Jewish Labor Leader Comes Out, Promotes Gay Marriage Bill
Just in time for New York’s gay pride events, the president of the Jewish Labor Committee, Stuart Appelbaum, announced publicly that he is gay.
Appelbaum is thought to be the first president of a major international union to come out. Appelbaum is the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents 100,000 workers — most famously, the clerks at Macy’s, Saks and other department stores.
Appelbaum is no stranger to representing minority communities within the labor movement. He is the current president of the Jewish Labor Committee, where he has led efforts to stop union boycotts of Israel.
Appelbaum told Gay City News that he came out in order to help support gay marriage legislation that is working its way through the New York state legislature: “Marriage equality is so important to me. I came out because of it.”
Until now the most famous labor leader to come out publicly is another Jewish labor leader, Randi Weingarten, who heads the American Federation of Teachers, which is not an international union. Together Weingarten and Appelbaum provide one more indication that Jews remain at the progressive edge of the American labor movement.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
