February 14th, 2012
This article first appeared on the Huffington Post.
This past summer, I had the opportunity to spend time with nearly 60 Teach For America corps members taking part in our Foundation’s REALITY Israel Experience, a program that enables corps members to travel to Israel to explore the values that undergird their commitment to public service.
When I asked these passionate young people what motivated them to apply for the program, I heard a wide variety of responses, some inspiring, some empowering, some soulful—and one in particular that was heartbreaking.
“I applied,” one participant told me, “because I knew it would be the first time since I decided to live openly as a gay person that I would feel equal and accepted by the Jewish community.” She desperately wanted to find a place where she could be herself.
Her story is one I have heard far too many times from Jews everywhere—in Israel, in the U.S. and in countries around the world—who feel excluded from our community because of their sexuality. Despite some progress, the pace of change within the faith-based world in general has simply been too slow in this area. Read More »