Op-Ed: Jewish organizations have made great strides in gay inclusion—but must do more

Jewish Telegraphic Agency (wire service) ^ | 11-28-2012 | Idit Klein

[Salman]

BOSTON (JTA) -- At the 2009 General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington, 50 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Jews and their allies gathered in a small room on the ninth floor of the conference hotel.

The event was not part of the official GA program, and the room was in the hinterlands of the hotel, hidden from the public eye. It reminded me of photos of 1950s gay bars, underground dives with no signs or windows. At the biggest annual gathering of Jews in the world, it felt like LGBT Jews were still stuck in the closet.

It used to be rare for LGBT equality to be on the agenda of a major Jewish conference. Now it is rare for it not to be. The Jewish community is changing and, three years after that first gathering, I could feel and see that change at the 2012 GA.

At this year’s reception for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Jews, and their family, friends and allies, we celebrated the release of a new report, the Human Rights Campaign’s Jewish Organization Equality Index on the state of LGBT inclusion in North American Jewish organizations.

People flowed into the reception room until the line was out the door; we had to turn people away. Dana Beyer, executive director of Gender Rights Maryland, remarked, "Who would have thought that we would reach the day when people would be lining up waiting to get into a room at the GA to talk about LGBT equality?"

[little jeremiah]

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