6 | JUNE 8 • 2023 

essay
A Plea for Pride Month
W

ith Pride Month 
upon us, I am 
reflecting on 
life as a Jewish trans lesbian 
woman in 2023 America. I 
came out in 2017 and started 
transitioning 
that year. I 
also started 
my conversion 
to Judaism 
journey in the 
fall of 2020 and 
completed my 
conversion at 
Congregation Shaarey Zedek 
in Southfield last December.
Today, I am confronted 
by an intersection of both 
antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ 
attitudes and laws. Last Nov. 
20, the LGBTQ world was 
shocked to its core when 
a gunman entered a gay 
nightclub in Colorado Springs, 
Colorado, where he managed 

to murder five patrons — four 
of them trans people. Thanks 
to the heroic efforts of two 
individuals, the gunman was 
subdued, and more people 
were saved. 
At this same time, hate 
crimes against the trans 
community and the Jewish 
community are at an alarming 
rise. On top of this, as of 
this day, more than 300 anti-
LGBTQ legislative bills were 
introduced throughout the 
United States. Fortunately, 
we are not seeing antisemitic 
legislation being introduced, 
and I pray that I never see the 
day that this happens in the 
U.S. 
So, as Pride Month begins, 
as a fellow American Jew, I 
am pleading for the ears and 
understanding of my extended 
Jewish family. We need to 
have an honest yet difficult 

conversation.
A lot of times, I must 
choose between my Jewish 
identity and LGBTQ identity. 
One of the tensions is the 
embrace of anti-Zionism 
in the LGBTQ community 
amongst leftist queer folk 
and feeling I need to be quiet 
about my love for Israel. I have 
a different perspective. I have 
insight as someone who was 
rejected and kicked out of an 
evangelical church for being 
queer before my conversion to 
Judaism. 
Unfortunately, many of us 
are seeing the same voices on 
the Christian Right — who 
loudly support Israel and 
claim to support the Jewish 
people — who demonize 
and use almost identical 
language against LGBTQ folks 
that antisemites have used 
against the Jewish people for 

thousands of years. 
While there is no “LGBTQ 
Protocols of the Elders of 
Zion” being spread around, 
we have our own version of 
the blood libel. We are called 
“groomers” and made to seem 
like we are preying upon 
children. For many of us, 
Christian Nationalists are our 
enemies. We did not choose 
this, just as the Jewish people 
did not choose their enemies. 
However, we have people 
in positions of power and 
influence that wish we were 
back in the closet, in jail or in 
the grave just for being who 
we are.
It is time for our Jewish 
straight and cisgender allies 
to speak up. Call out those 
spewing this venom even if 
they are “allies of Israel.” Is it 
really worth having pro-Israel 
allies who would not think 

Sarah Dunn

PURELY COMMENTARY

continued on page 7

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