DOCSLIB.ORG

Navigating the Forbidden: Exploring Religious and Sexual Identity Conflict Through the Lens Of

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Navigating the Forbidden: Exploring Religious and Sexual Identity Conflict Through the Lens Of Navigating the forbidden: Exploring religious and sexual identity conflict through the lens of law Eliza Kate Bateman Faculty of Law McGill University Montreal, 2018 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Civil Law December 2018 © Eliza Bateman, 2018 1 ABSTRACT This thesis considers the tensions that lesbian or gay (“L/G”) religious people experience between their sexual and religious identities and how they negotiate these tensions. Specifically, it analyzes the challenges of evangelical Christian men who identify as ‘ex-gay’ and Orthodox Jewish women who identify as lesbian. Most of the people who are the focus of this research live within religious communities—situated within a more secular state framework (the USA)—that disavow same-sex attraction as a matter of religious principle and law. This dissertation is informed by a feminist methodology and a legal pluralism and critical legal pluralism theoretical framework. A legal pluralist and critical legal pluralist theoretical lens draws out the legal norms relevant for these L/G people with respect to sexuality and intimate relationships. The application of this framework illuminates the unique negotiations that these people undergo with respect to sexuality and explains the significance of a religious worldview to their normative choices. Ultimately, the legal analysis reflects the complexity and depth of these legal subjects. Feminist methods are used in the legal commentary, emphasising connections between personal, first-hand narratives and legal analyses of inequality, advocacy and gendered power relations. This thesis draws on narratives provided by L/G Christian or Jewish people, including memoirs, media articles, documentaries, blog contributions and online interviews. This analysis concludes that, for most of the L/G people in this work, their sexual and religious identities are dynamic and will remain contested. This thesis argues that some Orthodox Jewish women engage in productive dialogue between their sexuality and religious concepts of self, and this dialogue can take the form of legal negotiations and rule creation within their Orthodox communities. By comparison, ex-gay Christian men assert a transformative concept of self that claims to totally efface their gay orientation, replaced by a self- professed ‘ex-gay’ Christian identity. RÉSUMÉ Cette thèse porte sur les tensions entre leur identité sexuelle et religieuse que vivent les personnes religieuses lesbiennes ou gaies (L/G), et sur la façon dont elles et ils gèrent ces tensions. En particulier, elle analyse les défis que rencontrent des hommes chrétiens évangéliques qui se définissent comme “ancien-gai” et des femmes juives orthodoxes qui se définissent comme lesbiennes. La plupart des personnes qui font l’objet de cette recherche habitent dans des 2 communautés religieuses (situées dans un cadre étatique plus laïque, celui des États-Unis) où l’attirance pour les personnes du même sexe est interdite par la religion et par la loi. Cette dissertation est réalisée sur la base d’une méthodologie féministe et des approches théoriques du pluralisme juridique et du pluralisme juridique critique. C’est sous l’angle de ces approches théoriques que sont dégagées les normes pertinentes pour ces personnes L/G en ce qui a trait à leur sexualité et à leurs relations intimes. L’application de ce cadre théorique met également en lumière le travail unique de négociations internes auxquelles se livrent ces personnes en matière de sexualité, et explique l’importance de leur vision religieuse du monde pour leurs choix normatifs. Ultimement, l’analyse juridique révèle la complexité et la profondeur de ces sujets de droit. Dans le contexte de la discussion juridique, des méthodologies féministes sont employées pour mettre en évidence les liens entre les témoignages personnels considérés et l’analyse des inégalités, de la défense des droits et des relations de pouvoir genrées. Cette thèse s’appuie sur des témoignages de personnes L/G chrétiennes ou juives, communiquées notamment sous forme de mémoires, d’articles de presse, de documentaires, de blogues ou d’entrevues. L’analyse conclut que la majorité des personnes L/G représentées dans cette étude ont des identités sexuelle et religieuse dynamiques qui sont vouées à demeurer en tension. En particulier, la thèse présentée veut que les femmes juives orthodoxes mettent en dialogue de façon productive leur sexualité et leur identité religieuse, des dialogues qui prennent parfois la forme de négociations légales et de création de normes au sein de communautés orthodoxes. De leur côté, les hommes chrétiens anciennement gais mettent de l’avant une conception transformée d’eux-mêmes où leur orientation sexuelle est complètement effacée, remplacée par une identité autoproclamée de chrétien anciennement gai. 3 Contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ 2 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... 8 Dedication ............................................................................................................................. 8 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 9 (1) Contributions to scholarship ...................................................................................... 13 1. A juxtaposition of antithetical religious groups .................................................... 13 2. Using (critical) legal pluralism to discover dilemmas of identity ..................... 15 (2) A feminist method approach .................................................................................... 18 (3) Mapping out the thesis...............................................................................................19 Chapter 1 ...................................................................................................................... 20 Chapter 2 ..................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 3 ..................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 4 ..................................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 5 ..................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 6 ..................................................................................................................... 26 (4) Limitations, exclusions and explanations ................................................................ 28 Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 34 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 34 Part I ................................................................................................................................ 37 (1) The ‘Political and Social Moment’: progressive realization of equality rights and deep courses of religious dissent .................................................................................... 37 1. The social moment ................................................................................................ 37 2. The legal and political moment......................................................................... 44 Part II .............................................................................................................................. 49 (2) The state legal framework balancing equality and religious freedom rights ...... 49 (3) Religious privacy: does state law affect the internal life of religious communities? .................................................................................................................. 60 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................. 73 Legal pluralism and critical legal pluralism: discovering law in closed religious communities ....................................................................................................................... 73 4 (1) Legal pluralism: an evolving definition of law in a choice-rich world ................ 76 (2) Strong legal pluralism: informal and community legal orders ........................... 80 (3) Reframing law as sign, symbol and map .............................................................. 83 (4) Determining ‘what is Law’ with certainty? .......................................................... 85 (5) Religious legal pluralism: starting positions ....................................................... 90 (6) A critical legal pluralism: law reimagined and improvised by legal agents ........ 95 (7) Legal pluralism and critical legal pluralism in this work: opportunities and complementarities ......................................................................................................... 101 1. Understanding group and individual positions on sexuality as ‘law’ ...............
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 34 Front Matter.Indd
    New in Paperback from PENGUIN GROUP USA “A contagious...witty...rib-tickling little book. Eats, Shoots & Leaves makes correct usage so cool that you have to admire Ms. Truss.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane and witty way, that it is time to look at our commas and semi- colons and see them as the wonderful and neces- sary things they are. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preserva- tion of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with. “Witty, smart, passionate.” —Los Angeles Times, Best Books of 2004: Nonfiction “Truss’s scholarship is impressive and never dry.” —Edmund Morris, The New York Times Book Review Gotham 240 pp. 1-592-40203-8 $11.00 Also newly available from Lynne Truss EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! Illustrated by Bonnie Timmons Illuminating the comical confusion the lowly comma can cause, this picture book edition of Eats, Shoots & Leaves uses lively, subversive illustrations to show how mis- placing or leaving out a comma can change the meaning of a sentence completely. Putnam 32 pp. 0-399-24491-3 $15.99 For more information about Lynne Truss go to www.eatsshootsandleaves.com GOTHAM BOOKS is a member of PENGUIN GROUP (USA) Academic Marketing Dept., 375 Hudson St., NY, NY 10014 www.penguin.com/academic compo si tion STUD IES Fall 2006 Volume 34 Number 2 Editors Carrie Leverenz Brad Lucas Book Review Editor Lynée Lewis Gaillet Managing Editor Drew M.
    [Show full text]
  • Abstract Pray the Gay Away
    ABSTRACT PRAY THE GAY AWAY: RHETORICAL DILEMMAS OF THE AMERICAN EX-GAY MOVEMENT by Travis Allan Webster The Ex-Gay Movement marks a contemporary, traditionally North American emergence of “reparative” therapies and ministries that attempt to convert gay men and lesbians into “straight” identities. Pray the Gay Away theorizes these reparative rhetoric(s) as arenas that create discursive spaces of tension—what I call “second closets”—for “ex-gays” in virtual and material contexts. Through digital, rhetorical analyses, this thesis investigates the performative and linguistic reactions of ex-gays exhibited in online testimonies on pro-ex-gay websites, while examining rhetoric(s) of counter-hegemonic, online communities that seek to work against the Ex-Gay Movement. PRAY THE GAY AWAY: RHETORICAL DILEMMAS OF THE AMERICAN EX-GAY MOVEMENT A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of English by Travis Allan Webster Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2008 Advisor________________________ LuMing Mao Reader_________________________ W. Michele Simmons Reader_________________________ Madelyn Detloff Table of Contents Dedication iv Acknowledgments v Chapter 1: An Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Theoretical Foundations 9 Chapter 3: The Second Closet Online 25 Chapter 4: Counter-Rhetoric(s) Online and Conclusions 38 Works Cited 51 ii This thesis is dedicated to Chuck Collins iii Acknowledgments First and foremost, I am indebted to my thesis committee, LuMing Mao, Michele Simmons, and Madelyn Detloff. This project would not have been possible without the support of these three teacher-scholars, whom I admire, respect, and model my pedagogy and scholarship after.
    [Show full text]
  • Teenage Supervision, Submitted by Yaakov Bieler, Jackbieler@Aol
    Proposed Resolutions for Adoption at the 48th Annual Convention of The Rabbinical Council of America April 29th - May 1st 2007 Museum of Jewish Heritage Battery Place, New York, NY Concluding with Parallel Yemei Iyyun at The Wilf Campus, Yeshiva University The Orthodox Union The Center for Jewish History Rabbi Daniel Cohen, Convention Chairman Rabbi Barry Freundel, Resolutions Committee Chairman On Friday, April 20, 2007, members of the RCA’s Executive Committee were invited to a conference call to be held on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 in order to define the scope of convention resolutions, as per its authority under Article 7, Section 2 of the RCA constitution, “The Resolutions Committee shall prepare and present resolutions to the annual meeting in accordance with the procedures adopted by the Executive Committee.” At that meeting, the Executive Committee unanimously approved the following procedure: “Convention resolutions shall not address the day to day governance of the RCA, which has historically been the responsibility of the officers and the Executive Committee.” Of the many resolutions submitted for possible adoption by the membership at the convention, only resolutions in accordance with the Executive Committee’s procedure are included in this packet, as follows (in no particular order): 1) Supervision of Teenagers, submitted by Yaakov Bieler, p. 2 2) Commendation of Rabbi Naftali Hollander, submitted by Menachem Raab, p. 2 3) Environmental Movement, submitted by Barry Kornblau, p. 2 4) Global Warming, submitted by Barry Kornblau, p. 3 5) Jordanian Construction of Temple Mount Minaret, submitted by Zushe Winner, p. 3 6) Plight of Jews of Gush Katif, submitted by Yehoshua S.
    [Show full text]
  • Harry Potter and the Creation of Spiritual Technologies Hannah Mckillop a Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Require
    Harry Potter and the Creation of Spiritual Technologies Hannah McKillop A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies Department of Classics and Religious Studies Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Hannah McKillop, Ottawa, Canada, 2020 ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………iii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...iv Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….01 Background………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….04 Literature Review……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..08 Fiction-based Religions…………………………………………………………………………………………….…..08 Religion and Popular Culture………………………………………………………………………………………..17 American Protestantism………………………………………………………………………………………….…..29 Podcasts……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………41 Conceptual Framework……………………………………………………………………………………………………………47 Method……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..57 Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..61 Sacredness……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….61 Analysis of the Impact of American Protestantism on Harry Potter and the Sacred Text….……….70 The Comparative Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………..…………..80 Lectio divina…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………80 Ignatian Spirituality………………………………………………………………………………………………………86 Florilegium……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………92 Marginalia……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..96 Havruta………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………101
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Law 2011
    JEWISH LAW Syllabus Spring 2011 Professor Sherman L. Cohn Wednesday, 5:45-7:45 Professor Barry Freundel McDonough Room 492 Professor David Saperstein This course will examine from several perspectives the structure, concepts, methodologies, and development of substantive Jewish Law. It will compare Jewish and American Law, and explore the roots of Anglo-American law and politics in the Bible and later Jewish law. The course will examine the insights that Jewish law provides on contemporary legal issues. Each year, the particular issues examined are subject to change depending on controversies then current in society that make such issues interesting to examine, but generally include methods of conflict resolution, evidence, economic justice, privacy, bio-ethics, environment, and family law. Primary source material in translation will be used. A paper is required. Students will be expected to prepare brief discussions on the contrasts and similarities in American Law with the issues of Jewish law discussed. Syllabus Note: While this syllabus sets forth the thrust and the substance of the Seminar, it is subject to possible alteration as the seminar discussion proceeds. General Assignment: For those who do not have a background in Jewish history, Chaim Potok, Wanderings: A History of the Jews, Max Dimont, God, Jews and History, are the best of the shorter, popular books on the topic. It is highly recommended that students in the seminar read one of these books, if possible, as close to the start of the seminar as is feasible. Other good short works are: Ben Sasson, H.H. (ed.), A History of the Jewish People; Sachar, A.L., A History of the Jews; Roth, Cecil, A History of the Jews.
    [Show full text]
  • Madison Jewish News 4
    JEWISH FEDERATION OF MADISON June 2014 Sivan 5774 Inside This Issue Jewish Federation Upcoming Events ......................5 Business, Professional & Service Directory ............20 Lechayim Lights ............................................26-27 Simchas & Condolences ........................................6 Jewish Social Services ........................................21 Israel & The World ........................................28-29 Congregation News ..........................................8-9 Jewish Education ..........................................22-25 Hava Nagila Jewish Community Picnic ................32 Camp Shalom Scholarship Fund Needs Your Help BY CHARLIE KAPLAN Camp Shalom Counselor & Former Camper We at Camp Shalom, the summer camp of the Jewish Federation of Madison, have already begun thinking about summer 2014. Started in 1954, Camp Shalom is the Dane County Area’s oldest day camp, wel- coming over 1,000 campers and their fam- ilies every summer. A haven for people of all backgrounds, camp welcomes children of any religion, race, gender, nationality, and disability, which creates a special en- vironment that is a true testament to the di- versity of Dane County. In staying true to the same values that inspired us from the beginning, Camp Shalom remains com- mitted to providing every child this incred- The Midrasha class of 2014 with their delicious graduation cake. ible experience, regardless of their family’s financial standing. Last summer, Camp Shalom awarded Mazel Tov to the $96,000 in scholarships for 172 campers. This summer, there have been requests for Charlie (left) with his oldest friend Midrasha Class of 2014! $111,000 in scholarships for 189 campers. Aaron started out as campers and are These are need-based scholarships, funded now on staff together at Camp Shalom. Jacob Bogost Sydney Rozenfeld entirely by generous donations made by members of our community.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel and the Occupied Territories 2015 Human Rights Report
    ISRAEL 2015 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Israel is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. Although it has no constitution, the parliament, the unicameral 120-member Knesset, has enacted a series of “Basic Laws” that enumerate fundamental rights. Certain fundamental laws, orders, and regulations legally depend on the existence of a “state of emergency,” which has been in effect since 1948. Under the Basic Laws, the Knesset has the power to dissolve the government and mandate elections. The nationwide Knesset elections in March, considered free and fair, resulted in a coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the security services. (An annex to this report covers human rights in the occupied territories. This report deals with human rights in Israel and the Israeli- occupied Golan Heights.) During the year according to Israeli Security Agency (ISA, also known as Shabak) statistics, Palestinians committed 47 terror attacks (including stabbings, assaults, shootings, projectile and rocket attacks, and attacks by improvised explosive devices (IED) within the Green Line that led to the deaths of five Israelis and one Eritrean, and two stabbing terror attacks committed by Jewish Israelis within the Green Line and not including Jerusalem. According to the ISA, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other militant groups fired 22 rockets into Israel and in 11 other incidents either planted IEDs or carried out shooting or projectile attacks into Israel and the Golan Heights. Further
    [Show full text]
  • The “Gayfication” of Tel Aviv: Investigating Israel's Pro-Gay Brand
    UCLA Queer Cats Journal of LGBTQ Studies Title The “Gayfication” of Tel Aviv: Investigating Israel’s Pro-gay Brand Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0zv7m3m9 Journal Queer Cats Journal of LGBTQ Studies, 3(1) ISSN 2639-0256 Author Snellings, Satchie Publication Date 2019 DOI 10.5070/Q531045991 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California The “Gayification” of Tel Aviv: Examining Israel’s Pro-Gay Brand Satchie Snellings New York University, Global Liberal Studies o someone informed on the modern world’s LGBT hot spots, the Tmention of Israeli homosexuality would most often connote images of a crowded pride parade or a rainbow themed beach party packed with same-sex couples and carefree attitudes. This picture, whether in a film, on a poster, or in reality, is one of Tel Aviv, the self-proclaimed “Gay Capital of the Middle East.”1 It is the most popular and well-known image of the Israeli LGBT community. The history of LGBT rights in Israel predates that of many Western nations, including the United States. Israeli gay rights ensure that all LGBT citizens receive many of the same rights to their heterosexual counterparts, albeit with less publicized shortfalls in terms of health, edu- cation and welfare laws. The greatest exception and the most significant encroachment of faith onto the legality of homosexuality is in the lack of legal gay marriage in Israel. Alongside their crafting of legal rights, the Israeli government has invested heavily in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, rebranding it as a globally recognized “gay destination.” This effort resulted in a fiscally beneficial gay tourism industry and a more positive international reputation for Israel.
    [Show full text]
  • Convention Program
    Convention Program The 48th Annual Convention of The Rabbinical Council of America April 29th - May 1st 2007 Museum of Jewish Heritage Battery Place, New York, NY Concluding with Parallel Yemei Iyyun at The Wilf Campus, Yeshiva University The Orthodox Union The Center for Jewish History Rabbi Daniel Cohen Chairman Convention Program Tearoom: Sunday/Monday 2.00pm – 5.00pm in the Events Hall Time Sunday Events Sunday 1-3pm RCA Executive Committee Meeting Sunday 2pm Convention Registration Sunday 3pm Opening Keynote Plenary Welcoming Remarks Rabbi Daniel Cohen, Convention Committee Chairman The Rabbi’s Pivotal Leadership Role in Energizing the Future of American Jewish Life Richard Joel, Yeshiva University Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Orthodox Union Edmond J. Safra Hall Sunday 4 PM Talmud Torah Track Leadership Track Networking Track Part 1 Prophetic Leadership: Guided Workshop: Forget the Lone Ranger: Yirmiyahu as a Man of Emet in a Finding Your Leadership Style Best Networking Practices Within World of Sheker and Maximizing your Personal and Beyond the Synagogue. Rabbi Hayyim Angel, Power within your Shul Chairman: Rabbi David Gottlieb, Cong. Shearith Israel, NY Dr. David Schnall, Shomrei Emunah, Baltimore MD Azrieli Graduate School of Rabbi Reuven Spolter, Jewish Education and Young Israel of Oak Park Administration Rabbi Kalman Topp, YI of Woodmere Shomron Yehudah Chevron Sunday 5 PM Talmud Torah Track Leadership Track Networking Track Part 2 Communication or An IDF Officer’s Leadership Best Networking Practices Excommunication?: An Analysis Insights as Related to the Rabbi Eli Weinstock, of Two Rabbinic Policies Contemporary Rabbinate Cong. Kehilath Jeshurun, NY. Prof. Yaakov Elman, Rabbi Binny Friedman, Rabbi Ari Perl, Congregation Bernard Revel Graduate School Isralight Shaare Tefilla, Dallas TX Rabbi Chaim Marder, Hebrew Institute, White Plains, NY Shomron Yehudah Chevron Sunday 6 PM Mincha Edmond J.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Confess the Gay Away? Media, Religion, and the Political Economy of Ex-Gay Therapy
    Introduction to Confess the Gay Away? Media, Religion, and the Political Economy of Ex-gay Therapy by Michael Thorn A PORTION OF THE DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO April 2015 ©Michael Thorn, 2015 1 Introduction: Confess Thy Self? In the media debate surrounding the Christian ex-gay movement, the phrase “pray the gay away” is often used as shorthand to describe the movement’s religiously mediated sexual orientation conversion efforts. However, when one digs deeper, not just into ex-gay practices, but into the debate itself, it becomes clear that ex-gay change—regardless of whether effective or not—is less about prayer than confession and testimony. Consider writer-director Jamie Babbit’s film But I’m a Cheerleader, a campy, comedic tale of a lesbian cheerleader forced into an ex-gay conversion camp (featuring drag queen Ru Paul in a rare not-in-drag performance). The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 1999, is the second fictional pop culture text to depict the movement1 and it is all about confession. It is an iconic depiction, an intervention in the debate that is frequently referenced and imitated. It is mentioned in a 2011 documentary called This is What Love in Action Looks Like about real-life teenager Zach Stark being forced into an ex-gay conversion program; it is imitated in both a 2007 episode of the popular Comedy Central animated satire South Park, in which the character Butters is forced into an ex-gay conversion program, and a 2013 episode of Saturday Night Live featuring Ben Affleck as an ex-gay counsellor.
    [Show full text]
  • Rene Cassin Fellowship Program Rene Cassin RCFP Israel Hub
    René Cassin Fellowship Program Israel Study Tour June 4-12, 2013 Program Booklet “THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.” Excerpt from Israel’s Declaration of Independence Contents: Page 3 Goals of the René Cassin Fellowship Program (RCFP) Page 5 Our Partners Page 6 Program Itinerary Page 11 Biographies of speakers and organisations Page 20 Minorities of Israel Page 22 The Declaration of Independence Page 25 Blank pages for notes 2 Goals of the RCFP: 1) To deepen and broaden participant’s knowledge, understanding and engagement of Jewish visions of a just society through the study of Jewish classical and modern sources and contemporary international human rights law. 2) To wrestle with the dilemmas and value-conflicts raised by the interplay of international human rights law, Jewish tradition and the contemporary social and political reality of the Jewish People and the State of Israel. This will be achieved through the examination of examples from Israel, diaspora Jewish communities and other societies. 3) To strengthen the social capital of the Jewish people by engaging socially/politically active young Jews from three continents in a program of study, cross-cultural dialogue, travel, and internships.
    [Show full text]
  • Religion and Lgbtq People in Us History
    Published online 2016 www.nps.gov/subjects/tellingallamericansstories/lgbtqthemestudy.htm LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History is a publication of the National Park Foundation and the National Park Service. We are very grateful for the generous support of the Gill Foundation, which has made this publication possible. The views and conclusions contained in the essays are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Government. © 2016 National Park Foundation Washington, DC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced without permission from the publishers. Links (URLs) to websites referenced in this document were accurate at the time of publication. THEMES The chapters in this section take themes as their starting points. They explore different aspects of LGBTQ history and heritage, tying them to specific places across the country. They include examinations of LGBTQ community, civil rights, the law, health, art and artists, commerce, the military, sports and leisure, and sex, love, and relationships. STRUGGLES21 IN BODY AND SPIRIT: RELIGION AND LGBTQ PEOPLE IN US HISTORY Drew Bourn Introduction The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once observed that eleven o'clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in the United States.1 But segregation goes beyond a separation between black churches and white churches. There is a tremendous variety of religious communities in the US - Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Pagans, and others.
    [Show full text]