The Harry Potter Alliance

Jewish Rabbis Support Gay Marrriage

I seem to be writing a lot about LGBTQ equality issues lately. I’m glad to say that that’s because there’s a lot of exciting things happening in the world of marriage equality right now. Although there have certainly been some setbacks recently, the victories far out way them in every way. In just the last year, the state of New York introduced same-sex marriage equality, Barack Obama became the first US President to openly support same-sex marriage, and a 1st circuit court of appeals officially declared the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. The battle is far from over, of course, but things are looking up and moving forward towards the future.

The latest example of this comes from a rather surprising quarter. The Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards just unanimously voted in favor of same-sex marriage. Yep, that’s right. While some parts of the Jewish community have long embraced same-sex marriage, the Conservative side has been debating their stance on the issue. Until now.

The assembly, which sets the policies for Conservative rabbis, is issuing official guidelines for two different same-sex marriage ceremonies, as well as divorce procedures. “Both versions are egalitarian,” said one of the Rabbis who created the ceremonies, “They differ mostly in style — one hews closely to the traditional wedding ceremony while the other departs from it.”

Traditionally, conservative religious groups have disapproved, often vehemently, of same-sex marriage. A decision like this from such an influential and inspirational group may very well be the push the rest of them need. The more people accept that allowing same-sex marriage won’t hurt their religious morals, the closer we will get to equality. In that respect, this decision on the part of the Conservative Jewish Movement may be as important to the future of LGBTQ rights as Obama’s recent endorsement.

So here’s to another victory for the LGBTQ community, and I hope I may have the opportunity to write of many more in the upcoming months. In the meantime, three cheers for the Jewish Community, and lets hope their decision will be taken up by many others.