After months of planning our Shelter of Peace Clergy Briefing on LGBT Homeless Youth, we are onto the ‘next steps’ phase in the Koleinu LGBT Rights Action Team meetings. But not without a nice long discussion about our success. You can tell from the following thoughts shared by Koleinu members who were there at CBST on November 8th, what a resounding success it was.
“The faces on the attendees expressed interest and eagerness to hear more.”
“People not only showed up, but they stayed and continued to mingle and have more personal discussions after the close.”
“You could tell from the questions ...
As the CBST community assembled for Tikkun Leyl Shavuot and prepared to receive Torah, we examined the epidemic of queer youth homelessness through a Jewish lens. For me, the tikkun was inspiring as it created a space in which our religious practice and social justice work could come together, each informing the other.
Members of our Koleinu Marriage Equality & LGBT Rights Action Team led the first session. Our text study, based on excerpts from the Book of Ruth, focused on the complex experience of journeying to or from a home -- what does it mean to have or not have ...
Tonight I had a wonderful, exhilarating and inspiring experience, I was phone banking! Surprised? Well, let me explain.
It starts with the joining of the young and energetic forces of several important organizations, including Empire State Pride Agenda, Freedom to Marry, Human Rights Campaign. Log Cabin Republicans and Marriage Equality New York, as well as the support and generosity of 1199 SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East. They have been running these evenings, Monday -Thursday, 5-8:30, for many weeks now. I walked into the huge space, full of computer stations, almost all of them already occupied with people from every walk of ...
What should a good rabbi know? Some would say she should write great sermons. Others might say he should be able to aptly navigate Jewish law. Others might say they should really know how to tap into the Divine.
Of course, every rabbi needs a little bit of each, and more. When I decided to become a rabbi, I wanted to learn everything I could. I wanted to be that perfect, knowledgeable, authoritative, creative, compassionate rabbi. But what I really wanted most of all was to be someone who could be truly present at the most intense parts of people's lives. ...
I have been activist since I was 2! I tore the arms and legs off of my dolls to use them as a football. No one would give me a football because I was a girl. I didn’t become an LGBTQ activist until I was 60 – when the organizers of the Israel Day parade wouldn’t let CBST march because of our sexual orientation!
I am always happy to be called on to speak about things I know about. It is particularly nice when I am asked to advocate for something I feel deeply about.
Such was the case this past January ...
We thought you might want to see the message we're sending directly to the Mayor...
To Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Mullgrav,
We, the undersigned members of the Commission on LGBTQ Runaway and Homeless
Youth, are writing to express our concern and alarm at the recently announced
cuts in DYCD support of Street Outreach and Drop-In Centers in FY11 and FY12 -
cuts that have followed shortly on the heels of previous cuts made to Out of
School Time (OST) funding that effectively ended DYCD funding for to LGBT
youth-serving
...
Over the past year, CBST has become increasingly involved in addressing the epidemic of LGBTQ youth homelessness. Rabbi Kleinbaum served on the New York City Commission on LGBTQ Runaway and Homeless Youth and Koleinu’s LGBT Rights Action Team began meeting with organizations like FIERCE, the Ali Forney Center, and the Hetrick-Martin Institute to build relationship with these organizations and learn more about the underlying issues causing the epidemic. CBST also organized and hosted our annual Martin Luther King Multifaith Celebration around this issue and collaboratively developed mutlifaith liturgy to express our religious and spiritual concerns and hopes for the ...
This Wednesday, 10 future/current clergy came to CBST learn with Rabbi Kleinbaum in our first session of Topics in LGBTQ Pastoral Care. Largely from the Conservative movement, and one from the Orthodox movement, the group discussed the nature of pastoral care, where it happens, when it happens, how it happens, etc. One perspective Rabbi Kleinbaum shared was the importance of expanding our understanding of what pastoral care actually is. For many people who do pastoral care, it involves active listening, text study, ritual, etc. While this is entirely accurate and essential, the scope of pastoral care is much broader. It ...
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and CBST member Rick Landman helped to reach out in solidarity with Serbian LGBTQ activists who were preparing for the worst ahead of their October 12 Pride Parade in Belgrade.
The Serbian activists asked Rabbi Kleinbaum to sign an international letter of support aimed at getting the Serbian government to permit and protect the rally. Rick joined a demonstration outside the Serbian mission to the UN here in New York, alongside members of AXIOS , the organization of Eastern Orthodox Gay and Lesbian Christians. (Photo by Daniel Cacace.)
So what happened? On Wednesday in Belgrade, ...