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W
hen Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), North America’s
first gay and lesbian outreach Jewish congregation, was
admitted to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations
(
now Union for Reform Judaism [URJ]) in 1974, the Reform
Movement launched the full fledged inclusion of gay and
lesbian Jews into mainstream North American Judaism.
Gay and lesbian outreach became an integral part of the
URJ’s Jewish Family Concerns Committee and the 1996
publication of the seminal outreach document –
Kulanu
–
led the way for creation of many innovative life-cycle
ceremonies for Jewish gays and lesbians as well as
congregational programming for gay and lesbian inclusion.
Openly gay and lesbian rabbis and a recently ordained
transgender rabbi now serve large mainstream congregations
as well as gay and lesbian outreach congregations. These
rabbis and their partners and spouses and children are no
longer considered unusual in Reform congregations. Openly
gay and lesbian professionals now also serve as cantors and
educators in congregations and as nonprofit management
professionals in a wide variety of Jewish communal institu-
tions. Reform congregations now welcome openly gay and
lesbian individuals and families. The Reform Movement
has led the way in sensitizing the North American Jewish
community on the inclusion of gays and lesbians in
mainstream North American Judaism.
When I joined the URJ Board in 1989, there were no out
gay and lesbian Board members. I came out shortly after
I joined the Board and, at the time I joined, there was one
other gay man who was elected to the Board at the same
time. Serving on the URJ Board allowed us to become role
models for other gay and lesbian Jews to assume lay leader-
ship positions in mainstream Jewish organizations. It is no
longer unusual for a gay or lesbian Jew to serve on the URJ
Board. I was the first URJ Board member to bring a same-
sex partner to a URJ Board meeting in 1993 and was the first
openly gay URJ Regional president, elected in 1997 to serve
the URJ Pacific Southwest Council. My partner (now
husband) Lowell was welcomed warmly by my friends on
the Board. None of this would have been possible without
the strong support of the Reform Movement.
At HUC-JIR, I was the first openly gay member of a Board
of Overseers and the first openly gay member of the Board of
Governors. Lowell and I are fully integrated into the every-
day life of the College-Institute. There are now other gay
Jews serving on Boards of Overseers and I am certain that
in the not too distant future there will other gay or lesbian
members of the Board of Governors. HUC-JIR is
committed to full inclusion.
When I was interviewed for a course of study on the Reform
Movement co-sponsored by the URJ, HUC-JIR, and the
Central Conference of American Rabbis, I was asked what
made the Reform Movement so special to me. One of the
most important things to me is the inclusion of gay and lesbian
Jews in the Reform Movement and the Movement’s strong
commitment to full equality, including marriage equality,
for gays and lesbians, Jewish and non-Jewish.
Being a trailblazer is not always easy, but with the wise
foresight of Rabbi Alexander Schindler, the URJ President
who started gay and lesbian outreach in the Reform
Movement, and Rabbi Eric Yoffie, Rabbi Schindler’s
successor, who continued the outreach work of the Reform
Movement to gay and lesbian Jews, the Reform Movement
has become the model for inclusion of gay and lesbian Jews
as full members of the Jewish community. I am extremely
proud of the Reform Movement and extremely proud to
call myself a Reform Jew.
Reform Judaism: A Model For Inclusion
Jay H. Geller,
Chairman, Communications Committee, HUC-JIR Board of Governors
Jerry Hooten
Tango,
1994
Linoleum cut, paper
30"
x 22"
