Breathing Room

Gay, lesbian, bisexual Jews
are finding more acceptance.

JULIE WIENER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Woodcli if lake, N.J.
t looked like the Orthodox par-
ticipants at the World Congress
of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual
Jewish Organizations' conference
would have to forgo Shabbat services.
Only three Orthodox men attended
last weekend's conference, seven short
of a minyan. But then a group of
Orthodox Jews who happened to be
vacationing in the hotel noticed a sign
in the lobby listing the services and
asked to join.
Bonnie Kantor, one of the confer-
ence co-chairs, said she immediately
informed the newcomers "what kind
of a group this is," expecting them
to revoke their offer. Instead, they
told her, "A Jew is a Jew, and a
Torah is a Torah."
Together, they were exactly 10 men.
"Without us they wouldn't have had a
minyan and without them we wouldn't
have had one," said Kantor.
. It was an incident appropriate for
the 20th anniversary of an organiza-
tion that's enjoying unprecedented
acceptance.
With 65 member organizations rep-
resenting 14 countries, the World
Congress has grown significantly since
its early days when a handful of gay
activists, who happened to be Jewish,
came together to respond to a United
Nations resolution equating Zionism
with racism.

1

Recent Gains

In just the past few months, the gay
and lesbian Jewish communities have
seen two major victories: The Reform
movement affirmed its rabbis' right to
officiate at same-sex unions, and Israel's
high court ruled that both partners in a
lesbian relationship could legally regis-
ter as their children's mothers.
Many gay Jewish synagogues, once
havens for the closeted, now enjoy close
ties with other local Jewish institutions
and boast that their inclusive atmos-
pheres even attract some heterosexuals.
As these synagogues grow larger and
more established, several are starting
religious schools and buying cemetery
space.

Since the early 1990s, both the
Reform and Reconstructionist streams
have ordained openly gay and lesbian
rabbis, and a growing number of con-
gregations are hiring gay clergy.
At a session in the Jewish
Community Centers AsSociation of
North America's biennial this spring,
the JCC of the Greater St. Paul
(Minn.) Area suggested JCCs host gay
film festivals and offer gay and lesbian
couples family memberships.
In Albany, N.Y., and Boston, gay
Jewish organizations are working close-
ly with federations to make local Jewish
institutions more welcoming to gays
and lesbians. Many gay congregations
report they are now being invited to
participate in community activities, like
Israel parades.
In Israel, the openly lesbian
Michal Eden now sits on the Tel
Aviv City Council. She plans to run
for Knesset in the next election and,
if she wins, would be Israel's first
openly gay legislator.

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Leviticus 18:22

But lesbian and gay Jews are far from
winning full acceptance.
Most Orthodox and many
Conservative leaders consider homo-
sexual acts to be prohibited by the
Bible. Leviticus 18:22 states, "Thou
shalt not lie with mankind as with
womankind; it is an abomination."
Biblical scholars, however, have argued
over the meaning of this passage.
Neither the Orthodox nor the
Conservative movement ordains
openly gay or lesbian rabbis or sanc-
tions same-sex weddings, although
about-20 Conservative rabbis do
officiate at such ceremonies and are
not penalized.
Within the Reform movement,
many congregations lag behind the
statements of national leaders when it
comes to welcoming gays and lesbians,
said the CCAR's former president,
Rabbi Alexander Schindler, in a
speech to the conference.
Rabbi Greg Kanter, 35, who now
leads a gay and lesbian synagogue in
Fort Lauderdale, said that when he
came out at a large Reform congrega-
tion in Minnesota six years ago, board
BREATHING on page 24

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