Arizona's Bill that would grant business owners the right to invoke religion to refuse service to gays and others- Video & 2 Articles

Article #1- NYTimes

Is It Okay to Refuse to Serve Same-Sex Couples Based on Religious Beliefs? 

"Who’s Afraid of Jewish Marriage? A reply to my respondents" By Sam Schulman- Mosaic Magazine (A response to: "Same-Sex Marriage and the Jews")

02/2014- I’m grateful for my respondents’ careful attention to my argument, which all three of them oppose—in individual ways that also have more in common with each other than I would have expected.

"Is Jewish Marriage Unique?" By Sherif Girgis- Mosaic Magazine (A response to: "Same-Sex Marriage and the Jews")

02/2014- Or is it more similar to Christian marriage than Sam Schulman suggests? In “Same-Sex Marriage and the Jews,” Sam Schulman offers an insightful, erudite account of how non-Orthodox Jewish communities got from Leviticus 18 to the Kiddushin Service for Same Gender Couples—or, you might say, from Sinai to Stonewall. Still more compelling is his take on the quiet but devastating revolution this has worked in the Jewish view of marriage. Here I want to examine two of his claims in particular: that the revolution’s roots are Christian, and that Judaism in particular is paying the bill.

From “We” to “I” By Rabbi Shlomo Brody- Mosaic Magazine (A response to: "Same-Sex Marriage and the Jews")

02/2014- The greater threat to Jewish mores stems not from same-sex marriage but from heterosexual promiscuity.  Sam Schulman’s very thoughtful essay, “Same-Sex Marriage and the Jews,” reminds us of the centrality of procreation in the Jewish conception of marriage. Yet his thesis overlooks the other central component in the Jewish understanding of marriage: existential communion or, in plain English, love. This has broad implications, not all of them obvious, for his analysis of the approach taken by non-Orthodox Jewry to Jewish same-sex marriage, and for any thinking about how Jews and others might be re-attracted to the traditional marital framework.

"Gay Love and Jewish Tradition" Rabbi David Wolpe- Mosaic Magazine (A response to: "Same-Sex Marriage and the Jews")

The Wedding(Die Trauung)-Moritz Daniel Oppenheim

02/2014- The first same-sex marriage I conducted was between two women who had been together for nineteen years. They stood under the huppah with tears streaming down their faces.

We’ve come a long way. At one time, the rhetoric dominating the discourse on homosexuality among the gatekeepers of traditional Judaism was condemnatory at best, cruel at worst. In one of his milder statements, the great halakhic authority Rabbi Moshe Feinstein wrote in the 1970s: “To speak of a desire for homosexual intimacy is a contradiction in terms.” Few would make such a statement today. Let us be grateful for small mercies.

"Same-Sex Marriage and the Jews" by Sam Schulman- Mosaic Magazine (The first article in this conversation)

Essay is comprised of 7 sections: 1)Who American Jews Are?, 2) Same-Sex Marriage and Judaism, 3) What is Jewish Marriage? 4) According to the law of Moses and Israel, 5) Jewish Marriage vs. Christian Marriage, 6) Jews and the Modern Marriage Crisis, and 7) The Jewish Struggle to exist.

"Common Orthodox questions, criticisms, and concerns vs. Supportive Orthodox Rabbinic Responses" (Taken from JQY Website)

Orthodox LGBT FAQs- taken from the JQY website

Over the years, JQY has spoken at various panels and has had many private conversations with Orthodox Rabbis. We have compiled this fact sheet as a resource to describe the common questions, criticisms, and concerns that our members have heard from friends, family and community members, and that they have struggled with internally. We have paired each question with responses we have received from supportive Orthodox rabbis.

If you have any questions about any items on this fact sheet, or if you would like request a JQY panel where we can discuss these questions in greater depth, please contact us. Click read more below to view FAQ's.