As last year,
. . . gay and lesbian Israelis will parade through Jerusalem's streets, from City Hall to Independence Park. The march was supposed to have taken place last week; it was postponed after one of its organizers, 47-year-old American immigrant Alan Beer, was murdered by a Hamas suicide bomber aboard Bus 14A.More on Alan Beer:
Cleveland-born, a software engineer, "Al" was also an observant Jew who came to Israel five years ago because "it gave him the opportunity to pray as he wanted and live the [Jewish] life he wanted," according to Ze'ev Pertrucci, a former roommate. Interviewed by The Jerusalem Post in 1999, Beer said his homosexuality had presented no obstacles to joining an Orthodox synagogue.Will any American gay rights organizations mourn Alan Beer?
"My understanding of being Orthodox is that there is a long list of mitzvot to keep, which is what I do," he said. "It doesn't bother my being religious."
Testifying in the Knesset the same year, Beer told a parliamentary committee he was "proud of my many identities": Gay, Orthodox, Jerusalemite, Zionist. "People can be both free and holy," he said. Friends recall his "American swagger," his Hawaiian shirts, his passion for cinema, his "infectious laugh," his willingness to volunteer, easygoingness.
PS This is a typical approach to reinterpreting halacha on homosexuality. More on the dilemmas in being both gay and Orthodox. More on the dilemmas of being both gay and Palestinian. (And no, I'm not suggesting they are equivalent by putting both links in the same sentence. Read the stories.)
UPDATE: This is why I like Shmuley Boteach. He's sensible. I disagree with him about civil marriage for gays, and I believe a halachic argument can be made for some sort of commitment ceremony within Judaism. But you can tell he genuinely appreciates that gays are as fully capable and deserving of committed love relationships as hets, and would change the halacha if he could. As opposed to, say, Dennis Prager, who's just mean.
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