This is the Forward’s coverage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, queer and questioning Jews.
LGBTQ+
The Latest
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Opinion Gay, Orthodox and Outspoken
The Supreme Court’s decisions around marriage rights may have elated gay and lesbian Jews and their allies. But for LGBT Jews in the Orthodox community, the ruling might have the opposite effect. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations issued a statement reiterating Judaism “forbids homosexual relationships”; Agudath Israel went a step further, claiming the “sanctity”…
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News For Transgender Converts, Changing Gender and Finding Faith Come Together
Growing up female and Methodist in the Midwest, Kadin Henningsen was inexplicably drawn to Judaism, empathizing with characters in Holocaust documentaries on TV. Then in junior high, Henningsen had a revelation while reading Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen”: “I remember thinking I was supposed to grow up to be a Jewish man.” Less than two decades…
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Fast Forward Spanish Jews Back Madrid Chief Rabbi Amid Gay ‘Deviant’ Report
The Jewish community of Madrid has denied the authenticity of quotes attributed to its chief rabbi, in which he reportedly called homosexuals “deviants” who need “re-educating.” “For a very long time now, we have been supporting the gay community’s fight against discrimination,” read a statement by the community published Tuesday in Religion Digital, a Spanish-language…
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Opinion ‘Who Am I To Judge?’
He’s not our spiritual leader, of course, but the brief remarks by Pope Francis suggesting that he would not judge priests for their sexual orientation could serve as a humble lesson for the Jewish community, as well. “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to…
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Fast Forward Madrid Chief Rabbi Calls Gays ‘Deviants’
Madrid’s chief rabbi, Moshe Bendahan, called gays “deviants” who should be re-educated and said same-sex marriages are “monstrous.” “Homosexuality is a deviation from nature,” Bendahan is quoted as telling the online news site Religion Digital in an interview published Wednesday. “It’s an anti-natural tendency and a sin. Contemplating allowing, consenting to what is known as…
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News Pope Francis: Gays Should Not Be Marginalized or Judged
Pope Francis, in some of the most compassionate words from any pontiff on gays, said they should not be judged or marginalised and should be integrated into society, but he reaffirmed Church teaching that homosexual acts are a sin. In a broad-ranging 80-minute conversation with journalists on the plane bringing him back from a week-long…
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News When Jewish Transgender Teens Come Out of Closet, Many Leave Camp Behind
At summer camp, sneaking into the boys side or the girls side is as classic an activity as roasting marshmallows. But what if the side you were assigned isn’t where you think you belong? Or what if you don’t fit into either side? Jewish summer camp — with its gender-segregated bunks, bathrooms, activities and rituals,…
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Opinion Untold Stories of the ‘T’ Folks in LGBT
This week, the Forward launched our month-long series on the lives of transgender Jews. Our project kicked off with six profiles of transgender rabbis and rabbinical students. As the editor of the series, I first became interested in transgender issues after I spent a year reporting on gay and lesbian inclusion in Jewish settings. In…
Most Popular
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Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
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Fast Forward First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
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Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
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Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: היסטאָריקערין וויווי לאַקס באַשרײַבט געשיכטע פֿון לאָנדאָנער ייִדישער פּרעסעVIDEO: Historian Vivi Laks tells history of the London Yiddish Press
שבֿע צוקער פֿירט דעם שמועס מיט וויווי לאַקס און ביידע לייענען פֿאָר עטלעכע פֿעליעטאָנען פֿון יענע צײַטן.
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Yiddish World Puppet Monty Pickle is guest on the Forward’s ‘Yiddish Word of the Day’
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Culture We tried to fix Hallmark’s Hanukkah problem. Here’s the movie we made instead
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Fast Forward Holocaust survivor event features a Rob Reiner video address — recorded just weeks before his death
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