Pro-Israel LGBTQ group A Wider Bridge names new leadership after previous director charged with sexual misconduct
The announcement of Rabbi Denise Eger as interim director, as well as Daniel Hernandez as board chair earlier this year, comes as the group contends with pressures from multiple angles
Rabbi Denise L. Eger at the 2011 Human Rights Campaign gala in Los Angeles, where she was honored, March 12, 2011. (Brian To/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
(JTA) — A Wider Bridge, the pro-Israel LGBTQ organization, has named a new interim executive director four months after its previous director was charged with sexual misconduct.
The announcement of Rabbi Denise Eger as interim director, as well as Daniel Hernandez as board chair earlier this year, comes as the group contends with pressures from multiple angles: a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation and actions from the Trump administration and its allies, as well as a post-Oct. 7, 2023, tide of anti-Israel sentiment within LGBTQ communities.
It’s been a “really difficult time for the LGBTQ community and for the Jewish community,” Hernandez said in an interview Tuesday.
“While we are coming together to combat against the LGBTQ hatred that is rampant right now in legislatures and in executive offices all over the country, we also need to make sure that people are showing up as their whole selves,” he said. “A lot of folks that are Zionists and a lot of folks that are Jewish don’t feel safe in these communities.”
For at least part of the time that those winds were buffeting the constituency of A Wider Bridge, the group was without a director.
In November 2024, a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct was brought against the organization’s then-executive director, Ethan Felson, based on allegations that he committed sexual misconduct against a Vermont museum employee.
Felson represented the group publicly at least until January, when the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on the charges. At the time, A Wider Bridge said Felson was on leave.
Days after that article’s publication, on Feb. 3, he left his position, according to Hernandez, who had taken over as board chair in late January. Hernandez declined otherwise to elaborate on Felson or the leadership transition. A statement from the group confirmed that Felson was no longer in the position but did not elaborate on the circumstances of his departure.
Felson, who took the helm of A Wider Bridge in 2020, has pleaded not guilty. His case is moving through the Vermont state court system and is in the discovery phase, the state prosecutor’s office said. Felson’s lawyer did not respond to a request this week for comment.
Now, A Wider Bridge is officially moving on. In naming Eger, it has chosen a Reform rabbi who is an LGBTQ Jewish pioneer and longtime pulpit leader. Eger was the first LGBTQ rabbi to be president of the Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis, and founded and led Los Angeles synagogue Congregation Kol Ami. She is also the founding president of an LGBTQ clergy organization, has been active in working with people with AIDS, and worked to pass a Reform movement resolution in 2000 approving same-sex commitment ceremonies, according to a professional biography.
“During this time of transition, I am committed to working closely with our team, Board, and Executive Committee to continue the critical work ahead to advocate for LBGTQ rights and justice, connect LGBTQ communities in North America and Israel, and fight antisemitism, LGBTQ hate, and other forms of hate,” she said in a statement.
Hernandez is not Jewish but said he was awakened to the importance of fighting antisemitism and advocating for Israel, causes he has long supported, after learning about the Holocaust in grade school. He previously served as a state representative in Arizona and now serves as government affairs director for the Arizona branch of Stand for Children, an education nonprofit.
Both of his sisters, Alma and Consuelo Hernandez, converted to Judaism and serve in the Arizona state legislature.
“As a gay man, as a Latino who lives in Arizona, I’ve seen a lot of different kinds of hate — I’ve seen racism, I’ve seen homophobia,” Hernandez said. “It was really important for me to stay in this fight because we have a lot of shared struggles.”
Hernandez said the anti-LGBTQ initiatives coming from the White House and state governments have put LGBTQ Americans in “a fight for survival” but have only pushed concerns of antisemitism and anti-Zionism to the side a “little bit.” A Wider Bridge’s focus now, he said, is to “show up” as Jews and pro-Israel activists in LGBTQ spaces, especially with Pride parades coming up in June. The group has also brought LGBTQ Israeli leaders to the United States and American LGBTQ leaders to Israel.
“I think a lot of the things that are important are just being visible and being aggressive against antisemitism,” he said. “We’re going to be marching in parades. We’re going to be providing resources to activists on the ground. I think, most importantly, we’re holding gatherings and building up folks in their own local communities and giving them support.”
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