In response to school policies regarding gay students, the following comment was made:
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A problem with this question as formulated is the vagueness of the term "straight." Are we talking about someone with heterosexual desires? Someone who engages in heterosexual activity? A student who advocates for the legitimacy of heterosexual relationships? Each of these cases is a different world halachically and hashkafically.
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Well, not really. The comment had the word gay instead of straight and homosexual in place of heterosexual.
The problem I have is that if someone says he is gay or she is lesbian , we automatically start wondering whether they are sexually active. And base our response to them based on all sorts of assumptions.
We do nothing of the sort for straight students, even though sexual activity for them is just as forbidden (because who are we kidding, the girls are not going to the mikva beforehand).
And in this disparity, we see the underlying discrimination against the LGBT community in our midst. Why should it make a difference to us what a student is doing in the privacy of his or her own life? Why should that be a determining factor in not allowing the student to attend a Jewish school? Do we grill all our straight students about their sexual activity, and if we are not absolutely sure of their ongoing virginity we throw them out? Do we insist on affidavits of kashrus observance or Shabbos observance for all our students?
The third questions, about advocating for legitimacy of gay relationships should be treated the same as any student advocating for any other prohibition, say chillul Shabbos for example. How would we treat a student who said the prohibition of carrying on Shabbos was ridiculous and should be abolished? Figure that out first. Then treat the advocate of a gay lifestyle the same way. Regardless of the advocate's personal sexual orientation. Because the problem isn't being gay in that instance. The problem is the advocacy.
Eliyahu Teitz
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2018 06:16PM by mlb.
