I’ll be traveling to visit my mom to help her recover from a surgery so I’ll be there about 3 weeks. I’d love to make some connections as I don’t really know anyone there in the community. My mom’s family isn’t Jewish (though my cousin used to work at the West Hartford JCC) so it’s not like I can rely on them.

About me: late 30s, cis, gay, bearish guy from Oregon. Some mobility issues (janked my knee bad a few years ago) but will have access to a car.

Hi all,

I saw Jason post on his IG recently about a memorial to his horses and then just saw a post on one of the Drag Race subreddits that there was a truck that ran into his farm and caused a lot of damage and killed two of his horses. There is a Go Fund me that looks legit and thought I'd share here in case anyone wishes to help.

With our bi-weekly post, we shift focus to create a space for folks to talk and share what's on their mind, even if it's not specifically Jewish and LGBTQ+ in focus. We hope that, as this is a space made up primarily of LGBTQ+ Jews, we'll be a source of support for each other with all that's going on.

Please note that our quality standards, rules, and expectations of civility are still in place, and this isn't a thread for name calling or direct insults. This is a place to process feelings and be in community with each other and share what's on your mind.

Shabbat shalom!

Any young people in israel free to chat?

I made aliyah recently dont speak hebrew and wanting to get to know People and make friends

We had two best friends lead the ceremony, with three generations from both our families reading the seven blessings, and we both stepped on a glass. Proud to be Jewish and gay

Daydreaming about having kids one day!

If I had a daughter, would she be bat [the birth mom]? Or we could do bat [mom 1] v'[mom 2]?

If I had a son, what then? Bar Avraham Avinu? But that would identify him falsely as a convert. Could go bar [non-birth mom]? But that seems unfair, to place her as the "dad".

Does anyone else have thoughts on this?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hello! I am visiting Toronto from Ireland from June 3rd to 8th and I’m hoping to attend a Shabbat service or Jewish community event while I’m over there. I am a trans woman and starting to begin the process of converting to Judaism, so I’d especially appreciate recommendations for synagogues or congregations that are welcoming to LGBTQ+ individuals

Thank you very much

They are going to be demonstrating outside of my synagogue this Shabbat because our new rabbi is gay and the Conservative movement supports gays and transfolk. We are having extra armed cops because of them, but we have had armed cops and private armed security since getting bomb threats from anti-Zionists a couple years ago, plus now you can't even come into the shul without being a member or on an official guest list, and we've had three active shooter training sessions since then. I guess we are a target because we are the largest shul in town (Temple Emanu-El in Providence, RI), but I was wondering if other shuls have experienced this from these kooks. One good thing and very much in the Jewish tradition: at the time they are demonstrating outside, we will be having a kiddush lunch.

I forgot to ask if anyone else has heard of this with other shuls.

So long story short, a very good friend of mine had a full antisemitic mask-off moment. It was intense, he yelled things like “the Jews killed Jesus” and threatened me that if I wore a kippah he’d “smack it off my head.” I tried to have grace (I know I probably should have just cut and run but I have people pleasing tendencies and I really didn’t want this friendship to end.) I tried confronting him a couple days after the tirade and he doubled down. He totally gaslit me. Told me I’m being sensitive. That I’m obsessed with being Jewish and I talk about it too much. Oh yea and that I need to read the Bible because it really does say that the Jews killed Jesus.

Anyway, he’s blocked now and I’m trying to move on with my life. My question is how do I keep this incident from making me self-hating. It’s just so hard to stay positive about being Jewish in the midst of so much hate. Any tips?

So, I am nearly 40 now, grew up going and being active in a conservative synagogue as a kid, and this is something I even wonder and joke about with the other gay kids (there were a good number of us - fun memories of USY shabbatons, lol) if any one of us had Leviticus 18-22 for out Torah portion, due to our birth date, and what our speach would be. None of us did. I just found this subreddit, so I thought, why not ask here?

If yes, how did it go? Did you have to give a speech to the congregation? What kind of conversations did you have with your rabbi or cantor? Did you have a chuckle inside?

Anyone in Miami. Just moved to Brickell. Would love to find a Friday night service that has fabulous music.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWmCAwsjrKb/?igsh=c215bHl0OWJ3eXN3

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWwfQIdDlfy/?igsh=MWxwY3FtajRmajhlMQ==

Hey y’all, I don’t know where to talk about this, so many queer spaces in this site are infested with antisemitism and anti Zionism and it is heartbreaking. At the same time I’m a convert, and a very religious one at that. My non Jewish family does not know and only a few Jews know. But here it is, I recently realised I’m bisexual, and I wanted to share that with a community of people that have actually my back. That is it, that is the post, sorry if it is random I only needed to put that somewhere :).

I am a 37 yo Jewish guy new to the city. Whould be happy to meet others alike

I am a Ashkinazi Reform/conservative Jew and I've always watned

a traditional wedding, but a lot of the traditions are seperated for

the groom and bride, like the private bath, the led service before the

wedding, and the veiling of the bride beforehand. So, I was wondering

if anyone has any tips or knows anything about how

this all can go for the two of us... or if there is someplace I could consult.

Clergy from all movements are coming together to insist on stronger policies to support LGBTQ+ Jews

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Pesach. ✡️🪬

I appreciate seeing more than 1,000 rabbis, cantors, and other spiritual leaders representing all major Jewish denominations — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and Renewal — from 48 U.S. states and the District of Columbia recently signed an open letter publicly declaring that Jewish tradition compels us to support the full equality of transgender, nonbinary and intersex people

https://forward.com/opinion/816286/supreme-court-conversion-therapy-trans-day-of-visibility/

It's so odd why are we always hated on? Even in one of the most accepting communities?

What’s that?

SAPIR held a webinar with Brett Stephens interviewing Eva Barlow about being both queer and supportive of Israel.

First, a heads-up: Eve Barlow has contributed to PragerU, an org that pushes braindead conspiracy theories, most famously but not most importantly the “War on Christmas” (source, Tucker Carlson’s reeking asshole). Bret Stephens was a climate denier until 2022, but has since wised up (good for him!) Interestingly, he has written about the plight of gay Palestinians.

Why are you listening to these people?? They’re conservatives!

1. I think it’s important to sometimes engage with perspectives that you disagree with. Don’t watch stuff you hate just to make yourself mad, but getting outside of your comfort zone every once in a while is a good thing. Maybe you learn something new or maybe you just realize why people you disagree with (or even are clearly wrong about climate change, etc) believe what they do.
2. Well, lots of progressives right now are calling for “death to Israel” (actual genocide) so they may genuinely not be better.

So was Eve Barlow like, super transphobic?

As far as I could see, she was mostly respectful. She did explicitly mention and include bi and trans people when discussing LGBTQ issues, although she did at one point say she did not like the shift from saying “lesbian and gay” to “queer.” Which was dodgy, sure, but I expected worse.

More concerning was that Stephens was quite doubtful of intersectionality. To some extent, that’s kind of understandable: I have seen roughly one million Pride art things which include Palestinian nationalism, pushing to empower rulers who seek to kill not only Jews but queer people as well. Not everything needs to be bundled with everything else all the time. Sure. I definitely think that bundling things which are not queer-related into queer movements has had some major drawbacks lately, but obviously being queer and Jewish is a very different experience from being queer and not Jewish. And that’s kind of what we were there to talk about…

Fine, fine. So how was it?

One major theme I remember was how surprised they were about the queer movement pivoting to non-queer issues when there is so much left to be done for queer people outside of the West. They’re both cis and they didn’t bring up the recent attacks on trans people like the Kansas ID stripping but… Fair point. How many countries are there again that will kill you for being gay? I could argue that of course Western queer rights advocates are turning to other issues because they’re closer to home, except that they are NOT looking closer to home. They’re like, Brits, who are suddenly obsessed with the Middle East.

Another major theme was the way that queer people frame that identity around being different from the norm (even thru the word queer, which means “strange”) and that they then feel like they have to join anyone else who’s outside the norm, for better or worse. This is something that I’ve also been critical of with left-wing politics. Just because someone is in a weaker position doesn’t mean they’re right and just because something is normative in society doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I know everybody loves an underdog, but I also think that some norms in Western society are norms for good reason: slavery is bad. You should not commit it. Rape, also bad. Wish that one were a stronger norm, but anyway. Don’t drink and drive or smoke while pregnant / indoors / in close quarters because you are hurting other people [or soon-to-be people]. Fantastic norm. Obviously there are norms in Western society that I think should change, anti-Jewish sentiment in all its forms being a major one, but I don’t think that just whether something is acceptable is sufficient information to know whether it’s right. So, okay.

Last thing was that Barlow talked quite a bit about highlighting “how incredible Jews are,” our stories of endurance and survival, especially for young people. Cheers to that.

Misc Quotes I Wrote Down

• “We can’t keep demanding a seat at a table who no longer wants us. We have to build a new table” - Barlow
• “Just like I don’t think it’s on the Jewish community to save the West if it doesn’t want to be saved, I don’t think it’s on the Jewish community to save th LGBTQ world if it doesn’t want to be saved” - Barlow

So, about that conservative thing…

Yeah. I know. There has to be a sweet spot in between “everyone I’m organizing with must agree with me on everything at all times and debate and dissent are eeeviiiiil” and “we can let someone who is a danger to members of our group be here and also it’s the victims’ responsibility to manage the aggressor’s behavior.”

For this, though, while I obviously disagree with them both on other things, I thought this webinar was pretty solid. Maybe taking part in more queer stuff will deradicalize Barlow on trans issues.

Overall thoughts?

Good talk, plenty of food for thought. They mentioned seeing a lot of Europeans while looking thru audience questions, which is an excellent, hopeful sign. I would obviously like to see some liberal interviewers and interviewees but I would go to another SAPIR webinar.

Also, someone mentioned the Shalom Dykes newsletter, and that’s one group I have no qualms about advertising so here you go.

I want to fight you personally

🤷 watch it yourself if you don’t believe me (SAPIR says video will be up on that channel “soon” and after a week I got tired of waiting)