The Jewish Chronicle

Gay group celebrates landmark

- BYBARRYTOB­ERMAN JESSICA ELGOT

IN 1972, a small advert in Gay News attracted 190 people to a meeting to launch a UK organisati­on for gay Jews.

This weekend, the Jewish Gay and Lesbian Group celebrates its 40th anniversar­y with a chavurah led by three rabbis, a party for 150 members and supporters and a Jewish East End walking tour.

Also welcoming bisexuals and transgende­rs, the JGLG currently has around 150 members. They hail predominan­tly from the London area and reflect all shades of the religious spectrum. There are regular social events and services, plus spin-off activities for parents and children of members.

JGLG publicity officer Karen Newman explains that the toddler group serves to show the youngsters “that they are not the only ones with two mummies or two daddies. My child goes to religion school every week — she’s a better attender than I was.”

Living in north London but retaining her Brighton and Hove Progressiv­e membership, Peggy Sherwood has been the JGLG president for 12 years. She met her partner through the group and they had their civil partnershi­p five years ago.

Ms Sherwood says that acceptance of gays and lesbians has improved within the community, citing the backing of the Reform and Liberal movements. Their support will be evidenced by the presence of leaders Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner and Rabbi Danny Rich at the anniversar­y party, at which a number of gay and lesbian rabbis will also be present. However, she points out that people within the Orthodox or Charedi world and young Jews contemplat­ing coming out can still face heartrendi­ng dilemmas.

Now a regular at Liberal Jewish Synagogue, St John’s Wood, services, Ms Newman was a “three times a year” c o n g r e g a n t a t t h e United Synagogue her family belonged to and could find “no reason to attend more”.

She s t r e s s e s the importance to participan­ts of the monthly Friday night JGLG chavurah at Liberal Judaism’s Montagu Centre in central London. “For some, it is their only direct interactio­n with a rabbi. The one thing people are concerned about is that they will lose their Jewish identity. It’s often the reverse. They hold on to their heritage but a model that speaks to how they are living.”

Ms Newman notes with satisfacti­on that when discussing the Holocaust, Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks routinely makes reference to the Nazi persecutio­n of gays. She also believes that Orthodox synagogue groupings are now at least embarrasse­d by their stance on homosexual­ity. “They don’t like to manifest themselves as that intolerant.” However, Lord Sacks last week opposed government plans to introduce gay marriage, which the JGLG noted with “regret but not surprise”.

The group is selffunded and is reliant on volunteers. Most of its members are in the 30s-to-50s age category and Ms Sherwood hopes the proceeds from the anniversar­y events will fund a youth-related project. She is concerned by the lack of provision for Jewish teenagers considerin­g coming out.

Ms Sherwood has been invited to three Downing Street receptions in recent years, recognisin­g the group’s standing in the Jewish and wider com-

RETIRED dentist Gordon Wolffe joined the JGLG in its earliest incarnatio­n as a young man seeking those who could understand him.

The 63-year-old, who lives with his partner in Hemel Hempstead, recalled: “My family were not supportive in the beginning. My father fainted when I told him. They tried all sorts of ways to ‘cure’ me. But after I met my first partner, they became acclimatis­ed to it and my partner became one of the family. He was an exuberant New York munity. And a JGLG contingent will take part in the World Pride parade next weekend. Ms Newman recalls that at a previous rally “some guys in leather were in front of us. One turned around and said: ‘Great to see you. I was at JFS.’” Jew, very easy to get on with.”

In his early 20s, Mr Wolffe “secretly went to a meeting of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality”. He was told there that he could either find like-minded people “in certain pubs, or I could go to this church group, a slightly more relaxed atmosphere. I found it all very scary, but the latter sounded better. I went with my heart pounding in my chest, absolutely terrified. The first person who beckoned me over said: ‘We have some things in common — we’re both gay and we’re both Jewish’. I eventually found the advertisem­ent for what was then the Jewish Gay Group and I began going along in the early 1970s.

“At the end of 1974, I met my first partner there, a profession­al violinist. We lived from 1978 until 2008 in the Netherland­s until he died of cancer. When I came back to the UK, I got back in touch with JGLG and I’m now a committee member. It’s changed vastly. We have a clear structure, all sorts of activities.”

 ??  ?? A JGLG contingent at last year’s Pride parade in London — part of the group’s wider involvemen­t
A JGLG contingent at last year’s Pride parade in London — part of the group’s wider involvemen­t
 ??  ?? Peggy Sherwood
Peggy Sherwood

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