In mid-November at Keshet’s Shabbaton in Texas for LGBTQ+ & Ally Jewish youth, participants were prompted to answer the following prompt on sticky notes:

Something I want adults in my family/school/Jewish community to know about the impacts of the election on me is:

Here is what they wrote:

• “Fear for my life.”
• “Even though I have support, I’m still scared.”
• “I am terrified of being me.”
• “Kind of guilty because my being trans puts my family in danger.”
• “I’m no longer safe.”
• “We are disposable to America.”

As we prepare for the inauguration of the next president, these words rattle me to my core. Young people do not deserve to feel this way. No one does. It is our Jewish communal responsibility to resist anti-LGBTQ+ policies and correct the record when people with power spew hateful misinformation about LGBTQ+ people. This is Keshet’s work — this month, over the next four years, for as long as it takes.

We asked participants from our Texas Shabbaton, as well as other Keshet Shabbatonim, to share how the experience — filled with Jewish ritual, joy, and connection — made them feel. Here is what they shared: 

Keshet will continue doing this work. We will do so by mobilizing against dangerous legislation at the state and federal levels, often through our Thrive coalition. We will keep providing Jewish organizations with the necessary education and training to remain havens of belonging when other public spaces are not. We will share important resources for you and your communities to counter the deluge of harmful misinformation. And, of course, we will create more spaces for LGBTQ+ youth and LGBTQ+ Jews of Color to be themselves, fully.

We will keep adapting, as we have for over twenty years, and build new pathways to meet the challenges and opportunities before us. At Keshet, we know we have that power. Know that you too have the power to build the world our young people deserve.  

May we stay strong in this difficult and uncertain moment, and together remain committed to a vision of communities — of a country and of a world — where all take seriously the preciousness of every single life.