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LEVITICUS | 20:13 abhorrent — LEV840 The most liberal Orthodox spokesman have d...

LEV840 The most liberal Orthodox spokesman have drawn a distinction between homosexual persons who sin in the same manner as all Jews do and homosexual sexual activities, which are prohibited as an especially egregious sin, an "abomination" in the words of Leviticus (this verse). Such rabbis intend this distinction as a way to make room for homosexuals within the Orthodox community--but that welcome comes at the cost of having an integral part of the homosexual's identity and life branded as an abomination. Other Orthodox rabbis are less kind; and, in any case, Orthodox rabbis as a group, with maybe one or two exceptions, condemn homosexual sex. Conversely, as early as 1973 the Reform movement accepted into its synagogue organizations those synagogues with special outreach to gays and lesbians, and in 1990, the Reform rabbinical school, Hebrew Union College, officially adopted a policy opening admission to gays and lesbians on a par with heterosexuals. Thus while individual reform synagogues or persons may object to gay sex or to gays occupying positions of synagogue leadership, the official policy of the Reform movement does not support either of those stands, maintaining instead that homosexuals should be treated exactly as heterosexuals. It is thus only in the Conservative movement that heated discussions on this topic continue… The Conservative movement… as a movement, stands on record for full civil rights for gays and lesbians and for protection from attack and discrimination. It also officially welcomes gays and lesbians, as it welcomes all Jews, to conservative congregations. Serious disagreement continues within the movement, however, on two issues: admission of gays and lesbians to rabbinical and cantorial schools, and the advisability of creating and using some kind of commitment ceremony for gay or lesbian couples. [Note: This source was published in 2003; the Conservative movement subsequently issued further rulings on these issues - AJL].

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Source KeyDORFFLOV
Verse20:13
Keyword(s)abhorrent
Source Page(s)121-3
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