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While so many of us were, understandably, focused on the results of this week’s election for the White House and Congress, the truth is that more and more important decisions are being made at the...
This post is part of a weekly feature on RACblog. Check in at the end of the week for a roundup of stories in which the RAC has been featured!...
November 6th is just under a month away and all eyes are on the contest to control Congress and The White House. However, throughout the country an array of important initiatives will be on the...
This afternoon the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit handed down its decision in Windsor vs. The United States, thereby striking down the "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA) as...
Election Day is under a week away and it’s time to look again at the critical marriage equality initiatives on the ballot in four different states. Next Tuesday citizens in Maine, Washington and...
Last night was a historic moment in the long struggle for LGBT rights and equality in the United States. Marriage equality passed in two states – and looks close to passing in a third as votes...
Marriage equality advocates have had much to celebrate over the last few days: An appeals court struck down California’s anti-marriage equality Proposition 8, Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire...
As a Rabbi, I believe that we need to recognize the sanctity in same sex marriages and monogamous relationships in the strongest possible way. The key issue in the sanctity of a relationship is a...
Today the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear any of the marriage equality cases currently awaiting a grant of a writ of certiorari (cert). Nine petitions challenging the so-called...
Today there was a Reform wedding outside the Knesset. Lin and her new husband exchanged vows in a ceremony officiated by Rabbi Gilad Kariv and Rabbi Kinneret Shiryon. Friends, family, members of...
This Passover, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will hear two cases that have enormous impact on equality and liberty in our country. On the first two days of Pesach, oral arguments...
As a rabbi and president-elect of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, I come here to be with you this morning at the Supreme Court on the very first day of Passover to say: Our nation is...
In these days awaiting decisions on Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act from the Supreme Court, I share this psalm I've written as we wait.
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I recently ended a three-week trip to the United States and returned home to Israel. This was a particularly emotional trip, as I was in Boston the day of Marathon. I saw firsthand how resilient...
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.
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Any moment now, the United States Supreme Court is going to decide on two cases that involve same-sex marriage. Advocates on both sides of this issue are anxiously awaiting either a moment of...
It’s been more than a year since I left behind the Religious Action Center in Washington for the not-really-greener pastures of the Union for Reform Judaism’s headquarters in New York. I have...
The first wail of mourning that I ever heard in my life was at my great-aunt Trudy’s funeral.
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The vast majority of Jewish people support the freedom to marry, knowing that strengthening gay families helps many and harms no one. The freedom to marry is not about forcing any rabbi or...
It seems to be the time of year for lists, and 2013 was an exciting year in the Jewish world. From the Pew study to the Sharansky plan, check out our picks of the top 10 Reform Jewish moments...
Gay and lesbian couples love to get married. Again and again. Rather than marrying other people each time, we tend to marry the same people again and again. As some same-sex couples have moved from...
We got married on a Wednesday. August 14, 2013: the ninth anniversary of the day on which we stood under a chuppah to sign our ketubah, (Jewish contract of marriage) exchange rings, sanctify our...
October is LGBT History month, dedicated to celebrating the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and the LGBT equal rights movement. Although the LGBT equality movement’s...
As the much-anticipated oral argument approaches in the marriage equality cases coming out of the Sixth Circuit Court before the Supreme Court, the fight for marriage equality within states wages...
When I left for college my freshman year, I was nervous about exploring a new Jewish community. However, I immediately felt at home as I walked into my university’s Hillel’s Conservative Friday...
I often think about how fortunate I am to live in this period of time when social justice for the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) community is advancing at such a rapid pace.
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Smashing the glass: It’s the most recognizable and iconic of rituals at the Jewish wedding, and while the explanation for this most tangible of Jewish customs has been interpreted by many, the most...
Organizational support and the hard work of so many people who work in our Jewish youth programs will create transformational changes that allow LGBTQ youth to access Jewish community as their full...
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...
I woke early one morning in June to hear the decisions of the United States Supreme Court on a pair of cases about marriage equality. Joy mixed with disappointment. I celebrated the return of...
In the weeks leading up to Passover, I think about the imperative embedded in the Hagaddah: B'chol dor vador chiav adam lirot et atzmo k'ilu hu yatza mi-mitzrayim, "In each and every generation, a...
The inscription inside the kippot (head coverings) shared on my wedding day read, "September 2, 2016, Marriage of Michael and MacDara."
Today is a momentous day. Whichever candidate we voted for in the election, today marks the beginning of a new period in our shared history.
For me and my husband Ed (of blessed memory), Pride was an annual reaffirmation and celebration of our mid-life decision to come out and to come together as a couple.
She sued the government, becoming the plaintiff in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and granted same-sex couples equal status under federal...
The Reform Jewish community has welcomed, embraced and fought for LGBTQ people and continues to do so even now as transgender individuals are under attack by our government.
Three years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage. Even as we celebrate this victory, there’s still much work to do.
What a rollercoaster of a week. Yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act. That ruling was a major blow to minority voters in this...
The orange will remain on my seder plate as a sign that we are always striving to help everyone to feel included, a sign that we are always looking out for those who might not feel that they belong...
Recently, a Reform congregation in Washington, D.C., hosted a Jewish wedding ceremony for three Israeli couples who are unable or unwilling to marry in Israel.
We come from different backgrounds but are driven by a simple shared goal: justice for all LGBTQ people, especially transgender and gender non-conforming folks.
