January

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

• Learn more about the experiences of gay men under the Nazi regime.
• Select materials to share in your class.
• Explore the first-person accounts and artifacts of people from the Holocaust.

February

Black History Month

• Share resources from our partners at Jews of Color Initiative, Be’chol Lashon, Jews in all Hues, and other similar organizations.
• Plan a Black History Month event in your community.

Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, & Inclusion Month (JDAIM)

• Plan an event or training with a speaker from RespectAbility’s Disability Training and Speakers Bureau.
• Learn about disability justice and do an internal audit of your organization’s accessibility.

Tu Bishvat

• Explore our Tu Bishvat and MLK, Jr. Day resource collection.
• Create your own Tu Bishvat Seder, with LGBTQ+ elements.

Aromantic Awareness Week

March

Women’s History Month

• Use Jewish Women’s Archive to plan a lesson or activity with your students.
• Celebrate the women of our LGBTQ+ Jewish Heroes poster series, including Kate Bornstein, Rabbi Sandra Lawson, and Lesléa Newman.
• Plan an event or raise money in support of Jews for Abortion Access, by NCJW.
• Find ways to be more inclusive for transgender and gender-expansive women.

Purim

• Celebrate Purim as a Jewish coming out day! Incorporate this theme into your Purim parties and festivals.
• Read the Megillah along with the Female, Trans, and Non-Binary clergy featured in the “Unmasked” video.
• Read The Purim Superhero to your young children.
• Check out your Hamantaschen Zodiac sign.

Trans Day of Visibility

• Find a new trans creator to follow! Check out this list of amazing trans writers, artists, speakers, activists, and creators.
• Hang up “Trans Jews Belong Here” signs around your synagogue or school.
• Learn the ways you can minimize harm against trans people.
• Study the texts that describe gender fluidity in the Torah.
• Get involved with or monetarily support the Trans Halakha Project.
• Read Joy Ladin’s book, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading GOd and Torah from a Transgender Perspective.

April

Passover

• Host an LGBTQ+ themed Seder.
• Check out last year’s Passover resources.
• Put an orange on your seder plate.
• Count the Omer with a queer lens.
• Take action and advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ and Jewish people.

Yom HaShoah

Lesbian Visibility Day

May

Jewish American Heritage Month

Harvey Milk Day

Pan Awareness Day

Shavuot

 

June

Pride

Juneteenth

July

Disability Pride Month

Non-Binary People’s Day

International Drag Day

Tisha B’Av

August

Tu B’av

September

Suicide Prevention Week/Month

• Highlight the Trevor Project Hotline and Trans Lifeline resources.

Rosh Hashanah

• Check out our LGBTQ+ Rosh Hashanah resources here.

Bisexual Awareness Week

• Learn about the Jewish bisexual “Mother of Pride” Brenda Howard.
• Learn about what bisexuality is and means.
• Uplift the struggles and challenges that bisexual individuals face in society, such as biphobia and bi erasure.
• Learn how you can be an ally to the bi community.
• Read a bisexual Jew’s exploration of biphobia and antisemitism.
• Watch a video from the CLGS Jewish Queeries Series

Yom Kippur

• Check out our LGBTQ+ Yom Kippur resources here.

Sukkot 

• Check out our Sukkot resources here.

October

LGBTQ+ History Month

• Learn more through Keshet’s LGBTQ+ Heroes Series.
• Read about Ushpizin/ata, our LGBTQ Jewish ancestors, a resource created by Dr. Noam Sienna with Keshet.
• Research and tell the stories of important LGBTQ+ Jewish leaders (you can even start with this article from Hey Alma).
• Visit the online collections of the GLBT Historical Society and LGBT Community Center National History Archive.
• Explore the National Park Service’s LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History

Bullying Prevention Month

• Host programs in Jewish day schools and religious schools about bullying prevention.
• Read and share this article: Internal Bullying Within the Jewish Community Needs to Stop.

Simchat Torah

• Support all community members’ celebration of Torah: explore the Nonbinary Hebrew Project for examples of gender-inclusive liturgy and blessings for being called to the Torah.

National Coming Out Day

• Host a coming-out ritual at your synagogue (e.g., A Coming Out Ritual by Jay Michaelson).
• Utilize Ritualwell’s Coming Out Resources.
• Explore Keshet’s At The Gates of Coming Out, a guide with reflections, tools, and ideas for young people who are considering coming out at work or in their communities.
• Finding Keshet for the first time? Just came out? Finally bringing together your Jewish and LGBTQ+ selves? Mazal Tov and Welcome! You Are A Blessing.

International Pronoun Day

• Host a community education program on what pronouns are and why they’re important.
• Purchase pronoun pins! Or, follow this quick guide to making your own.
• Add your pronouns to your email signature, Zoom account, and/or LinkedIn profile.
• Start to share pronouns at the beginning of meetings.

Intersex Awareness Day

• Read a rabbinic interpretation of Parashat Tazria and Parashat Metzora By Rabbi Elliot Kukla and Rabbi Reuben Zellman, discussing how Jewish tradition provides us with both the resources and the mandate to begin to transform our culture to better reflect the diversity of real bodies.
• Teach a workshop on gender diversity in Jewish sacred texts using this lesson plan.
• Learn about intersex identities from the Intersex Society of North America.
• Share InterACT’s #IntersexAwarenessDay graphics by downloading their social media toolkit and posting online.

Ace Week

• Learn about asexuality from the Asexual Visibility and Education Network Visibility.
• Learn about aromanticism from the Aromantic-spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy (AUREA).
• Read this article from Hey Alma: Notes from an Asexual Jew.

November

Trans Awareness Month / Trans Awareness Week

• Teach about trans Jewish heroes (e.g., Kate Bornstein, Koach Baruch Frazier).
• Follow trans Jewish leaders on social media and through their websites.
• Check out GLAAD’s guide to Transgender Awareness Week.
• Learn SVARA’s piece Go Out and See, about how halakha can be transformative and empowering from a trans perspective.
• Explore TransTorah’s resources, including A Blessing for Transitioning Genders by Rabbi Eli Kukla, A Pre-Surgery (or any other transition) Mikveh Ritual by Max K. Strassfeld and Andrew Ramer, and Poems for a Gender Transition Ritual by Professor Joy Ladin.

Election Day

Intersex Day of Remembrance

Sigd

Trans Day of Remembrance – November 20

• Utilize Keshet’s resource, A Jewish Guide for Marking Transgender Day of Remembrance.
• Print Keshet’s TDOR stickers for yahrzeit candles.
• Explore resources to honor TDOR.

December

World AIDS Day

• Provide free HIV testing at your organization or shul.
• Watch a film that discusses the experiences of folks affected by HIV/AIDS (e.g., How to Survive a Plague, Paris is Burning, And The Band Played On).
• Learn about CBST’s Talk to Me About HIV program.

Hanukkah

Human Rights Day 

• Hold a session or host a speaker about LGBTQ+ rights nationally and/or globally.
• Sign up to get involved with Keshet’s work for LGBTQ+ rights.