is, or contains, bulls–t. It’s also not helpful to just shout “separation of church and state!” because that, too, isn’t necessarily a shared value. Many people think the church should inform how the state acts. If we don’t get out of our personal ideological boxes, we won’t make much progress.
Instead, we need to recognize the real, non-homophobic, non-bigoted concerns of traditional religious people: that values are changing quickly and that is potentially dangerous. We need to find common cause with them, even if we don’t share certain views about the world. We can do that, because it’s true. None of us wants a world with rampant sleaze, porn everywhere, tweens having sex—those of us who support equality just believe that LGBT people getting married have nothing to do with that.
And we need to highlight that this is actually an intra-religious crisis. For example, you can’t believe in a loving God who loves human beings, and then tell 5-10% of those human beings to be lonely their whole lives. That’s against Genesis 2:18 (“It is not good for the human being to be alone”) and our basic sense of fairness. If we can get folks to the place where they see that internal crisis, then they will do the rest of the work on their own. I’ve seen this happen, time and time again.
CB: What are your impressions of how this issue is playing out in Minnesota?
JM: I actually am cautiously optimistic. As you know, Minnesota is the closest battle of the four states with marriage on the ballot. I think the pro same-sex marriage coalitions on the ground have done a fantastic job of presenting this issue truthfully, in a way that resonates with folks’ deep-seated values of “live and let live” and basic fairness. From the outside, Minnesota often appears very polarized: Al Franken on one side, Michele Bachmann on the other. In between those poles, though, are a whole lot of sensible moderates. I feel like cool heads will ultimately prevail.
I’m really grateful for the opportunity to share some of the experience that I and others have gained nationally. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We’ve done it before. We know what works. And we know that at this point, it comes down to individual people talking to their friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members. This is a “retail” issue, not a wholesale one. If there’s anything I can do to help the people who have been working on the ground here for months and years now, that makes all the work I do worthwhile.
Jay Michaelson will speak at a private home in Woodbury on Saturday, October 20th from 7pm to 9pm. This event is a fundraiser for Minnesotans United for All Families and Jewish Community Action, and is open to the public. To RSVP and receive event details, including the location, e-mail Amy Lange at amy@mnunited.org.
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About Chris Bargeron
Chris Bargeron endeavors to do his part to repair the world, one conversation or relationship at a time -- but tries not to think about it that way because that would be totally overwhelming. He is a non-profit leader, a clinical social worker, and writes about things that are on his mind. These days, Chris spends a lot of time thinking about living Jewishly and living well. He loves to read blog-post comments and hopes that you tell him what you're thinking about. Chris is a member of Shir Tikvah, and has a private psychotherapy practice in the Twin Cities. More information is available at www.bargeron.net.
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HaBaitah For The Holidays
Jay Michaelson to Speak on The Religious Case for Same-Sex Marriage
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Thursday, October 18, 2012 | return to: news & features, local
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Gathering of the transgender tribe set for Berkeley
by rebecca rosen lum, j. correspondent
Follow j. on and
In film, books, blogs and newspaper articles, transgender Jews have focused mainly on identity and inclusion — or barriers to it.
But at the upcoming Jewish Transgender Gathering in Berkeley, the goal will be to shine a light onto spirituality. Not only will the emphasis of the three-day gathering be on Torah, but “Torah that has never been talked about in this way,” Reconstructionist Rabbi David Bauer pointed out.
Noach Dzmura
Noach Dzmura
Bauer is the West Coast director of Nehirim, which developed the Nov. 2-4 conference with several partner organizations. It will be held at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, and it will coincide with the area’s first Muslim transgender gathering and the larger Transgender Religious Leadership Summit, now in its sixth year.
Nehirim is a national nonprofit that works on building community for LGBT Jews, partners and allies. It was founded in 2004 by writer Jay Michaelson, author of “God vs. Gay” and three other books.
The Jewish transgender conference will begin on Friday evening with a Shabbat service led by Rabbi Reuben Zellman and poet Joy Ladin, followed by a Shabbat dinner and what is billed as a “Heart Circle.” The circle and other events are closed sessions, for the transgender Jewish community only, but other sessions are open.
As far as organizers can tell, the Jewish transgender gathering is the first conference of its kind, said Noach Dzmura, executive assistant and director of educational technology at Starr King School of the Ministry.
“We’ve come a long way,” said Zellman, assistant rabbi and music director at Congregation Beth El in Berkeley. “Before I went to rabbinical school over 10 years ago, nobody talked about these things.”
Joy Ladin
Joy Ladin
Dzmura, who is known for editing the book “Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish Community,” will team up with Ladin to lead a session titled “Face Time with God: A New Look at the Psalms.” Ladin will also lead Torah study on Saturday morning.
Ladin is a widely published poet and a Yeshiva University professor — “probably the only openly transgender person at any Orthodox institution in the world,” she said.
Other sessions include “Being a Jewish Gender Outlaw” (led by Ariel Vegosen, a fair trade and media social justice activist who identifies as genderqueer); “Being Transgender Is Kosher: Beyond the Binary in Ancient Jewish Texts” (led by Rabbi Dev Noily of Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont and one-time transgender law specialist Ben Lunine from Congregation Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco); and “Does Judaism Love Your Body?” (led by Rabbi David Dunn, founder and coordinator of “The Jewish Queer Sexual Ethics Project” at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School of Religion).
“There is no question that Jewish vision provides ample paradigms for what it means to be open to transformation and change,” Zellman said. “Judaism itself is always changing and always will be. We are instructed every day to remember the Exodus. That the way we are now is not the way it always has to be.”
Rabbi Reuben Zellman
Rabbi Reuben Zellman
Added Bauer: “Torah is revealed over time through interpretation. For centuries, the only voices called to interpret were men’s — and within that group, hetero-identified men. Only in the second part of the 20th century did we begin to listen to women’s interpretation. And only in the past decade have we listened to [LGBT voices]. Each new individual interpretation reveals new magic.”
Other items on the schedule include “Torah Yoga,” a Havdallah service and a networking session. Highlights from the 2011 Los Angeles Transgender Film Festival will be shown as well.
The gathering is co-sponsored by Keshet, Starr King School for the Ministry, the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion and Light In the Closet ministries.
Nehirim has issued an open invitation to people “who are questioning or exploring their gender, their queerness or their relationship to Judaism and Jewish community,” noting that they will be able to explore questions and answers “in a safe and confidential space.”
“Transgender” is an umbrella term that describes all gender-nonconforming people, including transsexuals (those who opt for surgery and/or hormone therapy). The gathering will welcome transgender, transsexual, queer, intersex and all gender-nonconforming Jews — and their families and friends.
“Judaism flourishes when Jews bring our authentic selves to the table,” Zellman said.
The Jewish Transgender Gathering will take place Nov. 2-4 at the Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave., Berkeley. $40-$120. http://www.nehirim.org/transgathering, david@nehirim.org or (212) 908-2515
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Thursday, October 18, 2012 | return to: news & features, local
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Gathering of the transgender tribe set for Berkeley
by rebecca rosen lum, j. correspondent
Follow j. on and
In film, books, blogs and newspaper articles, transgender Jews have focused mainly on identity and inclusion — or barriers to it.
But at the upcoming Jewish Transgender Gathering in Berkeley, the goal will be to shine a light onto spirituality. Not only will the emphasis of the three-day gathering be on Torah, but “Torah that has never been talked about in this way,” Reconstructionist Rabbi David Bauer pointed out.
Noach Dzmura
Noach Dzmura
Bauer is the West Coast director of Nehirim, which developed the Nov. 2-4 conference with several partner organizations. It will be held at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, and it will coincide with the area’s first Muslim transgender gathering and the larger Transgender Religious Leadership Summit, now in its sixth year.
Nehirim is a national nonprofit that works on building community for LGBT Jews, partners and allies. It was founded in 2004 by writer Jay Michaelson, author of “God vs. Gay” and three other books.
The Jewish transgender conference will begin on Friday evening with a Shabbat service led by Rabbi Reuben Zellman and poet Joy Ladin, followed by a Shabbat dinner and what is billed as a “Heart Circle.” The circle and other events are closed sessions, for the transgender Jewish community only, but other sessions are open.
As far as organizers can tell, the Jewish transgender gathering is the first conference of its kind, said Noach Dzmura, executive assistant and director of educational technology at Starr King School of the Ministry.
“We’ve come a long way,” said Zellman, assistant rabbi and music director at Congregation Beth El in Berkeley. “Before I went to rabbinical school over 10 years ago, nobody talked about these things.”
Joy Ladin
Joy Ladin
Dzmura, who is known for editing the book “Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish Community,” will team up with Ladin to lead a session titled “Face Time with God: A New Look at the Psalms.” Ladin will also lead Torah study on Saturday morning.
Ladin is a widely published poet and a Yeshiva University professor — “probably the only openly transgender person at any Orthodox institution in the world,” she said.
Other sessions include “Being a Jewish Gender Outlaw” (led by Ariel Vegosen, a fair trade and media social justice activist who identifies as genderqueer); “Being Transgender Is Kosher: Beyond the Binary in Ancient Jewish Texts” (led by Rabbi Dev Noily of Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont and one-time transgender law specialist Ben Lunine from Congregation Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco); and “Does Judaism Love Your Body?” (led by Rabbi David Dunn, founder and coordinator of “The Jewish Queer Sexual Ethics Project” at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School of Religion).
“There is no question that Jewish vision provides ample paradigms for what it means to be open to transformation and change,” Zellman said. “Judaism itself is always changing and always will be. We are instructed every day to remember the Exodus. That the way we are now is not the way it always has to be.”
Rabbi Reuben Zellman
Rabbi Reuben Zellman
Added Bauer: “Torah is revealed over time through interpretation. For centuries, the only voices called to interpret were men’s — and within that group, hetero-identified men. Only in the second part of the 20th century did we begin to listen to women’s interpretation. And only in the past decade have we listened to [LGBT voices]. Each new individual interpretation reveals new magic.”
Other items on the schedule include “Torah Yoga,” a Havdallah service and a networking session. Highlights from the 2011 Los Angeles Transgender Film Festival will be shown as well.
The gathering is co-sponsored by Keshet, Starr King School for the Ministry, the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion and Light In the Closet ministries.
Nehirim has issued an open invitation to people “who are questioning or exploring their gender, their queerness or their relationship to Judaism and Jewish community,” noting that they will be able to explore questions and answers “in a safe and confidential space.”
“Transgender” is an umbrella term that describes all gender-nonconforming people, including transsexuals (those who opt for surgery and/or hormone therapy). The gathering will welcome transgender, transsexual, queer, intersex and all gender-nonconforming Jews — and their families and friends.
“Judaism flourishes when Jews bring our authentic selves to the table,” Zellman said.
The Jewish Transgender Gathering will take place Nov. 2-4 at the Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave., Berkeley. $40-$120. http://www.nehirim.org/transgathering, david@nehirim.org or (212) 908-2515
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For comedian, personal struggles are creative ‘juice’
Pew survey of U.S. Jews: soaring intermarriage, humor more important than Jewish law
The war that changed everything: Bay Area Jews share their memories from the Yom Kippur War
Reaching for utopia: CJM exhibits study kibbutz movement, struggle to make the world a better place
Holocaust researcher Israel Gutman dies at 90
more popular articles >
Copyright 2013 San Francisco Jewish Community Publications Inc., dba J. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California
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Queer Shabbaton DC builds community
11.7.12 : Washington Jewish Week open in new window
<p>Your browser does not support iFromes, however you can <a href="http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=18330&SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&S=1">click here to read this article.</a></p>
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Transgender Jews Seek Place at Table
Conference Aims To Break Communal Silence on Issue
Speaking Up: Transgender Jews celebrate shabbat at a California synagogue.
Speaking Up: Transgender Jews celebrate shabbat at a California synagogue.
By Chanan Tigay
Published November 14, 2012, issue of November 16, 2012.
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Berkeley, Calif. — Shortly before Emily Aviva Kapor began the transition from male to female, she sat down to discuss the process with her mother.
“I told her I was going on hormones, and she said the most Jewish thing to me,” 27-year-old Kapor recalled. “She said, ‘Well, at least you’re not getting a tattoo.’”
It’s a funny line that anyone with a Jewish mother can appreciate. But as it turns out, the most Jewish thing to say on the subject of gender identity probably would have been nothing at all.
Related ?A Transsexual at Yeshiva University
?Transgender Jews May Be Nothing New
?Transgender Jews Now Out of Closet, Seeking Communal Recognition
For many years, those knowledgeable on the subject say, Jews and Jewish organizations largely met their transgender co-religionists with silence. Slowly, that is beginning to change. From November 2 to November 4, Kapor and nearly 30 other transgender, transsexual, queer, intersex and gender-nonconforming Jews from across North America sought to expand this opening-up process at a gathering here, billed as the first-ever retreat for such Jews.
“With transgender and gender-queer identity, there wasn’t a Jewish frame of reference in which to speak it,” said Rabbi David Dunn Bauer, director of West Coast programming for Nehirim, the LGBT group that sponsored the event. The result, he said, was “silence.”
On the other side of the equation, he added, “Jewish transgender people did not want to speak their names or their identities out loud — or if they did, they had to leave their communities and restart somewhere else, kind of like the witness protection program. So, there was silence from transgender people.”
The Nehirim Jewish Transgender Gathering, as the shabbaton was called, was “a space where people could be present in their full identities.”
Among those attending was Enzi Tanner, a 28-year-old African American who is in the process of converting to Judaism. Tanner grew up Pentecostal, was born again as a Baptist and later worked toward ordination as a United Church of Christ minister before deciding to convert to Judaism.
“For me, gender transformation and Judaism go hand in hand,” Tanner said, sitting outside the conference in his purple yarmulke, bowtie and suspenders. “Some things in my mind were always fixed: Gender cannot be changed; the only way to be Jewish is to be born Jewish. Once I realized that gender isn’t such a fixed thing, years later I met Jewish people and realized you didn’t have to be born Jewish to be Jewish.”
Tanner, a spoken-word artist, saw other links between his conversion to Judaism and his gender transition. Before sex reassignment surgery, transgender people must live in the gender to which they are transitioning. Similarly, Tanner, though still studying to become a Jew, is already living as a Jew.
Retreat participants took part in Sabbath services, as well as in seminars with names like “Being a Jewish Gender Outlaw,” “Being Transgender Is Kosher: Beyond the Binary in Ancient Jewish Texts” and “Does Judaism Love Your Body?” They also joined “heart circles” in which they spoke in highly personal terms about their own experiences. That such a gathering was taking place — and in public no less — was seen as a mark of progress, however sluggish. “It’s slowly changing from the perspective of many trans Jews,” said Joy Ladin, an English professor at Yeshiva University who was picked for this year’s Forward 50. She is the first openly transgender employee of an Orthodox Jewish institution. “But if you think about Jewish history being about 3,000 years long, there’s been rapid change.”
The changes have gathered pace over the past 10 to 15 years. Both Orthodox and Conservative rabbis, for example, have issued teshuvas, or religious opinions, on sex reassignment surgery. The Reform movement has ordained transgender rabbis, and the Reconstructionists are currently doing so — and both movements have made efforts to integrate issues of transgender into their curricula. In 2000, the Reform movement launched the Institute for Judaism, Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity.
Moreover, a network of organizations has emerged to work on behalf of transgender Jews. Jewish Transitions, a consultancy, provides guidance to transgender people on conversion and burial; Keshet, a co-sponsor of the shabbaton, works for the inclusion of the LGBT community in Jewish life; TransTorah.org makes trans and gender-queer Jewish resources available online, and Eshel supports LGBT people in traditional Jewish communities. A growing number of Jews and Jewish institutions are now asking questions that would have been unimaginable a short time ago about how Judaism does, and should, approach gender-nonconforming Jews.
Questions like: On which side of the mechitza, the partition dividing men and women, should a transgender person sit? Does a person who has transitioned from female to male need to undergo some kind of circumcision? If a male transitions to female, is a get, a Jewish divorce, required for that person to obtain a divorce? And when a trans-woman’s daughter is called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah and identified as “daughter of” Parent A and Parent B, should the trans-parent’s former — male — name be used or her new name?
Ladin recently found herself in that uncomfortable situation. Her ex-wife felt that, to reflect their history together, it was important to use Ladin’s former name in heralding their daughter’s entry to adulthood. Ladin understood her desire, but disagreed.
She told her ex-spouse, “I think that my present is more important than her past.” But then Ladin’s daughter weighed in, declaring Ladin said, that she didn’t “want to change her identity just because I changed mine,” The family arrived at a “livable compromise,” she related: Ladin would be acknowledged by both names.
When the moment of truth arrived, Ladin said, “the rabbi did something really great…. He just read it really fast. Even I couldn’t sort out the words. He made my female name and my male name unintelligible, minimizing the discomfort of my ex and myself simultaneously.”
“I think we did the best that we could in a difficult situation,” Ladin said.
Kapor, whose mother was pleased she wasn’t getting a tattoo, hopes to create a “gender-queer Halacha” and thereby nudge Jewish law toward a rendezvous with modernity on such issues. A former student at Jewish day schools, Kapor has begun studying independently for the rabbinate in service of this goal.
Still, while the Talmud addresses those with physical differences, the question of how a person experiences his or her own gender — the focus of much transgender thought today — has little precedent in early Jewish thought. As the sun descended on a Friday evening, participants gathered for Kabbalat Shabbat and sang many familiar tunes, sometimes altering the traditional words. Reuven Zellman, assistant rabbi and music director at Berkeley’s Reform-affiliated Congregation Beth El, led the traditional chant, “Hinei ma tov u” with a subtle twist: “Hineh ma tov u ma naim, shevet tranim gam yachad” :“Behold how good and how pleasing, transgender people sitting together.”
Zellman clearly knew his audience. Indeed, several participants said it was essential in their situation to maintain a good sense of humor. But for Bauer, the gathering was very serious business.
“Bringing respect and safety to transgender folk is a matter of life and death,” Bauer said. “There are so many people in history who have killed themselves; there are so many people who live lives as dead people, if you will, without ever getting a chance to be reborn into their new identities. Not holding this gathering would be like looking at a population in peril and saying, ‘We don’t care if you live or die.’”
Contact Chanan Tigay at feedback@forward.com
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Gnarlodious · 48 weeks ago
I wonder how many transJews are not commenting for fear of being identified...
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Lisa Liel · 48 weeks ago
Probably a lot. And can you blame them?
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@HadaSadah · 41 weeks ago
As a Transsexual Jew myself, I really enjoyed finding this in Forward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you, it made my day the day this article came in the mail. Now I just wish I could have been there.
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Noshie63 · 48 weeks ago
Why are their backs to the camera?Isn't this the "new normal"?I guess not.
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FriarYid · 47 weeks ago
Aren't people entitled to decide how much media exposure they want at a time?
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Noshie63 · 47 weeks ago
I think they should be but very often journalists don't care and do what they want.Here the people were respected.
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Duncan McCullough · 42 weeks ago
Our backs were to the camera because we were in the middle of services and he didn't wish to interrupt. Also there were a few folks in attendance who didn't wish to be outed.
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Orthodox Rabbis Say Gay ‘Cure’ Therapy Doesn’t Work
Dec 1, 2012 4:45 AM EST
Following a lawsuit against ‘reparative therapy’ for gays, Orthodox rabbis come out against the therapy, even as mainstream media outlets continue to give the unlicensed therapists a platform. Jay Michaelson reports.
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You know it’s a weird week when a group of Orthodox rabbis comes off understanding homosexuality better than mainstream TV personalities.
Gay pride
Participants at the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem on August 2, 2012. (Gali Tibbon, AFP / Getty Images)
But that’s what happened: at the same time as the Rabbinical Council of America, the largest professional association of Orthodox rabbis in the world, was disavowing any connection with a leading provider of “reparative therapy” for gays in the wake of a new lawsuit, not one but two television doctors gave the therapy’s practitioners a sympathetic national spotlight.
In case you didn’t already know, “reparative therapy” is neither reparative nor therapy, but a collection of weird, disproven techniques designed to turn gay people straight. Most “clients” come from conservative religious backgrounds, and are desperately trying to live as they believe God wants them to live. To most twenty-first century folks, the whole thing may seem ridiculous, a throwback to the days of quack cures for masturbation or “hysteria.” But as someone who works with LGBT religious people professionally, I’ve seen that it’s much worse than that; for many, it is deeply harmful.
On Tuesday, four former clients of a Jewish reparative-therapy outfit called JONAH (“Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing”)—sued the organization for fraud, claiming that it sold them quack therapies that were ineffective and counterproductive.
On Thursday, the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), the professional association of more than 1,000 Orthodox rabbis around the world, sent an open email to its members that it no longer supported reparative therapy generally, or JONAH specifically.
These developments are big news in the world of religious gay people—and not just Jewish ones. Together with the State of California’s recent decision to ban reparative therapy outright, they indicate the fast erosion of the constituency which once supported it most.
Yet just as the RCA was crafting its historic statement, two well-known TV personalities—ABC’s Mehmet Oz and HLN’s Drew Pinsky—gave airtime to the unlicensed quacks at NARTH, the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. On his show, Dr. Oz even designated one of them as an “expert” and allowed her to spout already-disproven pseudoscience completely unchallenged.
Nor was this the first time that mainstream media gave equal time to science and pseudoscience, the 99 percent of people who have failed at reparative therapy and the 1 percent who have somehow made it work. Just last month, the New York Times devoted 1200 words to the stories of three men who praised ex-gay therapy, without a single quotation from a man who found it ineffective, counterproductive, or worse. And in 2010, ABC’s Nightline gave about 90 percent of a program to supposedly happy ex-gays and only about 10 percent to critics. (ABC later pulled the program offline without explanation.)
What do the Orthodox rabbis get that many in the mainstream media do not?
Dr. Oz doesn’t debate the relative merits of modern psychiatry versus the practice of drilling holes in peoples’ skulls to release demons, even though he could probably find “experts” on both sides to discuss it.
A brief background: Reparative therapy exists to explain why, if God hates gay people so much, they exist in the first place? Religious progressives have already solved this problem by saying that God doesn’t hate the gays after all. The six Biblical verses sometimes used against LGBT people are dwarfed by the other 31,000 verses in the Bible, many of which talk about love, compassion, justice, and other pro-inclusion values. It’s not hard to interpret the “bad” verses narrowly, or ignore them entirely, which is what progressives have done for forty years now.
Traditionalists, however, have attacked the other side of the theological equation. God hates gay sex, they say, but fortunately, gay people don’t exist at all. If you find yourself lusting for that same-sex co-worker, friend or teammate, that doesn’t make you gay—it just means you have Same-Sex Attraction (SSA) … a curable malady, sort of like the flu. It’s a psychological problem that comes from having too close a relationship with one’s mother, and too distant a relationship with one’s father. (Incidentally, you may have noticed that there are gay women too. Reparative therapy has not. Its rhetoric is entirely about men.)
Let’s set aside for the moment the inconvenient fact that millions of straight men have had smothering mothers and distant fathers—indeed, in the Jewish community, it’s our national custom. If being a mama’s boy eventually makes you gay, then “therapists” can work with this psychological problem like any other.
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Christopher Snyder
Christopher Snyder
Dec 1, 2012
Dr. OZ 's credibility is questionable.
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boxeadora68
boxeadora68
Dec 1, 2012
These news media outlets which, in the name of journalistic balance, give a platform to ex-gay therapy "experts" would never think of inviting a health "expert" on their shows who advocated bleeding as a cure for whooping cough.
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robwriter
robwriter
Dec 1, 2012
Dr. Oz is a "celebrity" who stopped being a doctor some time ago.
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Conor Kabinett
Conor Kabinett
Dec 1, 2012
Just admit you are suffering from c*ckoholism, then go with it.
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qc
qc
Dec 1, 2012
@Conor Kabinett
works for you
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JeanPierreKatz
JeanPierreKatz
Dec 1, 2012
This story is very interesting to me. Unfortunately I think that this issue is not covered adequately .I tried to urge the Jewish Press to cover the story of the lawsuit, but they have not. JONAH is one of their advertisers.
The story of the RCA stand also was not featured in the Jewish Press.
This article also omits a lot of information that would inform a reader about Orhodox Jewish positions on different gay issues.
First of all all RCA rabbis and all Orthodox rabbis do not downplay gay sex as just one of many commandments. They all consider sex between two men as completely forbidden even for non-Jews.
But they also emphasize that orientation in not a sin, and that gay Jews are still Jews and should be treated in the same way as other Jews that don't keep commandments.
RCA rabbis tend to be Modern Orthodox, so for example, many will agree with one Orthodox view that the world was not created in 6 calendar days, but that days in the Torah can mean eons. This healthy respect for science is probably part of the reason the RCA has never supported or rejected reparative therapy. It also has previously supported the right of a patient to reject any therapy he finds objectionable.
This new position which rejects reparative therapy is another step in this direction.
Many RCA rabbis also have signed a declaration that basically tries to promote inclusion of gays in Orthodox congregations with some stipulations.
But as often is the case in Orthodox Judaism there are differences of opinion.
The non modern element has put out another Declaration that completely supports reparative therapy.
It is based on a theology that G-d could not have created a gay sexual orientation. It also believes that same sex attractions can be eliminated in favor of opposite sex attractions.
This group is not in any way impressed with any scientific views that contradict their theology.
What is also telling in the Declaration is that it does not in any way welcome gay Jews who are not trying to change their sexual orientation to come to or even to stay in Orthodox congregations.
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KOGnyc
KOGnyc
Dec 1, 2012
I would hope that the references to Dr. Oz are not relevant to anything other than the need to cite television and pop culture - he is somebody I have always respected and hope knows the difference between irrationality and actuality.
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Tommyboy
Tommyboy
Dec 1, 2012
Actually, he's one of the prime reasons for Zuckerman to shake up CNN. This is exactly the entire network's problem. With the exception of Anderson Cooper and Soledad O'Brien, they play the game of 'false equivalency' wherein they present "two sides to every story." They believe that makes them "objective." BUT there aren't 'two sides' to FACTS -- something Oz and others (notably Blitzer and Jon King) gloss over. In the name of political correctness, Oz and those like him give support to crackpots and their ridiculous 'theories.' It would be as if their science correspondent gave creedence to creationism.
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LelioRisen
LelioRisen
Dec 1, 2012
The moral equivalency practiced by the news media never ceases to disappoint.
Let us not forget that the Swift-boating of John Kerry was always made out to be a he said/she said type of story, even though the group was discredited. One would think that factual experts would receive more coverage than 21st century snake charmers, but that is obviously not the case. Even birthers, for the longest time were treated as an equally valid viewpoint.
So, the shameful behavior by news outlets in this case is not surprising in the least.
@leliorisen
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jomama
jomama
Nov 30, 2012
We know that there is little correlation between 'genes' and 'gay' - this from the largest and most respected work on the subject (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation).
We 'become' gay in our lives, for one reason or another - we don't yet know why. If you can be socialized or programmed to be one thing - you can be programmed the other way as well.
Ethics aside, it's a fact. One day, there will be a therapy + drugs that will effectively do the job.
Then I think the question of ethics of the process takes on a new domain.
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qc
qc
Dec 1, 2012
@jomama
that's funny, actually
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jk105
jk105
Dec 1, 2012
@jomama
Wikipedia reports there is no conclusive evidence to prove there is a correlation. That doesn't mean sexual orientation isn't innate. It just means science hasn't proven it yet.
If we "become" homosexual or "become" heterosexual, you certainly must remember the day you "became" heterosexual jomama. It is an important day "becoming" heterosexual, no? Can you describe that day for us please. What were you wearing?
Meanwhile torturing gay people with this abusive therapy is a sin. it doesn't even work!
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txjew
txjew
Dec 1, 2012
@jomama We can say the same thing about gender. Maybe one day we can, via therapy and drugs, end the male gender. But why would we?
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2MediaSaturatedqcLikeReply
jk105
jk105
Dec 1, 2012
@txjew @jomama
We can say the same thing about heterosexuality. Maybe one day we can, via therapy and drugs, end heterosexuality. But why would we?
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jazzleo
jazzleo
Dec 1, 2012
@txjew @jomama If jomama is male there is a perfect reason
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jazzleo
jazzleo
Dec 1, 2012
@jomama OMG-this is what makes people laugh at you
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qc
qc
Nov 30, 2012
naked rabbis cure gayness
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4KOGnycTommyboyMediaSaturatedjazzleoLikeReply
jomama
jomama
Nov 30, 2012
@qc that's funny actually.
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Orthodox Rabbis Say Gay ‘Cure’ Therapy Doesn’t Work
Dec 1, 2012 4:45 AM EST
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