NEWS STORY: Pro-Gay Protestants Welcome Reform Rabbis’ Decision on Same-Sex Unions

c. 2000 Religion News Service GREENSBORO, N.C. _ Representatives of pro-gay Protestant organizations are welcoming the overwhelming vote by the world’s largest group of Reform rabbis to allow its clergy to bless gay and lesbian unions. The vote Wednesday (March 30) by the Central Conference of American rabbis, marks a break with the larger Jewish […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

GREENSBORO, N.C. _ Representatives of pro-gay Protestant organizations are welcoming the overwhelming vote by the world’s largest group of Reform rabbis to allow its clergy to bless gay and lesbian unions.

The vote Wednesday (March 30) by the Central Conference of American rabbis, marks a break with the larger Jewish and Christian religious establishment, which has so far resisted such a move.


“I’m thrilled,” said the Rev. Michael W. Hopkins, president of Integrity, an organization of gay and lesbian Episcopalians. “It begins at least to take away the argument that nobody else is doing it so it gives a bit more credence to our argument that we need to move forward.”

It took some 500 rabbis gathered for the conference’s annual meeting little more than an hour to pass the resolution, which states that Jewish same-sex couples are “worthy of affirmation through appropriate Jewish ritual.”

The resolution does not, however, mandate such ceremonies. It leaves it up to the individual rabbi to decide whether to perform a gay union. A last-minute change in the wording of the resolution states: “…we recognize the pluralism within our ranks on the issue.”

Still, CCAR leaders spoke forcefully in favor of blessing gay unions and suggested they will immediately design appropriate liturgy.

Calling it a fine expression of the tradition of Hebrew prophecy, Rabbi Charles Kroloff, the president of the CCAR, said “I’ve never been prouder to be a rabbi.”

“My dream is that every gay and lesbian will feel comfortable in any of our synagogues,” he said. “In my mind, this is the direction of history.”

Christian denominations across the country are bitterly divided over homosexual unions and the issue has threatened to create outright schisms. Only smaller groups, such as the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalists, have approved it. Debates over the blessing of gay and lesbian relationships are expected to dominate this year’s United Methodist, Presbyterian Church (USA) and Episcopal Church conventions.


The Rev. Gregory Dell, a United Methodist minister who was suspended from his pastorate after conducting a same-sex union ceremony in 1998, was among those welcoming the CCAR decision.

“I think it’s very exciting and it’s a clear indication that people of deep religious faith are beginning to look at this possibility through the eyes of love and care rather than bigotry and prejudice,” said Dell, now director of In All Things Charity, an organization that hopes to change the Methodist prohibition on clergy officiating at such ceremonies.

“I think there will be United Methodists who will see this as a signal that openness on this issue is an important expression of faithfulness.”

The Rev. James V. Heidinger II, president of Good News, a conservative United Methodist movement, said he was “surprised” by the rabbis’ decision but doesn’t expect it to influence his denomination’s General Conference in May.

“I think we are probably going to feel fairly far removed from what the Reform rabbis have done,” Heidinger predicted. “We don’t expect any change in the standards on sexuality.”

Scott Anderson, co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians, a coalition encouraging greater acceptance of homosexuals in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said he “unfortunately” does not expect the rabbis’ decision to permeate the upcoming General Assembly in June.


“I think there are distinctive things in Christian theology and biblical interpretation which affect the debate in the Presbyterian Church,” Anderson said. “I think it is a signal that the sands are shifting in America’s religious community on this issue and I think they are shifting in the Presbyterian Church, just not as quickly as they are in Judaism.”

The Rev. Parker Williamson, chief operating officer of the conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee, said he was “saddened” by the rabbis’ vote, but doesn’t expect it to affect the Presbyterian meeting.

“I think that the Scriptures are very clear on same-gender relationships and that those are the Scriptures that those rabbis are supposed to represent,” said Williamson, who supported the recent passage of Proposition 22 in California defining marriage as strictly heterosexual. “I think that the people of California expressed a much higher moral code than these rabbis have done.”

Although the vote by the rabbis was overwhelming, it was not unanimous.

At least two rabbis spoke out against the resolution and a handful opposed it during the voice vote, according to Kroloff. The session was closed to the media.

Among them were rabbis who felt that blessing gay unions would alienate Reform Jews from their Conservative and Orthodox brethren, who are opposed to the practice. They were especially concerned it would pose a stumbling block for Reform rabbis in Israel who are struggling for recognition in a religious establishment that is overwhelmingly Orthodox.

In many ways, the resolution was consistent with the history of the 111-year-old conference, which voted to oppose any legislation that would limit the civil liberties of gays and lesbians in 1977. Four years ago, the group, which consists of some 1,700 rabbis, mostly in North America, voted to support civil marriage between gays and lesbians.


“For a long time it’s been acceptable to be prejudiced and bigoted against gays and lesbians and to act on those prejudices in religious terms,” said Paul Menitoff, executive vice president of the CCAR. “But it’s unacceptable to have prejudice in your heart and it’s unacceptable to act on it. It’s a sin.”

Rabbis made it clear they viewed biblical injunctions against homosexuality as expressing an ancient worldview in which homosexuality was part of ritualized sex acts performed by heterosexuals. They insisted the Bible does not speak to homosexual relationships that are part of loving, committed relationships.

Tears rolled down the cheeks of the gay rabbis after the vote.

“For gays and lesbians this is a historic and prophetic moment,” said Rabbi Denise Eger, a lesbian who leads the Kol Ami congregation in Los Angeles. “We now have the chance to stand in holiness under the marriage canopy.”

The resolution skirts the issue of whether gay unions can be considered the same as Jewish marriage between a man and a woman. It leaves it up to individual rabbis to define the union as he or she sees fit.

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Some said they would accord it all the rights of a Jewish wedding between a man and a woman, known as “kiddushin” in Hebrew. Others said it was more of a symbolic act that recognizes the relationship and celebrates it respectfully.

Gays and lesbians said they weren’t worried about the distinction. And the conference allowed individual rabbis to call it “kiddushin” if they are so inclined.


Although individual Reform rabbis have been performing gay union ceremonies for at least a decade, the resolution on the part of the entire conference was especially meaningful, said Rabbi Greg Kanter of Congregation Etz Chaim in Fort Lauderdale Fla., who is gay.

“Gay and lesbian people have felt alienated from Judaism,” said Kanter. “This will bring them back. It will say, `You’re welcome under the same circumstances, with the same rights and privileges as everybody else.”

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