Lavender University holds lecture on LGBT in the orthodox community
By Melissa Wasserman
Lavender University welcomed Goldie Goldbloom to present "Working for Queer Acceptance: Finding Love Amongst the Religious Right" at Center on Halsted Nov. 3.
As a part of Lavender University's nine-month lecture series, featuring top academics and activists in the LGBTQ community focused on various topics, Goldbloom spoke about her experience identifying as a queer, Orthodox Jew.
"Somebody needs to speak up and since I'm the one with the least to lose, I do it," said Goldbloom. "I don't feel like an activist. I just feel like a human being who wants acceptance."
The writer, Northwestern visiting assistant professor, mother of eight, trans mentor, and queer activist is originally from Australia and has been living in the United States for 25 years.
"When I myself came out, I thought I would lose everything," said Goldbloom. "I thought coming out in the Hasidic community in which I lived, I thought I wouldn't have any friends, I wouldn't have any community, that people wouldn't talk to me, that my kids would be kicked out of school, I thought everything bad that could happen would just come piling down on me. At the same time I was willing to take the risk."
Although Goldbloom knew she had a lot to lose, she realized at the same time people didn't know her. She came out and recalled being pleasantly surprised; she lost half of everything as opposed to completely losing everything. She described it as an amazing thing.
"I lost half my friends, I lost half of the participation at shul, I lost half of the connections and community that I had before," Goldbloom said.
In the presentation, she shared her own experiences of being both queer and orthodox along with stories of others in the Hasidic community who have come out and shown courage and persistence through hardship, such as being shunned. Goldbloom conveyed the idea that the orthodox Jewish world is changing, although it is changing at a much slower rate than the outside secular world.
"In my synagogue, the fact that people are nice to me and invite me and don't kick me out of shul and don't give me a hard time, that's a change from generations past," said Goldbloom.
When coming out, Goldbloom thought if she spoke up, the world would change. That thought led her to wonder how many people have been leaving the Orthodox community because they assumed the response was going to be terrifying.
Her curiosity birthed her blog titled, 'Frum Gay Girl." The mission behind the blog is to prove the presence of gay, Orthodox Jews with their own words.
Goldbloom's blog reaches readers beyond the U.S. She was astounded to have viewers across the world, particularly in right wing religious countries, saying more than a one-third of viewers are located in Iraq, Iran and Egypt. Goldbloom states it is indicative of other peoples' struggles trying to come to terms with being gay in a religious right-wing community.
"Visibility within the right wing communities is key," Goldbloom said. "Even though, yes, it can be hard to be visible in the right wing communities, I think standing up and saying, 'I am gay and I am Orthodox,' or I am gay and I am a Muslim,' or I am gay and I am a Mormon' is extremely powerful. Even when you can't stand up and be heard, when you can't put your face to your words, it's still powerful to have these words available."
People in the Orthodox community, Goldbloom said, don't know how to respond to gay, orthodox Jews and have a difficulty because they assume those individuals do not exist.
"I think the rules are all perfect, holy and special, but I'm still going to say people come first," said Goldbloom. "People can argue all day long about the halahaabout the Jewish lawbut if you just talk on a personal level and listen, gay Jews are human. They want to be part of the community, they want the same things everybody else wants, they want to be loved, they want to have a family life, they want to have a community, they want to be connected with spirituality, they want the same things and why not."
With approximately 20 people in attendance at the Windy City Media Group and Center on Halsted-sponsored event, Goldbloom felt the group was supportive and wonderful as they were really interested and had a lot of questions.
"I'm hoping they see the Orthodox Jewish world in a different light, that there is movement there and it's not a static place and that young, gay Jews will feel that they don't have to leave the orthodox community, that there is room for them at the table," Goldbloom said.
Visit Goldbloom's blog at frumgaygirl.blogspot.com .