I grew up in Potomac, MD, right outside of Washington, D.C. Like most young people in my area, growing up I had had little interaction with gay people, who were nearly invisible in suburbia. (Even though it was a liberal area, my public school taught “abstinence-only” education until as recently as 2004!)

Most people have at least heard of Amazon’s groundbreaking television show, Transparent, which along with transgender actress Laverne Cox of Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and movies such as Tangerine, are pushing transgender stories from the margins into the mainstream. But to single out Transparent simply for highlighting a topic that’s still taboo in most of the television world is to overlook the other half of the show’s DNA – its significant reliance on Jewish themes and customs to weave its tale. It may seem an arbitrary combination, as the show is based in part on creator Jill Soloway’s own Jewish family and transgendered parent, but advocacy for LGBTQ rights has a long history among progressive Jews.

Coming home from the temple where I served as rabbi, I spotted a bag from our local pharmacy on the kitchen counter. It was stapled shut, but the attached prescription for my 25-year-old daughter Laura announced its contents: testosterone.

My worst fears were

As the site of this year’s 25th Annual Long Island Gay Pride Parade and Festival, Huntington, Long Island, was a bright, sunny, and joyful place on Saturday June 13^th.

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Pride Month originally honored the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan, which were a major turning point for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States. Today, Pride Month is observed in communities across the country with parades, festivals, and other joyful events that celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Yet, Pride Month also serves to memorialize and honor those who have died of hate crimes and HIV/AIDS.

I grew up in a liberal household where my parents told me to be what I wanted and to not change for anyone.

In a fantastic series this week, The Jewish Daily Forward profiles six rabbis and rabbinical students who identify as transgender, including two who were ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the seminary of the Reform Jewish Movement.

Years ago I learned to say, “My daughter has a girlfriend.” But it wasn’t an easy transition for me – and it certainly wasn’t easy for my daughter, partly because of me.

I was the happiest woman on earth when she was born.

Two weeks before Boston Pride last year, having recently broken up with my girlfriend of several months, I texted my friend Jamie: “I need to see everyone. There’s more to this story.”

Many of my close friends from Framingham High School gathered at Ruby