This is the Forward’s coverage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, queer and questioning Jews.
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News Not Your Grandma’s Poland Anymore
When Poland’s new Sejm, or Parliament, was seated recently, the nationally televised event showed something never before seen in this conservative nation: a transsexual woman and an openly gay man being solemnly sworn in along with other parliamentarians. The seminal event was a consequence of the emergence of Palikot, a new, explicitly anti-clerical, libertarian-oriented party…
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Opinion Barney Frank and the Financial Crisis
Democrats have never recovered from the trauma of 1994, when they lost the House of Representatives to Newt Gingrich’s Republicans and found themselves in the minority for the first time in 40 years. One Democrat emerged relatively unruffled, however: Barney Frank of Massachusetts. “I’m used to being in the minority,” he famously wisecracked in a…
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Opinion Pinkwashing Is Not Black and White
Last March, this newspaper published a classic example of pinkwashing, which is the concerted effort by supporters of Israel to tout Israel’s excellent LGBT rights record to win support for Israel in general. In their straightforwardly titled piece, “LGBT Activists Should Know Friends From Foes,” Stuart Applebaum and Benjamin Weinthal stated plainly that activists “should…
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Fast Forward Barney Frank Retiring From Congress
Longtime congressman Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the first openly gay representative, is set to announce his intention not to run for reelection in 2012. Frank told reporters gathered in the town hall in Newton, Mass., that Capitol Hill is no longer a place for a get-things-done type of lawmaker. “The kind of inside work I…
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News Conservatives Grapple With Gay Wedding Rite
Having recognized gay rights with their 2006 acceptance of gay unions, Conservative rabbis are now wrestling with the issue of gay rites. The recent efforts of three leading rabbis to construct a kosher wedding ceremony for same-sex couples hews closely to the traditional Jewish heterosexual ceremony, in an effort, they say, to ensure that same-sex…
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Culture How ‘Gay’ Lost Its ‘Shtick’ Over Time
Orin Hargraves, who describes himself as “an independent lexicographer and contributor to numerous dictionaries,” has sent me an Internet article whose point of departure is a June column of mine about the Yiddish word “shtick.” There I pointed out that “shtick” has acquired a new meaning in American English — that of a gripe or…
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Culture Vayera — He Appeared
Genesis 18:1–22:24 You Shall Hear the Cry of the Oppressed The thought of commenting on Parashat Vayera immediately prompts the desire to write something soothing, to get away from the binding of Isaac, the destruction of Sodom and the strange story of Sarah’s strange pregnancy. The portion has other, gentler lessons to teach – for…
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Culture How Gay Rights Teaches Us Torah
Most religious affirmations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have been “negative” ones: They argue that Leviticus (and Romans and Corinthians) doesn’t really prohibit homosexuality, or that ancient prohibitions should be set aside in the age of the iPad. But isn’t there a “positive” case, as well — that biblical religious values support the…
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
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Film & TV A new documentary challenges stereotypes about Orthodox Jewish women — and their wigs
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Sports NBA coach Steve Kerr: ‘Israel sought revenge for Oct. 7 and now 72,000 Palestinians have been killed’
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News Analysis: As Democrats unite behind Platner, Schumer’s future as leader faces tests
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward A best-selling novelist identified a minor character as Israeli. Some fans are canceling their orders.
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Fast Forward Boulder hostage-march firebombing suspect to plead guilty to state charges
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News Her body has been unidentified for decades. Her Ashkenazi DNA may explain why
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News Indiana synagogue that shaped Reform movement is sold — and will become a coffee shop, event space