Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
With the landmark New York marriage equality legislation of 2011 several million Jews now live within a state that allows same-sex marriages – and the Conservative Movement has noticed. Only five years ago the Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards (CJLS) – the central authority on halakhah (Jewish law) for the Rabbinical Assembly – issued…
Who advocates for the minority within a minority? According to a press release posted to their Web site on November 21, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender lobbyist organization in the United States – is launching the Jewish Organization Equality Index (JOEI) survey. The purpose of this study…
On Thursday evening, Steve Greenberg became the first rabbi ordained by the Orthodox movement to officiate a same-sex marriage. Yoni Bock and Ron Kaplan exchanged vows before some 200 friends and family members, wearing matching kittels – the traditional white robe worn during Jewish weddings – and marigold kippot. The ceremony took place at the…
Whether you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or straight, Mollie Pier will be your bubbie. She is the cofounder of Project Chicken Soup, a nonprofit volunteer organization that delivers kosher meals twice per month to residents of Los Angeles County living with HIV/AIDS. Even at 91, Pier is a fierce advocate for the LGBT community;…
On October 3 it was announced that Alan van Capelle – a well-established activist within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights movement – has been appointed president of the recently merged Progressive Jewish Alliance and Jewish Funds for Justice (JFSJ). According to an article posted by the Jewish Daily Forward, van Cappelle will…
On Friday – the second day of Rosh Hashanah – United States Representative Jared Polis (D-CO) announced the birth of his first child: a son, weighing in at a healthy 8 lbs. and 12 oz. According to a short notice posted on the Boulder Weekly, Polis joked that the boy – named Caspian Julius –…
To their friends and neighbors, they’re a standard Orthodox Jewish couple, a man and a woman married for five years, two children in tow. Their marriage is a product of convenience rather than love, but that’s not unusual. Yet the particular reason for their union is unique: the man is gay, and the woman is…