LGBT Jewish Resources
By Holly Robinson [email protected]
Did you know that there are lots of LGBT Jews and that the Jewish community as a whole is more welcoming than most religious groups? Back in the early 1970s when I came out, Jewish lesbians and gay men were not well-accepted but that had changed by the mid-1980s.
Here in Cincinnati, Temple Sholom (http://www.templesholom.net/) marches with us during Pride and sponsors a LGBT Chavurah (social/religious fellowship group) called Keshet (Rainbow).
Some large cities have gay synagogues but most LGBT Jews belong to the same synagogues as their non-gay friends and relatives - that is, if they attend a synagogue at all. I have visited the gay synagogue in Washington, DC but prefer my own shul* right here in Cincinnati.
Typically Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Renewal and Humanistic synagogues all have openly LGBT members. The Orthodox shuls have gay members also but they’re pretty quiet about it as DADT is popular in that community.
If you are a GLBT Jew looking for resources, there is plenty of stuff out there. Here are some sites you might want to visit:
The World Congress of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Jews: Keshet Ga’avah - Rainbow of Pride at http://www.glbtjews.org/
The Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation and Jeff Herman Virtual Resource Center at the Los Angeles Campus of HUC-JIR - http://elearning.huc.edu/jhvrc/
Jewish Mosaic http://www.jewishmosaic.org/
Trembling Before G-d: The Website for the movie which is about Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are gay or lesbian http://www.tremblingbeforeg-d.com/
* Northern Hills Synagogue - Congregation B’nai Avraham http://www.nhs-cba.org/