Four Questions with Sonny Oram, Fashion Blogger and Keshet Cabaret Co-Chair

This week I had a chance to chat with Sonny Oram, founder of Qwear,a fashion blog that celebrates the styles of queer women and trans and non-binary individuals. Sonny is a co-chair of this year’s Keshet Cabaret, which takes place Saturday, Feb. 28, at Club Café in Boston.

Shabbaton Creates Safe Space for LGBTQ Teens

A Shabbaton, an extended Shabbat retreat weekend, offers a time for reflection and rejuvenation. At a recent Shabbaton for 70 LGBTQ and ally teens, supported by UJA-Federation of New York, the Shabbat event provided an additional meaningful experience: the chance to feel truly comfortable and accepted.

UJA Holds Its First LGBTQ Conference

Titled “Community Conversation on LGBTQ Engagement,” the daylong conference, held on June 20, drew over 180 participants, including representatives from 71 different organizations.

A Jewish Reading Guide for Pride Month: Rabbis, writers, and poets select essential LGBT titles for Jewish readers

In honor of Pride month, I asked several other people who know Jewish LGBT literature (including some who wrote books I’d included in my blog post) to name three essential books that Tablet readers should know about.

I’m Proud because Being Different is Not Just OK – It’s Incredible

Val Weisler shares her story about her experience leading up to Keshet's LGBTQ Teen and Ally Shabbaton as part of Keshet's celebration of LGBTQ Pride Month.

To be young, Orthodox and openly gay

Orthodox Jewish high schools in the United States try to balance concerns for their reputation and their students, as growing number of teens openly identify as gay.

No, LGBT Inclusion Isn’t Just Window-Dressing

My friend and colleague Jay Michaelson’s op-ed “Include Me Out of This Jewish Community” calls into question the value and utility of “LGBT inclusion” in the mainstream Jewish community. I agree with some of Michaelson’s overarching points that being included in the mainstream without participating in fundamental change lacks meaning. But my experiences working for full equality and inclusion for LGBT Jews for the past 14 years as Executive Director of Keshet have led me to a radically different conclusion than Michaelson’s.

Reconciling Jewish, Queer Identities

By coming out as gay, a college student worried his religious identity would suffer.

Seven Schools Where Jewish LGBTQ Students Thrive

As part of Hillel’s ongoing commitment to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) inclusion, we’ve compiled a list of seven colleges we think are doing an awesome job of engaging in active collaborations with campus LGBTQ centers, have LGBTQ-inclusive policies and programming, and even support Jewish LGBTQ student groups.

A Decade Later, Mass. Jews Look Back at Legacy of Same-Sex Marriage – First State To Legalize Signaled Major Shift for Jews

A decade later, Mass. Jews look back at legacy of same-sex marriage first

Ten years after the first same-sex marriages were performed in Massachusetts, the national legal and political landscape has shifted dramatically. Today, 19 states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriage — two of which, Oregon and Pennsylvania, joined the list in May following federal court rulings striking down their bans on same-sex marriage.

Father’s Day Pride

Last June, I celebrated Father’s Day in Miami with my two boys, ages 8 and 17, as we heard the news that a Jewish lesbian named Edie had triumphed against the Defense of Marriage Act.

Keshet Announces Honorees for Inaugural Landres Courage for Dignity Award

Jennifer Gorovitz, former CEO of the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund (JCF), and Ayala Katz, who became an outspoken leader for LGBT equality in Israel following the murder of her gay son, Nir, have been named the first recipients of Keshet’s new Landres Courage for Dignity Award.

Gorovitz wins award from LGBT group

Keshet, a national organization working for LGBT equality and inclusion in all areas of Jewish life, has announced it will give Jennifer Gorovitz one of its two inaugural Landres Courage for Dignity Awards.

Program to support Jewish ‘post-startups’

A New York-based program focused on incubating startup Jewish organizations is expanding to assist some “post-startups.”

LGBT Inclusion, Ex-Orthodox Support Organizations Win Bikkurim’s First Grants

Bikkurim, a New York-based organization that has helped launch 29 Jewish start-ups since 2000, this week announced the awarding of its first pair of grants -- $100,000 each to Keshet and Footsteps.

Jewish Group to Talk Marriage Equality

The second installment of a “conversation about same-sex marriage” to be presented by the Keshet and Family Connection (keshetonline.org) will take place on May 4 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Kol Shalom Synagogue, 9110 Darnestown Rd., Rockville, MD 20850.

Moses Has Two Mommies

Tonight is the first night of Passover, when Jews around the world gather to celebrate freedom from slavery in Egypt, under the leadership of a man who had two mommies.

2014’s Top 7 Seder Supplements and Themed Haggadot

I thought for one foolish moment that 5774 offered a shallow harvest for Pesach supplements. But I was totally wrong and many thought-provoking, educational, and even downright moving contributions to Passover religious life. Here Jewschool collected this year’s notables and even further below are more fascinating options from previous years.

LGBTQ Youth Have No Derech To Stray From

This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to represent (JQY) Jewish Queer You that Keshet's Shabbaton for LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) teenagers.