Keshet mission is to cultivate the spirit and practice of inclusion of GLBT Jews in all parts of the Jewish community – synagogues, advocacy and service organizations, summer camps, youth movements, Hebrew schools, day schools, and other educational institutions.
We are living in a watershed moment for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews. Just this past spring, the California Supreme Court overturned a ban on gay marriage. This ruling echoed the Massachusetts decision four years ago as our state became the first to affirm equal marriage as a constitutional right for its citizens. Yet so quickly, the pendulum has swung back again with a decisive majority of California voters electing to rescind these newly won rights with the passage of Proposition 8: a constitutional declaration that only a marriage between a man and a woman shall be recognized by the state. Two other states, Florida and Arizona, also passed similar measures this November bringing the total number of states with bans to 30. In Arkansas, a devastating ban on adoption by unmarried couples – clearly targeting same-sex couples – also passed by significant margins.
Our research demonstrates that homophobia and heterosexism are very real problems in the Jewish community. Ninety-one percent of the youth who participated in the 2007 pilot of Keshet’s Hineini Curriculum Resource Guide reported hearing or using the phrase “that’s so gay” or other homophobic slurs in their school or youth program. At the same time, 71% of the youth from the pilot program reported that they have a close friend or relative who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Thus, while many youth have either used or heard derogatory language, a large number of them also know someone for whom these phrases would be hurtful.
At the same time that Jewish youth are reporting homophobic teasing and bullying, educators across liberal movements of Judaism are turning to Keshet for resources to help them teach about Jewish tradition in a manner that recognizes and even celebrates the diversity that exists within their communities – a diversity that includes gay and lesbian families, GLBT clergy, educators, and community leaders, and out GLBT Jewish youth. Increasingly, rabbis and educators from conservative and other more traditional Jewish communities are also turning to Keshet for training and support in addressing GLBT issues and creating safe, inclusive learning communities.
In response to the needs of Jewish communities nationwide, the Hineini Education Project provides training, support, and educational resources that address GLBT issues from a Jewish values perspective. In order to create long-term, sustainable change we utilize a dual strategy: 1) Training rabbis and educators around the country to be Jewish Safe Schools facilitators in their own communities; and 2) Developing and disseminating resources and materials, including Keshet’s documentary film Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School and a companion Curriculum Resource Guide, needed for the work of creating Jewish Safe Schools & Supportive Communities.
Keshet’s resources are playing a central role in sparking community engagement with GLBT issues around the country. In the past two years, Keshet has offered over 200 community screenings of our documentary film, Hineini, and over 50 Jewish Safe Schools & Supportive Communities trainings for educators. We maintain a running list of hundreds of Jewish educators who have contacted us with requests to use the Hineini Curriculum Resource Guide in their classrooms and bring Jewish Safe Schools teacher trainings to their schools.
The high demand for Keshet’s resources and expertise can also be seen in the response to our inaugural Hineini Education Project Training Institutes, during which participants received in-depth training on creating safe environments for workshops and discussions about issues of gender and sexual orientation as they play out in Jewish educational contexts. Within weeks of announcing our first Training Institute, applications streamed in from educators across the country who were eager to receive hands-on training to address GLBT issues.
We are also seeing a shift among grassroots GLBT Jewish groups around the country from filling a primarily social/support role to taking on a more activist, change-oriented dimension. As Keshet’s national visibility has grown, individual GLBT Jewish leaders and emerging organizations have turned to Keshet as a model for sustainable GLBT Jewish community-building, leadership development, and creating change. In spring 2008, Keshet began providing capacity building support to GLBT Jewish organizations in two cities outside of Boston – JPride in San Diego and the Jewish Gay Network of Michigan in Detroit. In 2009, we will establish a third affiliated partnership with another emerging organization. Our goal here is not to replicate Keshet in other cities but rather to use our expertise to strengthen already existing leadership in other communities.