The Conservative branch of American Judaism has formally approved same-sex marriage ceremonies, nearly six years after lifting a ban on ordaining gays and lesbians.
The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards issued the ruling Thursday on a 13-0 vote with one abstention, said Rabbi Elliot Dorff, the committee chairman. The panel of scholars approved two model wedding ceremonies and guidelines for a same-sex divorce. Rabbis can adapt the marriage ceremonies for the couples.
“We acknowledge that these partnerships are distinct from those discussed in the Talmud as `according to the law of Moses and Israel,’ but we celebrate them with the same sense of holiness and joy as that expressed in heterosexual marriages,” the legal opinion states.
Conservative Judaism is the second-largest Jewish movement in North America and holds a middle ground between liberal and traditional groups. The Reform and Reconstructionist branches accept gay relationships, while the stricter Orthodox Jewish movement does not. The Conservative law committee lifted the ban on gay ordination in December 2006.
Called the “Covenant of Loving Partners,” the Conservative same-sex marriage document bases the ceremonies on Jewish partnership law. In the covenant, the couple pledges to be faithful. A ring ceremony binds the pair.
And as with heterosexual couples, Conservative rabbis should not preside at the marriage of a Jew to a non-Jew.
However, the ceremonies do not include kiddushin, or sanctification, in which a groom “acquires” a bride by giving her a ring, which is considered the core of a traditional Jewish wedding. In recent decades, many rabbis have already been altering that part of the ceremony for heterosexual couples by having the bride and groom exchange rings, to signal equality in the marriage.
“The result is still a Jewish marriage,” the legal opinion on gay marriage states.
Dorff, an author of the ruling, said the committee’s discussions with gays and lesbians as the ceremonies were developed found a split in opinion that led the two templates for same-sex marriage. One adheres more closely to the traditional Jewish ceremony, while the other doesn’t.
The divorce includes a “writ of dissolution” – similar to what is known in traditional Jewish marriage as a “get” – that either partner in the same-sex marriage can request.
Dorff said he did not know how many members of the movement’s Rabbinical Assembly perform same-sex marriages. However, many rabbis had already been conducting ceremonies for gays and lesbians that they had developed on their own. Keshet, which advocates for gay and lesbian Jews, has started a public database of rabbis who would perform the ceremony called The Equality Guide.
from The Associated Press
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Deon Haywood

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – In the wee hours of the morning on Friday, Deon Haywood, Executive Director of Women With A Vision in New Orleans received a call from the building landlord that a fire had destroyed their offices. Upon further inspection, it is clear that the fire was an intentional attack on the organization that does HIV prevention and advocacy on behalf of poor and low-income women (including lesbians, queer and transgender women) in New Orleans.
I spoke to Deon on Friday morning, who told me that she though the fire was an intentional attack on the organization as computers, laptops, and even company checks were not stolen.
“The worst damage was concentrated in our community organizing and outreach office where we store all of the resources we use to educate our community, said Haywood in a written statement about the incident. “We lost everything. We do not have an office to operate out of right now. Most of our office equipment and all of our educational resources were destroyed. Because of the targeted nature, we can only assume that this was intentional.”
Women With a Vision just came off celebrating a major political win. They were victorious in a lawsuit against the state of Louisiana on behalf of people convicted of prostitution who received an additional “crime against nature” charge (based on an 1802 law that banned homosexuality among a number of other sexual acts), which then meant a charge of “prostitution” turned into a “sex offender” charge, which made getting housing, public assistance, and employment nearly impossible. If convicted, one had to register as a sex offender for 10 years, and could be added on to if you were arrested or violated your parole or probation.
For those of us who are, and work with poor and low-income Black women, sex workers, and LGBT people who are marginalized from the mainstream, this attack is on all of us.
from Housing Works

Dan Savage

Dan Savage has signed with CAA.
The writer, activist and television personality is best known for his sex advice column, “Savage Love,” which is syndicated throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He is also a TV pundit and frequently appears on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.
In 2010, Savage and husband Terry Miller created the Internet-based It Gets Better Project, an organization that advocates for and supports LGBT young people who are dealing with harassment over their sexual orientation. It Gets Better Project has been the subject of a popular Google Chrome commercial.
Savage also stars in and executive produces MTV’s Savage U, a relationship and sex advice show. And MTV aired an It Gets Better Project special in February.
Savage is the author of several books, including Savage Love, The Kid: What Happened When My Boyfriend and I Decided to Get Pregnant, and Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America.
from The Hollywood Reporter