This is the Forward’s coverage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, queer and questioning Jews.
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News For Elliot Kukla, Gender Transition and Ordination Went Hand in Hand
“I don’t think it was an accident that I found myself coming out as trans at the same time that I found myself becoming ordained,” said Rabbi Elliot Kukla, the first out transgender rabbi to be ordained in 2006 at HUC-JIR’s Los Angeles campus. “There is a certain identity transition in becoming a rabbi that,…
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News Reuben Zellman’s Rabbinical Classmates Were ‘Unfailingly Supportive’
As the first out transgender student accepted at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in 2003, Reuben Zellman recalled reading about his historic admission in a local newspaper. “I realized I was the first transgender person I had ever seen in the media who was still alive,” he said. At the time, transgender issues barely…
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News Emily Aviva Kapor: Creating a Jewish Community for Trans Women
The fact that she’s the only out transgender female rabbi doesn’t surprise 28-year-old Emily Aviva Kapor. It’s a reflection of sexism in the broader society, she said, paired with the fact that the Jewish feminist movement largely has overlooked trans women. “If I want to have an affirmative Judaism for all women, including trans women,”…
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Fast Forward Philly Jewish Teacher Lauds Official’s Refusal To Defend Gay Marriage Ban
The Jewish teacher who sued to lift Pennsylvania’s gay marriage ban told the Forward that she is pleased that the state’s attorney general has refused to defend the law. “We are both incredibly delighted because it’s such good news for the case,” said Helena Miller, referring to her wife, Dara Raspberry. “We were both very…
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Fast Forward Pennsylvania Attorney General Refuses To Defend State in Gay Marriage Ban Case
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane refused on Thursday to fight a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. The lawsuit is believed to be the first federal case since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 26 that the U.S. government must recognize same-sex marriages in states…
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News Jewish Teacher Strikes New Blow in Gay Marriage Fight — Eyes Supreme Court
A Jewish school teacher from Philadelphia is a face of a new landmark lawsuit that could prompt a Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing same-sex marriage rights nationwide. Helena Miller, a lesbian whose wife is not recognized as a parent of their baby daughter, is one of more than 20 plaintiffs in a landmark federal lawsuit filed…
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Fast Forward Gay Israeli Prisoners Win Right to Conjugal Visits
Gay prisoners will be allowed conjugal visits with their partners under the same circumstances they are granted to heterosexual ones, the Israel Prison Service has said. In response to a query by Dan Yakir, the legal adviser for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the prison service said gays and lesbians would not be…
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Fast Forward Edith Windsor Gets Jewish Hero’s Welcome at Shul After Gay Marriage Win
At 5 p.m. last Friday, a line of visibly excited people – many decked out in rainbow regalia – gathered on the sidewalk outside Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the gay and lesbian synagogue in Manhattan. Worshipers don’t generally form lines down the block in advance of Sabbath services. But it’s not every Shabbat that one…
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