A Woman's Spirituality, Measured by Hosiery – The Jewish Daily Forward

A Woman's Spirituality, Measured by Hosiery – The Jewish Daily Forward

"Kidnapped for Christ" Trailer

Kidnapped for Christ follows the stories of several American teenagers who were sent to Escuela Caribe, an American-run Evangelical Christian reform school in The Dominican Republic.

TONIGHT: Breaking News Exodus Leaders Shocking Revelation on OWN "Our America" Advocate.com

Alan Chambers admits gay Christians will go to heaven and that it's time for Christians to shift from "change" to "acceptance" of gays. By Diane Anderson-Minshall August 21 2012 2:22 PM ET

Breaking News Exodus Leaders Shocking Revelation Tonight on Our America | Advocate.com
Alan Chambers, the charismatic leader of Exodus International, has been making headlines this year, telling reporters he no longer believed in so-called reparative therapy. “I do not believe that cure is a word that is applicable to really any struggle, homosexuality included,” said Chambers, who is married to a woman. “For someone to put out a shingle and say, ‘I can cure homosexuality’ — that to me is as bizarre as someone saying they can cure any other common temptation or struggle that anyone faces on Planet Earth.”
But a new interview tonight on the season finale of Our America With Lisa Ling called “Pray the Gay Away?” revisits the OWN show's groundbreaking episode on this topic, along with an exclusive new interview with Chambers, who says Our America changed his mind on reparative therapy — and gay Christians.
"Do I think there are people living a gay Christian life who are going to be in heaven with me?" he asks rhetorically. "I do. If they have a relationship with God." He says that Christians should now shift from "change" to "acceptance" because the gay cure doesn't work and gays who believe in God can know God as intimately as any heterosexual person.
Chambers, who has long considered himself an "ex-gay" and is married to a woman, says that he no longer believes prayer can make gays become straight but making that announcement has meant that there are "pockets of the evangelical community who think I've betrayed Christ," he tells Ling. "I'm a heretic in some circles."
Watch the entire revealing episode (which also features gay and bisexual Christians who tried themselves to "pray the gay away") tonight on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific. (Incidentally, Ling's series tackled sexuality earlier this season with an episode on polyamory and people who have multiple lovers, including those of the same sex, and will do so again after the Chambers espisode with the conclusion to Our America's two-hour finale on swingers.)

"Orthodox Gays Need Allies, Not Just Compassion" by Rabbi Steven Greenberg

Rabbi Steven Greenberg

The Jewish Week- August 14th issue
A few months ago, a young Orthodox rabbi decided to “come out of the closet,” in a sense, when he publicly identified himself as an “LGBT ally,” referring to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, founder of Uri L’Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice group, and a director of the UCLA Hillel, explained that he felt he had been quiet for too long and wanted to say what he felt was the truth.

Not much was made of the rabbi’s statement, most likely because two years ago Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgott and others drafted the “Statement on Homosexuality,” now signed by over 200 Orthodox rabbis and educators, which calls for dignity and respect for gay and lesbian Jews. The statement has shifted thinking in many quarters by making an argument for compassion for LGBT people a non-negotiable starting place.

Ryan: Rights Come from Nature and God, Not Government

http://www.advocate.com/politics/election/2012/08/11/ryan-rights-come-nature-and-god-not-governmentPaul Ryan’s statement about the source of rights might surprise LGBT voters who have been following the progress of legislation and litigation.

"Dear Hypothetically Gay Son"

Huffington Post by John Kinnear 8/9/12

On Tuesday morning I ran across this letter on Reddit, from a father disowning his gay son. It broke my heart. It's not the first time that I've seen something like this; here in Utah it's a pretty common story. In fact, I had friends in high school who experienced it firsthand. But Tuesday was the first time I'd run across such a story since becoming a dad. My son is living in his mom's belly right now, so obviously we don't know his sexual orientation. Still, the letter I read Tuesday morning made me wonder what my letter would say if the news that my son was gay ended up being a surprise. So here it is:

"Male Couples Face Pressure to Fill Cradles" NYTimes 8/9/12

WASHINGTON — When the jubilant couple were wed in June, they exchanged personalized vows and titanium rings, cheered the heartfelt toasts and danced themselves breathless. Then, as the evening was winding down, unexpected questions started popping up.

One after another, their guests began asking: Are you going to have kids? When are you going to have kids?

Tom Lotito and Matt Hay, both 26, could not help but feel moved. They never imagined as teenagers that they would ever get married, much less that friends and family members would pester them about having children.

"In My Father’s Synagogue" A Conservative woman rabbi grapples with her Syrian (American Jewish) family’s gender-stratified customs.

Magen David Synagogue (Brooklyn, NY 1984) by Judith Helfand

Dianne Cohler-Esses Published in [The Jewish Week of New York] Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Like virtually all Syrian Jews, my father was a staunch traditionalist. A faithful synagogue goer every Shabbat, he would never have considered Reform or Conservative Judaism as an option for himself or for his family. Instead, clean-shaven, in a dark suit and doused with cologne, he would attend Shabbat services every Saturday morning at the traditional Syrian congregation near our home in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood — and later on go to work.

In this respect, he resembled many of the Syrian men of his generation. For the Syrian Jews both then and today, the synagogue is the great unifying factor. When I was growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, men went to synagogue whether they were fully observant or not. There was a range of observance, but as long as one went to synagogue, one declared one’s religious and social place in the community.

DNA links prove Jews are a ‘race’, says genetics expert

Name Your Roots, Reveal your Spanish or Portuguese ancestry trough our Historical records

What’s So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/magazine/whats-so-bad-about-a-boy-who-wants-to-wear-a-dress.html?_r=2&smid=fb-share&pagewanted=all

A New Theory on What Makes Us Gay

One California author believes he’s found the missing link to the physiological source of sexual orientation, and it lies in the brain, not the loins.

BY SUNNIVIE BRYDUM

AUGUST 06 2012 4:00 AM ET

A Northern California author says he's discovered the missing link that explains the biological source of sexual orientation. While doing research for his recent book, The Whole-Brain Path to Peace, James Olson stumbled upon what he says is the direct correlation between hemispheric dominance in the brain and whether a person is gay or straight.

The Gospel Church and the Ruining of Gay Lives: An Interview with Anthony Heilbut | Culture | Religion Dispatches

The Gospel Church and the Ruining of Gay Lives: An Interview with Anthony Heilbut | Culture | Religion Dispatches

Christian Publishing v. the Vagina | Sexuality/Gender | Religion Dispatches

Christian Publishing v. the Vagina | Sexuality/Gender | Religion Dispatches

NEW TEL AVIV CENTER WILL HELP FIGHT VIOLENCE AGAINST GAYS

Highlights of this article:

• The attack on the Tel Aviv youth club killed Katz, 27, and Liz Trubeshi, 16, and wounded dozens of other teens, leaving two paralyzed for life. 
• So far, no government agency has agreed to help support it. This evening, the eve of the third anniversary of the murder at the gay youth club, the LGBT community will hold a commemorative event in Tel Aviv.
• "The club is their only place of refuge before coming out of the closet," he explained. "Sometimes, it's the only place that enables a boy or girl to ask questions about sexual identity, to be whoever they wish without fear."
• Last year, it was on the verge of closing due to lack of funds, but a surge in donations not only saved the Tel Aviv venue, but enabled the LGBT association to open another youth club in Be'er Sheva.
• "Everywhere, we get complaints from members of the community who suffer from discrimination or humiliating treatment. But when I take these complaints to the system, it claims there's no problem. Why is there no problem? Because there are no statistics."
• A new center to combat violence against gays will be launched in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. The center, sponsored by Israel's LGBT association, will collect data on assaults against members of the gay community and extend legal and psychological support to the victims. Located in Tel Aviv's Meir Park, the center will be named after Nir Katz, a counselor murdered in an attack on a gay youth club three years ago.

Movie Trailer:"The Invisible Men" persecuted gay Palestinians who have run away from their families and are now hiding illegally in Tel Aviv

DIRECTED BY YARIV MOZER (2012) -

“The Invisible Men” portrays the untold story of persecuted gay Palestinians who have run away from their families and are now hiding illegally in Tel Aviv. Louie, 32 years old, has been hiding in Tel Aviv for the past 8 years. Abdu, 24, was exposed as gay in Ramallah and then accused of espionage and tortured by Palestinian security forces; Faris, 23 years old, escaped to Tel Aviv from the West Bank after his family tried to kill him. Their only chance for survival — to seek asylum outside Israel and Palestine and leave their homelands behind forever.  These men are the heroes of the film.  The movie describes the challenges and hardships they face, the painful choices that confront them, and the courageous Israelis who work to help them.  The movie shines a critical light on Israeli policies that need to be changed.

"When the Right Is Right About the Left" Critics of Israel Should Be Open About Beliefs by Jay Michaelson

Against War, or More? And once the occupation is ended, is there a next target for a protest? 

     Let me start with my bona fides. For several years, and at significant personal cost, I have spoken out about Israeli policies in the West Bank, in particular the settlements and the route of the separation barrier, which I deem to be generally illegal, immoral and harmful to both Israelis and Palestinians. 

     I am also a longtime activist for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and have supported those in my community who protest Israel’s policies — including by calling for boycotts, divestment and sanctions, which I do not support — on the basis of a shared solidarity with those who are oppressed. And an essay I wrote in these pages a few years ago on my wavering love for Israel still gets plenty of airtime and plenty of nasty comments.

     I begin with these left-wing credentials because my aim in this column is to call out my liberal colleagues on certain of our blind spots and try to communicate to fellow progressives when, in my view, their criticism of Israel becomes deeply problematic — even, dare I say it, anti-Semitic. I do so because, just as I am uncomfortable in Jewish nationalist circles where people routinely make racist, violent and ethnocentric remarks (and where those remarks support real-world policies with real effects on real people), so, too, I am uncomfortable in left-wing circles where some people evince a casual disregard for the legitimate concerns of Israelis and Jews, for the very real and very deep problems on the Palestinian side, and even for the truth.

**LGBTQ Journey Through Israel Oct 24 – Nov 3**

LGBTQ Journey Through Israel Oct 24 – Nov 3
JOIN US ON A TEN NIGHT JOURNEY THAT WILL TAKE US TO THE DESERT, JERUSALEM, THE GALILEE AND TEL AVIV. WE’LL TRAVEL FROM HISTORY TO MODERNITY. COME FIND YOUR PLACE IN ISRAEL’S FUTURE.
2nd Annual Trip!
I hope to be able to join this trip. I received some great news from the organizers about scholarship, now I just have to figure out the logistics of purchasing my own ticket.

Israeli Movie:“Mom and Dad: I Have Something to tell you” (32 Min. Q&A w/Assi Azar)

Such a sweet and touching story!

Openly gay Israeli TV host Assi Azar has question and answer session after a screening of his documentary, "Mom, Dad; I Have Something to Tell You." 

DIRECTED BY YAIR QEDAR -

“Mom and Dad: I Have Something to Tell You” is a documentary film about the journey parents whose children tell them they are gay are forced to take. Their life changes in a second and a challenging and slow journey, for all the family, begins, taking them from denial to understanding, from anger to the need to be there for him or her, from shame to acceptance.

This sensitive and earnest documentary features and is narrated by Assi Azar, one of the rising TV stars in Israel, a screen writer and the host of the Israeli version of “Big Brother”. His personal story is unfolded, including the first heart to heart conversation between Assi and his parents since he came out when he was 24.

"Orthodox gay (Jewish) organization takes tolerance campaign into the public sphere"

Orthodox gay organization takes tolerance campaign into the public sphere Havruta CALLS TO ORTHODOX PEOPLE: DO NOT LET THE VOICE OF INTOLERANCE BE THE ONLY ONE HEARD IN YOUR COMMUNITIES.