So, the New Jersey Jewish Standard has admitted that it has made a mistake last week when they apologized to homophobes who were upset with their publishing of a gay wedding announcement and agreed to never again publish one.
Excuse me if I’m not overwhelmed with glee.
I am certainly pleased that the individuals who call themselves journalists over at the Standard have realized that pandering to bigots is rather unpopular. But all they have really agreed to at this point is to “encourage debate.” I don’t see a debate here. The actions of the Standard’s editors and publishers were journalistically unsound and morally reprehensible. End of story.
Call me obstinate, but until the Standard releases a statement that unequivocally acknowledges that they gave consent and legitimacy to hate and allowed queer Jews from their own community to be treated as second-class citizens, we have not made progress on this issue. My hope is that they are planning to do just that. In which case, I will join David A.M. Wilensky in saying kol hakavod.
But even then, the issue will not have gone away. Let us not forget that those at the Standard are only collaborators here. The real perpetrators are those in the Jewish community that pushed the Standard’s publishers and editors away from a genuinely progressive move, publishing the wedding announcement in the first place, at the close of a month during which at least 10 teenagers that we know of have ended their lives due to anti-gay bullying. Talk about repugnant.
These people will not go away, even if the Standard apologizes for its dissapointing actions.
So, for now, kol hakavod not to the Standard, but to all the Jews (and gentiles), gay and straight, who have made vocal their discontent and horror at the actions of the Standard and those who pushed them to those actions. To all those who wrote in to the editors. To all those who posted comments on the Standard’s website. To all those who blogged and wrote op-eds, especially my fellow editors here at New Voices.
But we cannot stop here.
The following is a quote from queer heeb hero Harvey Milk after anti-gay political activist Anita Bryant’s succeeded in overturning a law providing legal protections to gays and lesbians in Florida:
“I am here tonight to say that we will no longer sit quietly in the closet. We must fight. And not only in the Castro, not only in San Francisco, but everywhere the Anitas go. Anita Bryant did not win tonight, Anita Bryant brought us together! She is going to create a national gay force! And the young people in Jackson Mississippi, in Minnesota, in the Richmond, in Woodmere New York, who are hearing her on television, hearing Anita Bryant telling them on television that they are sick, they are wrong, there is no place in this great country for them, no place in this world, they are looking to us for something tonight, and I say, we have got to give them hope!”
Read it again, but every time Milk says Anita Bryant, think the New Jersey Jewish Standard. Because, the Standard, and the bigots they pandered to, are essentially the same as Anita Bryant (Google her if you haven’t seen the movie Milk). Are they arguing for criminalizing homosexuality? No. But, they have essentially said that queers have no place in the New Jersey Jewish community.
Just as Harvey Milk used Anita Bryant’s intolerance to galvanize the gay liberation movement in the Castro, do not let your moral outrage go. It’s time to stop reacting to bigotry and bullying and to take proactive measures against it. It is time to take to our communities, our schools and our families and root out dehumanizing language and action. Let us harness our anger at the Standard, let us harness our anger at the epidemic of teen suicides, and funnel it into positive action.
But what can we do?
A first and very easy step is to sign this pledge to “not sit idly by” initiated by Keshet. Join other individuals and dozens of Jewish institutions and organizations in committing “to ending homophobic bullying or harassment of any kind in our synagogues, schools, organizations, and communities.”
But, clicking a mouse is easy. And signing the pledge is only the first step.
GLSEN offers the following very simple ways to take action:
Ask for help:
If you or someone you know is in crisis and has mentioned or is considering suicide take it seriously and get help. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or the Trevor Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386. View the resource list below for how to recognize if someone is in crisis.
Be a visible ally to LGBT youth!
Although there are many factors involved when someone decides to end their own life, many of the recent stories talk about the effects of anti-LGBT bullying and bias.
1. Go to your next GSA meeting to help the GSA plan their events for the year. Find tips for starting and running a GSA at www.glsen.org/jumpstart
2. Support Ally Week, October 18-22 – Visit www.allyweek.org to learn how you can be a visible Ally to LGBT students
3. Talk about important moments and people in LGBT history – October is GLBT History Month.
4. Educators: Be a visible safe space.
Take Action
Even if you are not in school there are still things you can do.
1. Contact your local school or school district to let them know that you support their work against anti-LGBT bullying.
2. Call your senators and representatives about the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA).
Ultimately what this means is coming out of the closet as allies (queers and straight folk) vocally, visibly and often. Set a standard of acceptance not of silence. Being a bystander is not acceptable. You are either part of the solution or part of the problem.
