We can celebrate our freedom — but it’s still not enough
IT’S FIFTY years — a jubilee — since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales. Partial because between 1967 and 2003, 30,000 gay and bisexual men were convicted for behaviour that would not have been considered illegal if their partner had been a woman.
Of course, a jubilee should be a celebration, and so it is. Everyone who believes in a free and open society should celebrate this achievement. We can celebrate our freedom together, as we will at Pride in London this weekend. And in England, Scotland and Wales, we can now celebrate our love and commitment through marriage.
As LGBT+ Jews, we know that celebration also involves memory. We must not forget how our own societies have treated LGBT+ people for centuries. And we must remember the daily humiliation and punishment that our LGBT+ siblings still endure in other countries. We cannot take anything for granted. Every hard-won freedom must be cherished, and every right fiercely guarded. The UK government is now dependent on the support of an openly homophobic party. Would we be silent if it were Jews, rather than LGBT+ people, who were discriminated against?
With discrimination rife despite decriminalisation, LGBT+ people in this country learnt to look after ourselves. From the foundation in 1972 of the (still running) Jewish Gay and Lesbian Group to the establishment in 1990 of Beit Klal Yisrael, an LGBT+ synagogue, LGBT+ Jews have come together and created our own communities. There have been pioneering LGBT+ rabbis, too, including Rabbi Lionel Blue — who in 1981 was the first UK rabbi to come out as gay — Rabbi Sheila Shulman and Rabbi Eli Tikvah Sarah, ordained by Leo Baeck College in 1989. When HIV/ Aids began to devastate the lives of gay men in particular, in 1988 the Jewish Aids Trust was formed to support those in our community living with HIV/Aids, challenge the stigma around the condition and educate about sexual health.
My own Jewish life changed dramatically in 2001, the year I came We can’t take anything for granted out. I was fortunate to be supported by Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Rabbi Chaim Rapoport, two men whose very different approaches to homosexuality and Judaism have helped shape discussions about LGBT+ inclusion for a generation. Later that year, the film Trembling Before G-d was released. It was the first time I had ever seen people like me represented on screen.
When it was shown to packed audiences at Limmud that winter, it felt like the conversation was changing around me.
It’s been a long walk through a bitter wilderness. We have gone from Emeritus Chief Rabbi Lord Jakobovits in 1993 declaring that homosexuality was a disease that could be cured, to Chief Rabbi Mirvis in 2015 condemning homophobia. From prison sentences, to our first Jewish same-gender marriages in Liberal and Reform synagogues in 2014.
From fear to hope, from mourning to life-affirming celebration and joy.
We’re not there yet. The vicious public criticism of Rabbi Dweck was triggered by his public support for LGBT+ people, and debate continued with little thought for LGBT+ people and their families.
It is frightening when Jewish symbols are rejected at Pride celebrations, as recently happened in Chicago. And there are still some Jewish institutions who avoid working with organisations like KeshetUK to create a world where no one has to choose between their Jewish and LGBT+ identity.
There’s work to do, and we are doing it. I won’t be at Pride in London this year. Instead I will be in Budapest on behalf of KeshetUK, delivering LGBT+ inclusion workshops to the local Jewish community. Later this summer, I will also be joining LGBT+ friends in Jerusalem for their march for Pride and Tolerance. So, on this special anniversary, let’s all take a moment, a moment of the Jubilee, to sound the trumpet of freedom and proclaim our liberty.
Benjamin Ellis is chair of KeshetUK which works in Jewish communities to promote LGBT+ inclusion