Tom Chai Sosnik stood in front of his eighth-grade class, flecks of rainbow colored hair visible beneath his blue yarmulke, as he was wrapped in a tallit for the very first time. His classmates stood and chanted together, “Baruch HaBah [“Welcome”]” three times, and then ran forward, enveloping him in a big, messy hug. Tom’s…
Oldenburg, Germany, is made of people who are historically ahead of their time. “In 1932,” a man tells me as I arrive there, “the people here were the first to vote for a local Nazi government. We did it before Berlin!” This man, I learn quickly, is not the only one in Oldenburg who remembers…
illustration by Lior Zaltzman When Kay Long approached the Western Wall in Jerusalem last week, she was turned away because according to one of the Orthodox women supervising the women’s side of the Wall, Ms. Long was not a woman. In Orthodox Judaism, religious space is gendered space. Men and women are rigorously separated, not…
Kay Long poses on the Kotel plaza after being refused access to both women’s and men’s sections. (JTA) — A transgender woman was denied access to both the women’s and men’s sections of the Western Wall. Kay Long, who designs wedding dresses, evening gowns and costumes, on Monday visited the Western Wall with a friend…
Transgender activist Leslie Feinberg died November 15 at age 65, at her home in Syracuse, New York. According to the website Advocate.com, Feinberg died of “complications from multiple tick-borne co-infections, including Lyme disease, babeisiosis, and protomyxzoa rheumatica.” Feinberg was known for her 1993 novel “Stone Butch Blues,” which won the Lambda Literary Award and is…
Colonel Jennifer Natalya Pritzker is not much for the spotlight. Like the rest of her family, the massively wealthy Chicago-based real estate scions, she rarely gives interviews. But the 63-year-old, whose official title is Colonel (IL) Jennifer N. Pritzker IL ARNG (Ret), doesn’t have to say much for her mission to be clear. With an…
Facebook/Exodays Dana International made quite a splash this weekend at the Gay Pride in Amsterdam, when the Israeli transgender singing sensation lifted a cardboard sign in the shape of the Ten Commandments. The sight of the Israeli singer, perched atop the Pride’s first Jewish boat, caused anti-Israel protestors to shout. But Dana, not one for…
Stomping across the stage in a disheveled blond wig, cheesy pink boots, and a jean skirt adorned with raccoon tails, performance artist Rose Wood is every bit the trailer-park hooker attempting to sell her wares. Enraged and desperate, she strips off her torn and tied T-shirt, revealing nude breasts, and when that doesn’t work, she…
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