Fresh Updates from RAC

Washington, D.C. August 9, 2012 – A group of Reform Jewish clergy in Michigan – 16 rabbis and 3 cantors – have signed a letter, coordinated by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, to Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) urging him to join 41 of his Senate colleagues in co-sponsoring the Safe Schools Improvement Act (S.506). The text of the letter is as follows: Read more…

Tragedy struck Aurora, Colorado last week. A man walked into a crowded movie theater armed with automatic weapons and took the lives of twelve people, including a six-year-old girl. And, as follows too many tragedies involving guns, the gun lobby, and those on the right, has claimed that any effort to point out the connection between guns and gun violence is “politicization.”

But, the facts are there. We’re told by gun-rights advocates that, if only someone in the theater had a gun, the shooter could have been stopped; that, just like any “freedom of speech” issue, the solution is more, not less. The difference is that more speech results in debate; more guns result in more deaths. If someone in that theater – in the dark and the chaos – had a gun, or if many had had guns, would they have been able to take down the shooter, who was covered in bulletproof armor? Or might they have missed, and killed even more people? Read more…

In recent months, LGBT equality has come to the fore in a number of denominations. The United Methodist Church’s governing body, which meets every four years, rejected a proposal to strike passages from its book of doctrine which calls homosexuality “incompatible” with the religion. Last week, the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted down (48% in favor, 52% opposed) a proposal to change its definition of marriage from “one man and one woman” to a more inclusive “two people.” This past weekend, the Episcopal Church voted to allow transgender ministers, and is voting today on whether to approve guidelines for blessing same-sex unions.

Read more…

The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is currently on display on the National Mall. It is comprised of over 48,000 panels, each about the size of a grave, representing over 94,000 people—which is about 20% of the people who have died from AIDS-related complications in the United States. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has plagued the United States since the early 1980s, and it has flourished in part because it touches on everything Americans hate talking about: sex (especially gay sex), drugs and poverty. In many senses, it is a not only a memorial to those who have died, but also a reminder of all that we failed to do – and of what we can still do. Read more…

Earlier this week the last known gay Jewish Holocaust survivor, Gad Beck, passed away. In many ways he defied being a victim — he snuck into a deportation center to free his boyfriend, for example, and was an active member of the Resistance.

Gad Beck was a hero in many ways, defying the Nazi regime and death itself. He survived the camps and went on to fight for equality for LGBT people, saying famously, “God doesn’t punish for a life of love.” His fight for justice – for not only Jews but gays and lesbians as well – has been profiled in two documentaries: “The Life of Gad Beck” and “Paragraph 175.”

Much can be said about his remarkable life and his contributions to the struggle for LGBT equality. But his death also provides an opportunity for a larger discussion about the way the Jewish community often relates to the Holocaust and non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Jewish organizations, including our own Reform Movement, frequently reference “the six million victims of the Holocaust,” but this formulation is problematic: To use phrases such as “the six million victims of the Holocaust” is to ignore the five to six million other victims who perished in the concentration camps alongside Jewish victims. Read more…

On June 9, the Religious Action Center marched in the Capital Pride parade. We were not the only faith group marching, however. In fact, numerous others, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America to Mormons for Marriage Equality, marched in the parade. This is an indication of how far the faith community has come from even just a few years ago.

This is not to say that many faith groups are no longer involved in harming lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people. A Catholic hospital earlier this year denied a man access to his HIV medicine after discovering that he is gay, and the harm comes in more subtle ways, too. A Rolling Stone article on bullying published earlier this year comes to mind (link and emphasis mine): Read more…

Washington, D.C. June 12, 2012 – The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism coordinated and released a letter to members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) signed by 37 faith groups urging the members of the Committee to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act  (S.811), which would prohibit workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and includes a strong religious liberty exemption. To this day LGBT Americans face prejudice in hiring, firing, and promotion, which threatens both their and their families’ livelihood. The full text of the letter follows: Read more…

This Saturday, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is marching in Capital Pride. Pride is Washington, D.C.’s biggest and most colorful festival to celebrate gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality – and it has won best parade in the District for the past four years!

If you’re in the D.C. area, we would love to have you join us at Pride this year. This is a great family event, so bring the kids and the grandparents and the dog (in a rainbow T-shirt, of course!). Starting at 2:30 p.m. we’ll learn Torah, make signs and paint our faces at the RAC (address below). At 4:30 p.m., we will head to the parade site together. Register here (and find out who else is going on Facebook!) Read more…